FOLCLAND (Sax.). Land of the people. Spelman, Gloss. Said by Black- stone to be land held by no assurance in writing, but to have been distributed amongst the common people at the pleasure of the lord, and resumable at his discre- tion. 2 Bla. Com. 90; Cowel. It was, however, probably, land which belonged to the community, and which, being parcelled out for a term to people of all conditions, reverted again to the com- mons at the expiration of the term. 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 8; Whart. Law Dict., 2d Lond. ed. The subject of land-tenure among the Anglo-Sax- ons is very obscure. Doubtless all land was origi- nally held in common by the tribe or kingdom, and out of this after a time portions of it were disposed of to individuals. Individual ownership was gen- erally designated by the term alod, which com- prised original allotments which had the name ethel, and those which were carved out of the common lands by grant or charter. The tenure of the latter was designated by the term bocland, which is de- scribed as "land which is held under a book, under a privilegium, modelled on Roman precedents, ex- pressed in Latin words, armed with ecclesiastical sanctions, and making for alienation and individ- ualism." 8 Eng. Hist. Rev. 1-17. The folcland which was not granted as bocland could be let out for temporary occupation as laenland. A late theory maintained, in the review quoted, by Dr. Vinogra doff is that folcland indicated an estate, not belong- ing to the folk, but held by folk-right or customary law, and not subject to disposition of the holder. id. Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 16. On this theory the modern copy-holders are termed the historical successors of the owners of folcland; id. 86; Pol- lock, Land Laws 48. Nothing is certain except that the terms referred to were used, but their precise scope is the merest speculation, and successive writers Invent new theories with the freedom which is invited by the lack of definite historical or docu- mentary information. The subject affords ample scope for theorizing, as most of what is written up- on the subject is of this character, and it is said that the word folkland is only found technically used three times in Anglo-Saxon documents. The theory of Vinogradoff, above stated is earn- estly supported by Professor Maitland, in his Domesday Book and Beyond (which appears while this article is still in press). He says, referring to the author cited: "His argument has convinced us: but as it is still new we will take leave to re peat it with some few additions of our own." The subject of book-land and folk-land is elaborately discussed and the three documents in which the latter word occurs, as above stated, are fully de scribed. The conclusion is thus stated: "Land, it would seem, is either book-land or folk-land. Book- land, is land held by book, by a royal and ecclesias tical privilegium. Folk-land is land held without book, by unwritten title, by the folk-law. Folk- land, is the term which modern historians have re- jected in favour of the outlandish alod. The holder of folk-land is a free land owner, though at an early date the king discovers that over him and his land there exists an alienablesuperiority. Partly by alien- ations of this superiority, partly perhaps by gifts of land of which the king is himself the owner, book- land is created. Edward's law speaks as though it were dealing with two different kinds of land. But really it is dealing with two different kinds of title the same land might be both book-land and folk-land, the book-land of the minster, the folk- land of the free men who were holding, not indeed 'of' but still 'under' the minster. They or their ancestors had held under the king, but the king had booked their land (which also in a certain sense was his land) to a church. Bookland is a briefer term than 'land held by book-right'; 'folk- land is a briefer term than 'land held by folk-right.' The same piece of land may be held by book-right and by folk-right; it may be book-land and folk- land too." See Medley, Eng. Const. Hist. 16; Stubbs, Const. Hist. 36; 1 Poll. and Maitl. 88; Kemble, Sax. in Eng. 306; Lodge, Essays in Anglo Saxon Law 68; Mait land, Domesday Book 226, 258.