allodial is defined by Blackstone as "every man's own land, which he possesseth merely in his own right, without owing any rent or service to any superior."—"Commentaries," II. c. 7.
Counties were divided into Trithings, Rapes or Lathes, and these again into Hundreds or Wapentakes. These two words, "hundred" and "wapentake," used in different parts of England to denote the same division, suggest that after the Saxon conquest the lands of England were divided among each hundred fighting men, or, as we may say, every hundred spears. The Hundred or Wapentake was divided into tithings, and a tithing is sometimes spoken of as a "ville," or town, but we shall better understand the ancient ville if we think of it as a "township," for it was more than a collection of houses. The divisions into Hundreds were not equal, and the amount of land in a Hundred is not known with certainty. The hide may be estimated roughly at a hundred acres (it was sometimes more), but there could be several hundred hides in a Hundred, for Hundreds are spoken of as "single," "double," "triple," and "quadruple." Nor were there a hundred villes in a Hundred. "Never that I know," says Spelman, "are 100 villes found in any Hundred in England. Those are thought large which have 30 or 40; many have not 10, some have only 2, or even i." Blackstone says the Hundred consisted of a hundred families.[1] From all this it is clear that the Saxon system started from the tithing, and the tithing from the household.
There is little doubt that before the Conquest all lands in England were held by the custom of Gavelkind—that is, they were "partible" among all the sons. There was no primogeniture until the custom of knight's service brought it in—partly because the eldest son was the soonest able to bear arms, partly because he would perform his military service with more dignity if he held all the land. In Gavelkind, if one of the sons had died, leaving a son, that son inherited with his uncles. By the time of King John, the presumption was that all soccage lands were held by primogeniture, unless Gavelkind could be proved. But
- ↑ As ten families of freeholders made up a town or tithing, so ten tithings composed a superior division, called a "Hundred, as consisting of ten times ten families."—"Commentaries." Introduction, s. 4.
