( 337 = 71 ) ' 
ENGLISH LAND LAW. 
, CHAPTER I. 
Succession and Ownership of Land. 
IB soil of England is divided at the present time, according to 
ecent Parliamentary Return, among some 250,000 landholders, 
addition to a much larger class, numbering about 671,000, 
lo own less than one acre each of what may be called the most 
luable of all the subjects of possession. In this sense, at least, 
"may be called the most valuable, that there is nothing else 
» ich represents so large an amount of capital in proportion to 
: ' yearly profits to be derived from it ; and it is obvious thai 
1 neans of investment, which attracts capital at a less rate of 
erest than any other, must necessarily possess unique and 
rinsic advantages of its own. The nature and reality of 
ise advantages belong to a question of political economy, 
I discussion of which would be out of place in the present 
iDer, in which it is proposed to consider very briefly the laws 
* which the succession to and the ownership of this valuable 
i session are at present regulated in England, and to trace 
rtly the history of their past development. 
t is the peculiarity of English law that any absolute owner- Feudal tenure. 
1 p of the soil is, theoretically, a thing unknown. All Sovereign 
' tes are regarded as possessing over their own territory the 
ght of eminent domain " (domaine eminent), which is the 
jae given by jurists to the paramount power possessed by the 
\i of every State of disposing, in case of necessity or for 
i public safety, of all the land, private property or not, within 
limits. But in addition to this right, the introduction of the 
iilal system into England vested the ultimate seignory or lord- 
) of all the soil in the Sovereign personally ; and all that a 
lowner can even now possess is, in theory, some portion of 
(^Sovereign's right, ceded either tacitly or expressly at the time 
2 B 2 
