"Since the arable land among the Romans was long cultivated upon the system of joint possession, and was not distributeduntil a comparatively late age, the idea of property was primarily associated not with immoveable estate, but with `estate inslaves and cattle' ( familia pecuniaque (6) )." "The mancipatio, originally the universal form of purchase, dates from the time,when there was no property in land, for it is primarily applicable only to objects, which are acquired by grasping with thehand." "In the earliest times the arable land was cultivated in common, probably by the several clans; each of these tilled itsown land, and thereafter distributed the produce among the several households belonging to it. There exists, in fact, anintimate connection between the system of common tillage and the clan form of society, and even subsequently in Rome,joint residence and joint husbandry were, in the case of co-proprietors of very frequent occurrence. Even the traditions ofRoman law furnish the information that wealth consisted at first in cattle and the usufruct of the soil, and that it was not tilllater that land came to be distributed among the burgesses as their own special property. (7) More reliable evidence that suchwas the case is afforded by the designation of wealth as "cattle-estate," or "slave and cattle-estate" ( pecunia , familia pecuniaque ), and of the special possessions of the children of the household, and of slaves as "lesser cattle" (peculium); alsoby the earliest form of acquiring property, the laying hold of it with the hand ( mancipatio ), which was only appropriate tothe case of moveable articles; and above all by the oldest measure of land, the "lordship" ( heredium , from herus , lord),consisting of two jugera (about an acre and a quarter), which can only have applied to garden-ground, and not to the hide.
When and how the distribution of the arable land took place, can no longer be ascertained. This much only is certain, thatthe oldest form of the constitution was based not on freehold- tenure, but on clanship as a substitute for it, while the Servianconstitution, again, presupposes the distribution of land." (8)The heredium was somewhat larger than the private enclosure of the Germans, but two jugera not being sufficient tosupport a family, it was obliged to receive a portion of the common property of the tribe or state. This common propertywas the original ager publicus , enlarged from time to time by the conquests of the kings and the republic, and at a very earlyperiod usurped by the most powerful. We can understand how this usurpation gave rise to centuries of strife, which lasted tothe time of the empire, between the patricians and plebeians. For the latter it was a question of existence. A group offamilies, forming the clan, inhabited a village, the vicus or pagus . The union of the clans formed the nation ( populus ) orState ( civitas ); the central point of the State was a fortified place or citadel ( arx ), nearly always situated on a height. Ancientcitadels of Etruscan cities, built of Cyclopean blocks, are still standing.
At the time when Roman history begins, the proprietorship of the commune had already given way to the jointproprietorship of the family ( gens ). This is the second phase in the development of property. We may see further evidence ofthe primitive collectivity of the soil, in the fact, that cattle served so long, both in Rome and in Greece, as the medium ofexchange. In the time of Cicero, fines were still reckoned in beads of oxen and sheep, according to the ancient practice.
