[66] It is to be wished, that our ingenious Professor had here entered more at large into the history of property in land. The subject is important and little understood. The conceptions entertained by the antient inhabitants of Germany and Gaul concerning property have been explained and illustrated in a book, intituled, “An Historical Dissertation concerning the Antiquity of the English Constitution.” The author of this treatise seems to be the first who has remarked that land is originally the property of nations, and has attempted to account for the manner in which it comes to descend to individuals. See his Dissert. part 1. sect. 3. See also Professor Millar’s valuable work on the Distinction of Ranks in Society, p. 165. et seq. 2d edition.
[67] Cæsar, de bell. Gall. lib. 4. c. 1. Lib. 6. c. 22. Tacit. de mor. Germ. c. 26.
[68] Du Cange, Glossarium voc. Juramentum. Georgisch, corp. juris Germanici antiqui.
[69] Spelman, Gloss. voc. Lada et Ladare. Struv. Hist. jur. criminal. sect. 9.
[70] L’Esprit des loix, liv. 28. ch. 17.
[71] Georgisch, corp. juris Germanici antiqui, p. 347. and p. 368.
[72] Du Cange, Gloss. voc. Duellum. Spelman, voc. Campus. Selden’s Duello, or Treatise on Single Combat, ch. 5.
[73] Georgisch, corp. juris Germanici antiqui, p. 980, 1063, 1223, 1267, 1270.
[74] Selden, Analecta Anglo-Britannica, lib. 2. cap. 8.
[75] Brady’s Hist. of England, p. 65.