14 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



of lots or " hill-paits," and each proprietor has his part 

 or parts assigned to him by lot. After the portion of 

 the common thus sub-divided has been cultivated for 

 the term of years prescribed, it is laid down in grass, 

 and another portion of the common is then marked off, 

 divided among the proprietors of burgess-acres, and 

 cultivated by them for another rotation, at the end of 

 which the same process is repeated. The extent of the 

 common is over 1700 acres. More than 500 acres have 

 been at some time or other under cultivation as " hill- 

 parts." A portion of this, averaging nearly 100 acres, is 

 under cultivation year by year. The owners of burgess- 

 acres, and burgesses, may claim one " hill-part " for every 

 "acre" owned by them, and the "hill-parts" may be 

 let under the provision that they are cultivated on the 

 conditions laid down by the Town Council. The right 

 of grazing on the remainder of the common is confined 

 to resident burgesses and resident widows of burgesses, 

 and the right is not transferable by letting or other- 

 wise. 



In recent years attention has been directed to the 



" famous burghal community of Lauder " 

 Mr Q. L. by Mr G. L. Gomme in " The Village 

 Qomme. Community," and by Sir Henry Maine in 



" Village Communities." Mr Gomme in his 

 reference and remarks shows very imperfect knowledge 

 of the facts regarding this " famous " community. He 

 asserts, on the authority of the local reports of the 

 municipal corporation commissioners, that "the earliest 

 recorded number of burgesses at Lauder was 315. A 

 new division took place in 1744, and the number then 

 was 105. In 1816 there were 48. In 1835 there were 

 25." The late Robert Romanes, town clerk of Lauder, 

 has stated in his notes that "there never were 315 

 burgesses at one time, and there was no new division 

 in 1744 There never could be any such division of 

 burgesses, and there was no re-division of burgess-acres. 



