e subjected to the feudal tenures, and those which were possessed by
an allodial or free title. Though the latter possessions had at first
been esteemed much preferable, they were soon found, by the progressive
changes introduced into public and private law, to be of an inferior
condition to the former. The possessors of a feudal territory, united by
a regular subordination under one chief, and by the mutual attachments
of the vassals, had the same advantages over the proprietors of the
other, that a disciplined army enjoys over a dispersed multitude; and
were enabled to commit with impunity all injuries on their defenceless
neighbors Every one, therefore, hastened to seek that protection which
he found so necessary; and each allodial proprietor, resigning his
possessions into the hands of the king, or of some nobleman respected
for power or valor, received them back with the condition of feudal
services,[*] which, though a burden somewhat grievous, brought, him
ample compensation, by connecting him with the neighboring proprietors,
and placing him under the guardianship of a potent chieftain. The decay
of the political government thus necessarily occasioned the extension of
the feudal: the kingdoms of Europe were universally divided into
baronies, and these into inferior fiefs; and the attachment of vassals
to their chief, which was at first an essential part of the German
manners, was still supported by the same causes from which it at first
arose; the necessity of mutual protection, and the continued
intercourse, between the head and the members, of benefits and services.

[* Marculf. Form. 47, apud lindenbr. p. 1238,]

But there was another circumstance, which corroborated these feudal
dependencies, and tended to connect the vassals with their superior lord
by an indissoluble bond of union. The northern conquerors, as well
as the more early Greeks and Romans, embraced a policy, which is
unavoidable to all nations that have made slender advances in
refinement: they every where united the civil jurisdiction with the
military power. Law, in its commencement, was not an intricate science,
and was more governed by maxims of equity, which seem obvious to common
sense, than by numerous and subtile principles, applied to a variety
of cases by profound reasonings from analogy. An officer, though he
had passed his life in the field, was able to determine all legal
controversies which could occur within the district commi