The nomination of Hernismeesters was effected annually by an election consisting of two steps. The inhabitants ofSaintBavon had to choose four electors. These drew up a list of eight of the principal persons, out of whom the bailiff, the écoutète and aldermen, selected the four Hernismeesters . These functionaries took oath on entering upon their office. Nohorned cattle were allowed on the two Hernisses, unless they had calved since the first of January. The right of a descendantof such as were inhabitants of Saint-Bavon in 1578 to depasture a cow on the Hernisse was inalienable. If the descendant ofan inhabitant of Saint-Bavon (a vreye Bavenaer ) returned to the territory of Saint-Bayou, and dwelt in a free house situatedin SaintBavon ( in een vry huis staende op Sint-Baefs ). he might send one cow on to the common pasture (Art. 8 of theregulation of May 7, 1707). Finally, to fill the office of Hernismeester , it was necessary to be entitled in one's own right tosend a cow on to the Hernisse, that is to be one's self a vreye Bavenaer. (9) In a recent suit the right of enjoyment of theHernisse has not been recognized by the tribunals, because the civil code allows no right of a similar nature.
Merlin, in his Répertoire , under the word Bouillion , mentioning what Caesar says of the periodic partition of lands amongthe Germans, tells us, "This custom had been preserved in the duchy of Bouillon, so that the majority of the inhabitants evennow bold very little land in private ownership. The sovereign possesses a considerable extent of land which entirelysurrounds the duchy. This land is called the Ban-l'évêque , because the Bishops of Liége had the enjoyment of it so long asthey retained the duchy of Bouillon."
"This Ban , though forming part of the domain, is not cultivated or enclosed by the prince. The commissaries-general of hiscouncil distribute every year to the inhabitants of each village, a portion of the Ban-l'Evêque proportioned to the conditionof each family. This distribution is altered every year. They give every inhabitant a different portion every year from thatwhich he had the previous year. The distributions are called virées, because they change each year. There are also virées àbois , or distributions of woods.
"The inhabitants are not owners of the lands and woods, which are distributed to them in the virées: they have only the rightof cultivation and user for the period for which they are granted. The lands which are so distributed to them do not yield twoyears together. They are cultivated for one year, and then left to rest for sixteen or seventeen, or sometimes even eighteenyears, these lands not having the manure necessary for their fertilization."In certain communes of the Ardennes these virées are still in use at the present time. A portion of the communal territory isdivided into a number of parts equal to the nnmber of years necessary to allow the herbage removed by the écobuage togrow again. One of these portions is taken each year, and divided into as many parcels as there are households in thecommune. These parcels are distributed by lot among the commoners, and assigned temporarily to those to whom they fall.
Every one then removes the herbage from the surface. It is left to dry in the sun, and then is burned; and the ashes are spreadon the ground. This dressing enables a crop of rye to be obtained. The following year parcels are assigned by lot in a secondportion; and the same operation is carried on. But while rye is sown on the second parcel, the commoner may plant potatoeson his first parcel. The next year a new parcel is obtained by lot for the rye-crop, while the second parcel, which has yieldedpotatoes, is sown with broom. By this method every household has always three parcels bearing some crop: one sown withrye, a seoond bearing potatoes, and a third giving broom. This last plant is used by way of litter for the cattle in its firstyear's growth. After that it is left to grow for firewood. After the broom is cut the herbage re-appears on the surface, andthen furze; and at the end of eighteen or twenty years it is again subjected to essartage. The whole of the communal territoryis thus cultivated in turn, being allotted in private, though temporary, ownership.
This is exactly the system of agriculture described by Tacitus: "They change their field every year, and there is always land inreserve," and by Caesar, de Bello Gallico , vi. 22: "No one has enclosed fields or land in private ownership; but themagistrates and chiefs assign each year lands in such places and in such quantity as they think fit to the gentes and familiesliving in community. The next year the magistrates make them remove elsewhere."The portion of the communal land that is not allotted, and that which has returned to fallow, serves as common pasturagefor the commoners' cattle. The produce of the communal woods is also divided among them.
The following rules generally govern the distribution of the right of user.
Every year a list is drawn up of persons who have lived in the commune for a year, and had a separate hearth or household.
This is called the list of the affouagers . The division of the woods, and the distribution of broom, litter, &c., is effected inequal lots among the affouagers , without regard to the importance of their families, or to their requirements or necessities.
Sometimes the communes divide the temporary enjoyment of the communal lands among the inhabitants. For this purposeequal parcels are formed, and distributed by way of lot among the affouagers .
