THE VILLAGE COAIMUNITY. 63 



munitj," for it took widely differing forms in different countries and 

 at different periods in the history of each country. A comparative 

 study of these forms, however, shows that a typical Ayran village is 

 marked by several easily recognized features, of which the following 

 are the most important : — ( 1 ) Community of land-holding, (2) cus- 

 tomary law, (3) assembly- government in the community, (4) patri- 

 archal authority [patria 2>otestas) in the family, and (5) caste. Of 

 tliese the last two may be passed over with a mere mention, for 

 though they profoundly affect the constitution of modern society 

 even in our own country they do ^o in ways that are not usually re- 

 garded as " political." A " village community," then, may be 

 described as a composite political unit made up of a number of 

 " households," each of which is presided over by a patriarch. The 

 affairs of each household are managed by the household itself under 

 the authority of the imterjcmiilias, no outsider having any right to so 

 much as enter its precincts unbidden. The land included within the 

 village boundaries is divided up amongst the households, each plot 

 being held by the whole household in common, and individual 

 ownership in land being unknown. An additional area of land 

 outside is held by the households in common, no household owning 

 any one portion, and the area being allotted and re-allotted from time 

 to time in accordance with traditional customs, and under the coL 

 lective authority of the heads of hou,seholds. All affaii-s relating to 

 the community as such are transacted imder the same authority, for 

 representative government is as absolutely unknown as individual 

 property in land. There are no enacted laws, and no prescribed 

 punishments. Custom is the only law, and assassination and " boy- 

 cotting " are the only sanctions. If a member of a household resists 

 the patriarchal authority, that authority is left to deal with him. If 

 a member of the community violates its customs, he is put to death 

 when the offence is serious enough, and in other cases is tabooed, or 

 isolated, or "boycotted." 



Fi'om the institution of the village community thus imperfectly 

 outlined have been developed our modern municipal government, 

 our administration of justice, and our various forms of land tenure. 

 What institutions of a social kind preceded the village community 

 need not concern us in this inquiry. We need not care whether the 

 village was the result of the fissiparous division of a nomadic horde or 

 of the aggregation into a group of a number of households. It is 



