Such are the four passages which Maurer finds, or thinks he finds, in German law; and he can only use them in support of his theory by misinterpreting them. The whole body of German law is, in fact, a law in which private property reigns supreme. Look at the Burgundian law, and you will find mention of corn fields which are enclosed, and even of meadows; the forest itself is an object of private property. “If a Burgundian or a Roman possess no forest, he may take dead wood _from the forest of another_, and he _to whom the forest belongs_, shall not hinder him; but if he takes a tree bearing fruit, he shall pay a fine to the owner, _domino silvæ_.”[79] A right of use, limited besides to dead wood, is not the same thing as common ownership. It will be noticed also that the term used in the code for a country domain is _villa_, with its boundaries, _termini villæ_.[80] Even the lands given by the king to his servants are marked off by definite boundaries.[81] These boundaries are sacred; the Burgundian law-giver lays down that any one who removes a boundary shall lose his hand. It never for a moment entered into the minds of the Burgundians to establish agrarian communism. In the law of the Visigoths, we find men who own vineyards, fields, meadows, and even pasturage and forests.[82] Land is hereditary property; and there is an entire section upon the division of landed possessions amongst co-heirs, as well as one on the boundaries of private estates. It is the same throughout the Lombard law; the right of ownership applies to everything, even to forests.[83] The owner of the land--_dominus_--has the right of selling it.[84] He can also let it on lease, _libellario nomine_. The Salic law is a much less complete code than those we have been considering. It makes no mention of sale; but it contains the rule of hereditary succession. Land passes from father to son.[85] We also find enclosed corn fields and meadows,--a state of things hardly to be reconciled with community of land;[86] there are even forests which are one man’s property, and where no one has the right of getting wood.[87] The Ripuarian law indicates the use of hedges and enclosures; it recognises the right of hereditary succession to land, and also the power of disposing of it by sale.[88] All these are unmistakable signs of the prevalence of private ownership.