Page:Landholding in England.djvu/47

 been able to claim "by title paramount." The oddest thing is that B was not necessarily the man to whom A wanted to sell. It might be that A only wished B to reconvey the land to himself, by which means A would get it in fee-simple, and could do as he pleased with it. In later times there was not even the formality of actually going through this farce—the several incidents of it were stated on a "record"—the appearance of C, the mysterious imparlment, C's disappearance and all—and it did quite as well. But, ridiculous as it must seem, this farce had the good effect of giving a man a clear title. Taltarum's case is usually quoted by lawyers as the one which made this method of barring entails an avowedly legal process; but it obtained before, and it certainly says a good deal for the honesty of B and C that no one ever seems to have tried to take the fiction seriously, and remain in possession. Of course, the whole neighbourhood where A's land lay would know the facts of the case, but if B had chosen to cleave to the estate, it would have been exceedingly difficult for the Common Law to touch him. Sir F. Pollock says: "It is possible that in the earlier days of common recoveries everything was really left to his honour."

Primogeniture, in becoming all but universal, did not take the people off the land in the fifteenth century—that is, in the days of fixed tenures, and rents which were never "enhanced." It had, however, one very mischievous consequence, which Mr Rogers calls "the institution of the Younger Son." Under an unequal division of the land, the younger son was a hanger-on of his elder brother. He had to be provided for in some other way than by giving him a part of the paternal estate. Rogers goes so far as to say that "the great war with France was waged in the interest of the younger son." He certainly got the most out of it, and his presence made it easier to carry it on, for he would come bringing with him a goodly number of his brother's tenants. It is a great mistake to suppose that