1 8 Rents ^ Wages^ and Profits in Agriculture 



were often able to get back the land 

 which was held as copyhold — that is, the 

 form of property I have described with 

 the feudal and customary burdens. And 

 in any case they need not renew the yearly 

 tenancies. 



I may mention at this point also what 

 might have been taken earlier, namely, 

 that besides the three large open arable 

 fields, the village community had certain 

 customary rights over the waste, as it was 

 called — that is, the tract of uncultivated 

 land which lay around the open fields. 

 Besides this, they had shares, to a custom- 

 ary amount, in the hay of the permanent 

 meadows. Legally — that is, by the techni- 

 cal law — these customary rights depended 

 solely on the will of the lord of the manor, 

 and might at any time be cut away or 

 restricted. And in the period I am now 

 touching on, some of the landlords carried 



