“And thus from the latter half of the 17th century down to the present day (May 9, 1881) have the proprietors of Sandwich Town Neck regulated the use of their old common field. Every year they have met together in the Spring to determine when the fences should be set up and how the pasture should be stinted. The old Commoners’ records are for the most part still in existence as far back as the year 1693, and before this time the town records are full of agrarian legislation, for the Town Neck was then virtually town property. There arose in Sandwich and in every New England village community the same strife between old residents and new comers, as between the Patricians and Plebeians of ancient Rome. The old settlers claimed a monopoly of public land, and the new comers demanded a share. In most old New England towns the heirs of original settlers or of citizens living in the community at a specified date retained a monopoly of the common lands for many years until finally compelled by force of public opinion to cede their claims to the town. In Sandwich, however, a vestige of the old system has survived to this day. Every Spring, for many years, has appeared a public notice (I saw one in the _Seaside Press_, May 8, 1880) calling together the proprietors of the Town Neck at some store in the village to choose a moderator and a clerk, and to regulate the letting of cow rights for the ensuing year.... “There were for many years in the town of Salem certain common fields owned by associated proprietors just as in the case of Sandwich Town Neck. Such were the north and south fields in Salem. The old Commoners’ records of the south fields are still preserved in the library of the Essex Institute, and date as far back as 1680. Under the date of October 14th of that year, I find the following: ‘Voted that the proprietors have liberty to put in cattle for herbage--that is to say 6 cows, 4 oxen, 3 horses or yearlings, or 24 calves to 10 acres of land, and so in proportion to greater or less quantities of land; and no person shall cut or strip their Indian corn stalks after they have gathered their corn, on penalty of forfeiting herbage.’ “The so-called great pastures of Salem, some 300 acres, are to this day owned and managed by a small company of proprietors in common, of whom Dr. Wheatland of the Essex Institute has been for some years the clerk. He has in his hands the records of the proprietory, extending back for many years. “These records are full of old time regulations in regard to common fencing, common pasturage, cow commons, sheep commons and the like.” (“The Germanic Origin of New England Towns” p. 33.)