Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/59

 Ch. 4. the Viigoths on Spain, and the Lombards upon Italy, and introduced with themelves this northern plan of polity, erving at once to ditribute, and to protect, the territories they had newly gained. And from hence it is probable that the emperor Alexander Severus took the hint, of dividing lands conquered from the enemy among his generals and victorious oldiery, on condition of receiving military ervice from them and their heirs for ever.

had thee northern conquerors etablihed themelves in their new dominions, when the widom of their contitutions, as well as their peronal valour, alarmed all the princes of Europe; that is, of thoe countries which had formerly been Roman provinces, but had revolted, or were deerted by their old maters, in the general wreck of the empire. Wherefore mot, if not all, of them thought it neceary to enter into the lame or a imilar plan of policy. For whereas, before, the poeions of their ubjects were perfectly allodial; (that is, wholly independent, and held of no uperior at all) now they parcelled out their royal territories, or peruaded their ubjects to urrender up and retake their own landed property, under the like feodal obligation of military fealty. And thus, in the compas of a very few years, the feodal contitution, or the doctrine of tenure, extended itelf over all the wetern world. Which alteration of landed property, in o very material a point, necearily drew after it an alteration of laws and cutoms: o that the feodal laws oon drove out the Roman, which had hitherto univerally obtained, but now became for many centuries lot and forgotten; and Italy itelf (as ome of the civilians, with more pleen than judgment, have expreed it) belluinas, atque ferinas, immaneque Longobardorum leges accepit. Rh