Page:The Gaelic State in the Past & Future.djvu/29

 seem that the grants were not made to individuals, but to the heads of families, the kindred being a unit within the stateship as the stateship was a unit within the State. But the right of the individual to the use of land none could withhold; it was his title as a freeman, and was implanted in the heritage of his thoughts and instincts.

Land, and its free possession by the people, were thus the foundation on which the whole structure of the State was built. Power always derived thence and always returned thither again, as surely as water must find its own level.

The divisions of rank among the freemen were mainly ranks of responsibility, with corresponding privileges attached to each rank. The Nobles, for instance, were clearly executive officers of the stateship. They held land from which they could not be dispossessed in any re-distribution that might be necessary. That is to say, they could not be dispossessed of land until they were first dispossessed of their rank, and that would first involve a legal action; but on the other hand they were responsible for the use of that land to the stateship, and could not sell or hire that use to any member of another stateship without permission.

The two chief executive officers were the King of the stateship and (to employ a word that is not so modern as it appears) the mayors of townships. The King was elected by all the freemen in assembly, but their choice was limited to selection from a kingly household, the righ-damhna. He had, sitting in court, the power of capital punishment,