Among the Aztecs, as among all the North American Indians, the gens is the primordial element of the tribe; and theconfederation of tribes forms the nation. It is exactly the same with them as with the Germans or the Celia at the time of theBrehons. The rights and obligations among the members of the gens were the following:a reciprocal right of inheritance orcommon possession of the landed property; a common burial place; joint responsibility for crimes; obligations of mutualassistance; election of the chief or sachem; and equality of all in the council. None of the Indian tribes has arrived at thenotion of exclusive property as applied to the soil. The Iroquois constructed large houses, more than a hundred feet inlength, which were inhabited by ten or fifteen families, living together in common on the produce of the chase. Caleb Swami,who visited the Creek Indians in 1793, remarks that the smallest of `their towns contained thirty or forty houses, in groupsof from five to eight; and in each group dwelt a clan, living and eating in common. Lewis and Clarke mention the same ofthe Columbian Indians. Mr Stephen says that in Yucatan these communities each contain a hundred labourers, who cultivatethe land in common, and divide its produce among them. (7)Among certain tribes of Russian America, all the men live in the same building. (8) Among the Caribbees, at the time of thediscovery of their island, property and even produce were common; (9) all laboured and ate together. The same custom isfound in the Aleoutian (10) islands, and among the Indians on the banks of the Orenoco. (11)In Peru, the soil was divided into three parts. One of these parts was devoted to the maintenance of religion; the second tothat of the sovereign and government; and the third was divided among the cultivators. When a young man married, a housewas built for him and a lot of earth assigned to him. A supplementary portion was given him at the birth of each child: theportion for a male child being twice as great as for a female. Re-distribution was executed every year in proportion to thenumber of members composing each family. The lands of the nobles, or curacas , were also submitted to partition; but theyreceived a share in proportion with their dignity. As in Java, works of a permanent nature, requiring large expenditure oflabour were executed in common by the inhabitants of the villages. This is how the irrigation canals, which struck theSpanish conquerors with astonishment, were dug; and also the terraces, arranged in steps, on the side of the hills, whichallowed rich harvests to be obtained on steep and rocky slopes. Idleness was regarded as a crime, and punished as such.
Mendicity was forbidden. All who could not labour received assistance; but every able-bodied man had to procure the meansof satisfying his wants. Spanish historians tell us that ambition, avarice, and the appetite for change were all unknown. Thelabourers passed their lives in submission to custom, tradition, and authority. The gentleness of their character, and theirpassive obedience recall the character of the Russian peasant. The same institutions produce among all races similarresults. (12)
Among the ancient Britons, the land was common property, and a new partition of lands took place whenever the floodscarried away any portion of the domain. Among the Anglo-Saxons, conquered lands were the common property of thenation, whence it took its name folkland , or land of the people, ager publicus in opposition to private domain, or bokland ,land inrolled in the book.
In the north of France, in Flanders, in Artois and in the bishopric of Metz, the marshy lands were also periodically dividedamong the joint owners. In Switzerland, the allmends were and still are common lands, sometimes divided among theinhabitants, and sometimes let for a rent which is divided among them. Among the Hebrews, the land was the collectiveproperty of the family, and was, in some degree, inalienable, as every fifty years property which had been sold was restoredto its old proprietor.
In Wallachia, the land did not devolve by succession in families. It belonged to the State, the State alone having the absolute dominium . The soil was divided into two parts:that of the terrani , and that of which the produce belonged to theCommune; this latter, the ager publicus , was cultivated by the labour of all in common. The terrani alone were entitled tothe property of the commune; they had no ownership in it, but only possession. At the death of persons entitled, the familydid not succeed; but the property returned to the collective domain, and was allotted afresh to occupiers. It was thusnecessary to have recourse from time to time to a new partition. In course of time the strong usurped possession of the soil,and appropriated to their own purposes the labour of the peasants, in the form of corvées .
Among the Afghans, there is the same collective domain of the village, divided among the inhabitants by a periodic partition.
Some of the customs are so similar to those of the Hebrews, that they have been supposed to be borrowed from that people.
