110 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 



order to avoid repetition, similar examples being 

 almost universally exhibited throughout Europe. 1 



Our information is obtained from the work of 

 Paul Errera, entitled Les Masuirs, recherchcs his- 

 toriques et juridiques sur quelques vestiges des formes 

 anciennes de la proprie'te en Belgique. 



The masuirs (the amborgers of Flanders) were 

 the mansuarii or mansoarii of the Merovingian 

 period, originally serfs, afterwards tenants and 

 copy-holders, and finally freemen. 



Their history exhibits the following stages : 



1. The feudal epoch in which the masuirs i.e. 



all the members of the manorial group 

 enjoyed "rights of usage" over all waste 

 lands, forests and pasturage adjoining their 

 holdings. These rights appear to have been 

 conferred by the Lord of the Manor, but 

 they really dated from a much earlier 

 period. 



2. As the increasing population necessitated the 



regulation and limitation of these rights, 

 certain conditions of property and residence 

 were stipulated for in those seeking admis- 

 sion to the rights of the masuirs, and these 

 privileged persons organized themselves into 

 corporations which were more or less ex- 

 clusive and separate from the general 

 community. 



1 With regard to corporative property in Switzerland, see von 

 Miaskowski, Die schweizerische Allmend, pp. 37 and following. 



