When these primitive bodies first make their appearance as landowners, as claiming an exclusive enjoyment in a definite area of land, not only do their shares of the soil appear to have been originally equal, but a number of contrivances survive for preserving the equality, of which the most frequent is the periodical redistribution of the tribal domain." [54] Similarly Professor Hearn states: "The settlement of Europe was made by clans.

Each clan occupied a certain territory--much, I suppose, as an Australian squatter takes up new country.

The land thus occupied was distributed by metes and bounds to each branch of the clan; the remainder, if any, continuing the property of the clan." [55] And again: "In those cases where the land had been acquired by conquest there were generally some remains of the conquered population who retained more or less interest in the lands that had once been their own.

But as between the conquerors themselves it was the clansmen, and the clansmen only, who were entitled to derive any advantage from the land that the clan had acquired.

The outsiders, the men who lived with the clan but were not of the clan, were no part of the folk, and had no share in the folkland.