ENGLISH LAND AND ENGLISH LANDLORDS. An Enquiry into the Origin and Character of the PUBLISHED FOR THE COBDEN CLUB BY CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & Co.: LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK. 1881. 7 PREFACE. THE present volume treats of the historical growth, the distinctive features, and the prospective development, of the English Land System. It does not purport to deal with the Scotch or Irish land systems, in so far as they differ from the English, except where these differences may be significant, for purposes of illustration. Nor does it purport to describe fully the land systems of foreign countries, though I have thought it well to introduce a concise review of the more important among these, in order to exhibit in stronger relief the unique character of the agrarian constitution established in England by the joint operation of Law and Custom. The peculiar essence of that constitution is to be found in the marked separation of the agricultural community into three classes-landlords, farmers, and labourers. Of these classes, the first is at once the most powerful, and the most typical product of the English Land System. I have, therefore, associated English Land" with English Landlords," in the title of a work chiefly designed to set forth the reciprocal influence of social and agricultural relations in the past, the present, and the future. It has been my endeavour to bring the broader and |