Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/448

 434 ///. THE COLONIAL PERIOD the improvement of land.^ Land was therefore divided ^ by the towns or by the bodies of proprietors into fields, called " squadrons " in Worcester, " furlongs " in Middletown, these were subdivided into smaller strips ranging from one acre ^ to forty or more in size. Various methods were em- ployed for obtaining equality,* and every effort was made to hasten cultivation and to increase industry. Removal was discouraged by liability to forfeiture ; ^ alienation was limited by laws common to nearly every town in New England ; ® the still is) to a condition fit for tillage and Profit should also joyntly and share in the advantages that arise from this their Conquest and Indus- try and accordingly the first Planters did devide the lands thus obtained among themselves," etc. " An Act for the Settlement of Intestate Es- tates," Conn. State Archives, Foreign Correspondence, II 146, Cf. Tal- cott Papers, I, 148. " It is a fundamental agreement that all lands whether upland, meadow or home lotts should be made equal, that if it was not equall to other mens in the quality of it it should be made up in quantity, or if it unequall in distance of place it should be made equall in quantity also. So that where you find any parcell to exceed in number of acres more than it is charged with rate you may know that it is allowed for satisfaction to equall his lands to other mens." Milford Mss. Town Records, Dec. 28, 1646. For all the extracts from the Milford Town Records I am indebted to Miss J. L. Brownell. ^ " It was inhabitants and not land that was wanting." Talcott Papers I, p. 145, Cf. Conn. Col. Bee. II, pp. 185, 187. Palfrey estimates the value of land in 1713 at 6 farthings an acre. History of New Eng- land, IV, p. 364. One system was new, the other old. But by curving the allotted strips, by running the shots and fields a little more irregularly, by throwing in a few gores and headlands, we should have what would be in its main features the same system. ' " It is agreed by vote that the remainder of the Dreadful Swamp . . . shall be laid out into acre lotts." Milford Town Records, I, p. 62. determined not only by the amount of money subscribed to the pur- chase of the lands but also by the number of heads in each family. I have discussed the " Purchase Right " at some length in " Die Stadt in Neu-England," and have endeavored to show that its scattered character was due to the desire to obtain equality. This principle permeated the system as the following will show : " Ordered that in this division every one shall have his division in two places, half in the nearest field and the other half in the furthest." Milford Town Records, I, p. 10. " The field was divided into two parts lengthwise and the order of holders in one tier would be reversed in the other thus making the distribution more equal." River Towns of Connecticut, pp. 44-45, J. H. U. Studies, VII. " Rules to this effect are to be found in every book of Town Records. Milford Town Records, I, p. 13. River Towns, p. 50. • " Ordered that no man shall sell his house but first he must pro- pound his person and chapman to the town and within twenty days after his propounding it the town to answer his desire to take it off or
 * ' shots " in Milford, and " quarters " in New Haven, and
 * There was greater regularity and uniformity than in England.
 * The " Purchase Right " which each proprietor had in the town was