"There is also the case of Soignies, in 1142 (Wauters, Preuves , p. 19) ; of Montigny-sur-Sambre, in 1253 (Ibid. p. 182); ofSt Trond, in 1324 ( Cart. de St Trond , I. p. 462), etc. (2)"We must guard against the idea that these communal lands were only the remnant of a primitive state of things, to whichhardly any importance was attached. The Keure de Grammont , 1068 (Warnkönig II. 2, 163), will shew the contrary. Thistown, as we know, was founded by Baldwin VI. on an allod, which had belonged to a certain Gerard; but this land beinginsufficient, the Count granted the town as a fief to the Lord of Bouilaere, and he, in exchange, provided the new city withthe pasturage that it required: `In recompensationem feudi praenominati, Balduino comitis ad usus GeraldimontensiumBuzemont, sicut ipse possedit, et Cortelake et pasturam (all the pastures are here enumerated) addidit insuper quodquibuscumque aquis et pascuis homines sui uterentur, liceret Geraldimontensibus uti communiter.'
"Similarly, at Douay, in 1241 (Warnk. ii. 2, p. 261), the Count of Flanders recognized the right of the burgesses to thepasture and marsh land surrounding the town; they are entitled to take whatever is necessary for their personal use, withoutany charge: ` car ils n'estoient tenus anchiennement en nulle cose pour chou. ' The Count, moreover, engages not to give anyone any part whatsoever of those pastures, over which the inhabitants of Douay have an absolute right, nor to allow theirenclosure."
In a Soignies document, of the date 1248 A. D., we learn that, in case of a transfer of property, the land was surrenderedinto the hands of the mayor, who alone could invest the new occupant. "All the lands of the commune must be conveyedinto his hands for him ` desireter et aireter .'" (3)At Louvain the adhérance and desheritance of allodial lands was effected by the mayor in presence of the aldermen, tanquam allodii consortes , assisted by two of the fellow allodial proprietors, with symbolical ceremonies, cum cespite etramo . The alienor began by consigning ( supportare ) the property into the hands of the mayor; then the two allodial "peers"pronounced the adjudication to the new purchaser, to whom the mayor surrendered the property "by branch and clod." (4) This is evidently a relic of the primitive period, when the chief of the commune presided over the partition and distributed toeach member his share in the communal domain. The cooccupants are often called " parcheniers ," or " parceniers ," as havinga part or share in the lands of the commune. In the coal district we find collective property applied to coal-mines, (5) of whichthe " parceniers " have the use.
We have no ancient documents to shew how private ownership of land was developed in Belgium, but the appearance ofcertain villages gives us some insight into the subject. The houses are arranged in a line along the road. Behind each housestretches a long strip of ground, which is nothing but the terra salica,the appendage of the izba in Russia, which has beengradually enlarged at the expense of the common mark. (6) The best preserved type of this archaic form is the village ofStaphorst, to the north of Zwolle in Over-Yssel. In Flanders, when industry developed and the population increased,intensive agriculture was introduced, and with it private property. When a man had improved and manured land, he strove toretain it, and such improvements in Flanders date from the earliest times of the Middle Ages. (7) The town of Termondeprobably once had a common mark , for it possessed large herds of swine, sheep and goats. The ancient regulations forbidthe inhabitants to let their sows run about in the streets of the town; the young pigs may be sent out in herds, under the careof the herdsman. Whoever maims one accidentally pays a fine. (8)There was to be found quite lately at Ghent, on a pasturage which had evidently been a mark , a right of user altogetherexceptional, inasmuch as the commoners had quitted the locality where the right had been established. This pasturage wascalled Hernisse , and had an area of about 50 hectares . Regulations issued by the bailiffs, auditors and aldermen, derherrlykheid, roede ende vierschaere van Sinte Baefs , shew that the meadows were formerly subject to a right of a peculiarnature, recalling that of the Swiss Allmends . The right of depasturing beasts at certain periods, alternately on the meadowsof the "great Hernisse" and "little Hernisse," was recognized by a regulation of 1572, solely for the benefit of certain personswho were inhabitants of the commune of Saint-Bavon in 1578, when the territory of Saint-Bavon was comprised in the newcircle, of fortifications of Ghent, though still retaining a distinct magistracy. To keep up the number originally fixed,well-todo inhabitants of. the magistracy of Saint-Bavon might be allowed to fill vacancies, if they could shew each step oftheir descent through inhabitants of Saint-Bavon from ancestors who were inhabitants in 1578, and who at that datepossessed the qualifications of proprietors. In order to the strict observation of this rule, it was ordained that personsqualified should be entered, by the Hernismeesters (Masters of the Hernisse), in a special register, with a declaration on oathof their birth and parentage.
