Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/753

 THE CITY IN HISTORY 737

rights. Not until late in their history was any attempt made to develop the distinctive municipal services with which we associ- ate the modern city. No public water supply, no public drainage or lighting system, no sanitary regulations; in a word, nothing to remind us of the purely public or governmental side of the city's activity. On the other hand, innumerable regulations con- cerning trade and industry, prescribing with great minuteness every detail in the industrial activity of the individual, seem to have occupied the attention of the local authorities. Those who were fortunate enough to be parties to the original privileges were naturally anxious to assure exclusive enjoyment to themselves and to their posterity. Active participation in the benefits of these privileges was the mark of citizenship ; strangers were admitted as a matter of grace. The idea of political rights was the product of a much later period. The city authorities not merely regulated, but were the leading spirits in the trade and commerce of the town. In many cases the city had the first option on all goods offered for sale. A curious trait of the policy of the mediseval towns was the strong desire to protect the consumer as against the exactions of the producer. The price, time, and place of sale were fixed for every class of goods. The few foreign merchants who were permitted entry into the city markets were carefully watched, the supervision of the public authority often extending to the assignment of their dwelling place.

The contrast between mediaeval and modern citizenship is readily explained when we keep in mind that the former carried with it certain specific economic advantages, quite as definite as membership in the modern business corporation. It is no wonder, therefore, that citizenship became a marketable, inherit- able property right. In some cases it could be acquired by ownership of land within the limits of the town or by serving an apprenticeship in one of the trades under guild regulation. But in every case the extension of citizenship was under the control of the town authorities. The usual methods of acquiring full mem- bership in the community were, first, through inheritance ; second, through gift from the municipality ; third, through purchase.