Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-07-20
T. C. to w. C.
LAND TENURE AND THE IRISH

ceeding to the subject assigned for this
lesson, it may not be amiss to notice
one phase of Treland's wrongs which
does not arise in Ireland. We refer to
that version of the matter which is
manipulated in this country, to enable
the Fenians and Land Leaguers to
raise money for themselves, and candi-
dates for office among us to secure the
Irish vote. When this factor has been
Cancelled out, Ireland's wrongs will be
greatly diminished.
But to enter on the subject assigned
for this lesson. Before discussing the
tenures by which lands are held, let US
examine the basis of the right to hold
lands at all. This we fi.,d to arise in
letters patent direct from God. In His
history of first things, it is said that
man received authority to replenish
the earth and subdue it. and to have
dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the fowl of the air and over every
living thing that moves on the earth, /,
and this is affirmed again and again in
various ways in other portions of the
Scriptures. Whilst inhabitants were
very few, this was right in common,
and each one took from the public
stock such things as his immediate
wants demanded.
This community of right, even in
the earliest days, referred only to the
substance Of the thing, and could not
extend to the use of it. He who began
to use thing acquired right in it,
against others, but the right of posses
sion was based on the actual occupa-
ton. In the first recorded instance OF
q sale of land, width occurred 1854
years ago, a graveyard was sold and
the burial of a dead body in it made q
perpetual occupation and right of pos
session by statute of mortmain. But
as men increased rapidly in numbers,
and still mere rapidly in fraud, avarice
and general rascality, it became neces-
sary to appropriate to individuals the
very substance of the thing used. This
was done i'm order the more completely
to carry out the object in view in CIV
ing man dominion over the earth.
namely, that it might be filled with
people and valuable products. Now
| NO man would care to improve farm
if, in case of his temporary absence.
another could take possession. In
short, SO long as the right extended
only to the use and not the substance
of the thing, people were nomadic,
and, because they were nomadic, the
right remained in that shape. The
two hung together. The latest trace
of this principle is in our Homestead
law, under which man, having set
tied on his homestead. may leave it for
time, but must he able to show n
purpose to return.
But when He who at the first gave
man right in common to the earth
wished to permanently locate a people
originally nomadic, He changed the
whole right of possession, fixed by law
every mans premises, and ordained
that, with the exception of property in
a walled town, this real estate should
he inalienable. This arrangement was
in subservience to Gods design in To-
eating the Jews in the land of Canaan.
But man was created to dwell on all
the earth, going where he can do best
for himself, and when man began to
understand the world and himself, a
change in laws became necessary so
that he might change his residence
and at the same time carry with him
the fruits of his labor and economy.
This necessarily changed the whole
land system for laws are made for
men and not men for laws, so that the
necessities of the case make the laws
that govern it without any great re-
gard for the statute on the general sub
ject. The reasoning of Blackstone on
"the origin of property" is unanswer-
able. w. e. is respectfully referred to
him for information.
AS we wish to instruct, we will de-
fine as we go. "Tenure" means the
mode of holding prop rty, and from
the beginning of the world to this day
there have been two modes of tenure.
First, the Feudal, which vested the
dominion of the soil more or less di-
rectly in the king or crown, and ulade
q right to the use and profits of the
soil, called seizin, the highest right a
subject could acquire. Second, the AL
lodial, which gives the owner entire
and irresponsible dominion over the
substance, as well as the use of the
land, SO that he can dispose of it at his
own pleasure or leave it as an inherit
ance to his children.
1t is very interesting study to as
certain in how far the ele nents of the
feudal system existed in the Saxon in
stitutions, and how the aliodial strug-
gled with the feudal system, until,
weary with the strife, the former with
drew from the Old World to the New