FOLKLAND (f olcland) . This term occurs three times in Anglo-Saxon documents. In a law of Edward the Elder (c. i. 2) it is contrasted with bookland in a way which shows that these two kinds of tenure formed the two main subdivisions of land ownership: no one is to deny right to another in respect of folk land or bookland. By a charter of 863, King Aethelbert ex changes -five hides of folkland for five hides of bookland which had formerly belonged to a thane, granting the latter for the newly-acquired estates exemption from all fiscal exactions except the threefold public obligation of attending the fyrd and joining in the repair of fortresses and bridges. Evidently folkland was not free from the payment of gafol (land tax) and providing quarters for the king's men. In Ealdorman Alfred's will the tes tator disposes freely of his bookland estates in favour of his sons and his daughter, but to a son who is not considered as legitimate five hides of folkland are left, provided the king consents. It is probable that folkland is meant in two or three cases when Latin documents speak of terra rei publicae iure possess˘.
Two principal explanations have been given to this term. Allen thought that folkland was the common property of the nation (f o/c), out of which the king could carve dependent tenures for his followers more or less after the fashion of continental bene ficia. These estates remained subject to the superior ownership of the folk and of the king: they could eventually be taken back by the latter and, in any case, the heir of a holder of folkland had to be confirmed in possession by the king. Kemble and Stubbs, among others, followed Allen's lead.
Another theory was started by Professor Vinogradoff in It considers folkland as landownership by folkright—at common law, as might be said in modern legal speech. In opposition to it bookland appears as landownership derived from royal privileges. The incidents recorded in the charters characterize folkland as subject to ordinary fiscal burdens and to limitations in respect of testamentary succession. Conversely, "bookland," land held under a royal charter, was normally free from fiscal dues and could be bequeathed at its holder's will. This view of the matter, has been accepted by the chief modern authorities.
(P. VI)