66 RATES AND TAXES 



of time into a kind of equitable rent charge 

 in favour of the public. This, I may remind 

 you, is the the main question involved in the 

 historical argument to which this chapter is 

 devoted, and at this point, it may be con- 

 venient to summarise the results obtained, so 

 far as national, as distinct from local taxes, 

 are concerned. 



In the first place, the vague popular 

 notion that the State is, so to speak, the 

 ultimate owner of all the land in the 

 country, or that the land of England belongs 

 to the Crown as representing the people of 

 England, and that therefore all or part of 

 the rent also belongs to the people, and 

 may be equitably taken in the name of 

 special taxation, this notion is from the 

 point of view of history absolutely un- 

 founded. The Crown abandoned its own 

 demesne lands, except an insignificant frag- 

 ment, centuries ago, and similarly also it 



