96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



Categories closely parallel to real estate and personal estate are 

 found in Navaho common law as well as in Anglo-Saxon. The means 

 of subsistence — sheep-raising and farming — in general are to Navaho 

 society what land was to medieval England (cf. Powell, 1949, pp. 43- 

 44), and these are set apart as a group from personal property in 

 terms of restrictions upon ownership. 



Restricted property, in Navaho common law, includes all resources 

 connected with land and subsistence livelihood. It is the equivalent of 

 real property in Anglo-Saxon common law. In this category are land, 

 livestock, hogans, wagons, and even local jobs, which are considered 

 as one of the resources of the land (see "Resident Lineages," below). 

 Land control always involves control of all resources thereon (with 

 one or two minor exceptions — cf. Hill, 1938, p. 23), thus includmg 

 jobs as well as water, timber, and feed. 



Basically, Navaho restricted property is subject to the ultimate 

 control of residence groups and resident lineages despite the fact that 

 formal ownership is often found in the name of individuals. An ul- 

 timate vested interest (cf. Black, 1951, p. 1735) of the residence group 

 is recognized throughout. Categories of control to which real estate 

 is subject within the structure of Navaho society are indicated in 

 table 14, page 102. 



Restricted property is subject to special restrictions upon inherit- 

 ance, setting it clearly apart from personal estate. Regardless of kin- 

 ship of clan status (see below) , it is ultimately alienable only within 

 the residence group. Hence it is essentially entailed estate (held in 

 fee tail — see Black, 1951, p. 742) , with the residence group compris- 

 ing the unit of entailment. 



Personal property, as in Anglo-Saxon law, is not subject to compa- 

 rable restrictions upon exploitation and alienation. Such property is 

 both owned and ultimately controlled in the name of individuals. In- 

 sofar as it comprises elements not considered essential to the common 

 welfare, personal property is equivalent to esoteric property. In- 

 cluded in this category are strictly personal material possessions such 

 as clothing, jewelry, and bedding; horses and their trappings; and 

 many esoteric skills and bodies of knowledge which may be turned to 

 economic account (see Reichard, 1928, p. 89; Kluckholm and Leigh- 

 ton, 1946, p. 60). 



Not all personal estate is classifiable as productive or capital 

 resources. However, three special categories of personal property do 

 play an important part in Shonto economy: trucks, esoteric skills, 

 and jewelry. Ownership and exploitation of trucks seems to be 

 analogous to that of horses (see table 14), and in clear contrast to 

 that of wagons, Shonto's situation of isolation from the outside 

 world and at the same time dependence upon it gives the community's 

 handful of truck owners numerous opportunities which are of con- 



