everywhereintheworldtheadvanceofcultivationhasbeenmadethestarting-pointofprivilegedoccupationandlighttaxation。
TheRomanEmpireintroducedtheemphyteusisasacontractinfavourofthepioneersofcultivation，theFrenchfeudallawendowedthehoteshospitesonnewlyreclaimedlandwithallkindsofadvantages。Englishpracticeisnotsoexplicitonthispoint，butitisnotdifficulttogatherfromtheSurveysthatitwasnotblindtothenecessityofpatronisingagriculturalprogressandencouragingitbyfavourableterms。
Ofmol-landIhavealreadyspokeninanotherchapter。Iwillonlypointoutnowthatthisclassoftenementsappearstohavebeenaverycommonone。Thirteenthcenturysurveysoftendescribecertainholdingsintwodifferentways-onthesuppositionoftheirpayingrent，andalsoonthatoftheirrenderinglabour-services；whentheypayrenttheypaysomuch，whentheysupplylabourtheysupplysomuch。Bythesideofsuchholdings，whicharewavering，asitwere，betweenthetwosystems，wefindtheterraassisaoradcensum。Thisclass，towhichmollandevidentlybelongs，isdistinguishedfromfreetenurebythefactthatitsrentisregardedasamanorialarrangement；thereisnoformalagreementandnocharter，andthereforenoactionbeforetheking’scourtstoguardagainstdisseisinorincreaseofservices。Inpracticethedifferenceisnotfeltverykeenly，andthesetenementsgraduallycametoberegardedas’free’ineverysense。Acharacteristicfeatureofthemovementmaybenoticedintheterms’Socagiumadplacitum’and’Socagiumvillani’。56*
Theseexpressionsoccurinthedocuments，althoughtheyarenotverycommon。Itwouldbehardtoexplainthemotherwisethanfromthepointofviewindicatedjustnow。Thetenementispayingafixedandcertainrentandthereforesocage，butitisnotdefendedbyfeoffmentandcharter。Itisnotrecognisedbylaw，andthereforeitremainsatthewillofthelordandunfree。57*
Thegrantofacharterwouldraiseittothelegalstandingoffreeland。