The oldest tenure by which land was held was that by the tribe in common. When the tribes passed from the hunting and nomad state to the pastoral, and became possessed of large herds of cattle, it was a natural consequence that each tribe should appropriate a special territory for their better management. The whole of the regulation of these ancient laws is evidently based upon the fact that cattle formed the principal property of the original tribes; and long after individual property in land had become an essential element in the constitution of the tribe, cattle still formed the standard of value by which everything was estimated. That a right of individual property in the cattle existed at a very early period seems very evident, but the land on which they were pastured was the common property of the tribe, and, after the cultivation of land began, the arable land was annually divided into lots, to one of which each member of the tribe had a right. The special district occupied by the tribe would thus consist of pasture land held by the tribe in common, on which each member had a right to pasture the cattle which belonged to him; arable land divided into lots which were annually or at certain periods assigned to him; and unoccupied and waste land remaining as the common property of the tribe. [Sidenote: Distinction of ranks in the tribe.] These rights belonged, however, to the proper members of the tribe only, who were as such on an equality with each other; but there soon came, from other external influences, to be a distinction between those dwelling within the bounds of the _Tuath_ of _Saor_ or free, and _Daor_ or unfree. The freemen of the tribe were alone recognised as possessing rights derived from the original constitution of the tribe. The origin of the class of the unfree is thus stated in connection with the legendary history of Ireland:—‘The first race of them were the remnant of the Firbolg themselves, together with the remnant of the Tuath De Danaan,’ the legendary people who preceded the Milesian Scots. ‘The second race, the people who passed from their own countries, they being descended from _Saor chlann_ (or free tribes), who went under _Daor-chios_ (servile rent) to another tribe. The third people were the race of the _Saor chlann_, whose land was converted into _Fearann-chlaidhimh_ (sword-land or conquered country) in their own territory, and who remained in it in bondage under the power of their enemies. The fourth race were people of _Saor chlann_ who passed into bondage for their evil deeds, and who lost their blood and their land through their evil deeds, according to the law. The fifth people were those who came from stranger soldiers, _i.e_. from external mercenaries who left property in Erin. The sixth race were the people who were descended from the bondmen who came with the Milesians into Erin,’ that is, who and their forefathers had always been bondsmen.[161] [Sidenote: The _Ri_ or king.]