Private ownership of land rests always on one of three pleas—
1. The right of conquest: the land has been stolen or "won" by the owner or his ancestors.
2. The right of gift: the land has been received as a gift, bequest, or grant.
3. The right of purchase: the land has been bought and paid for.
Let us deal first with the rights of gift and purchase. It is manifest that no man can have a moral right to anything given or sold to him by another person who had no right to the thing given or sold.
He who buys a watch, a horse, a house, or any other article from one who has no right to the horse, or house, or watch, must render up the article to the rightful owner, and lose the price or recover it from the seller.
If a man has no moral right to own land, he can have no moral right to sell or give land.
If a man has no moral right to sell or to give land, then another man can have no moral right to keep land bought or received in gift from him.
So that to test the right of a man to land bought by or given to him, we must trace the land back to its original title.
Now, the original titles of most land rest upon conquest or theft. Either the land was won from the Saxons by William the Conqueror, and by him given in fief to his barons, or it has been stolen from the common right and "enclosed" by some lord of the manor or other brigand.
I am sorry to use the word brigand, but what would you call a man who stole your horse or watch; and it is a far greater crime to steal land.
Now, stolen land carries no title, except one devised by landlords. That is, there is no moral title.