Odalism

But the King's sagacity had found the pear not ripe — Odalism was sick, but not dead — the project was deferred, and no open attempt was renewed to feudalize the Islands for another generation.

Odalism had this peculiarity: that by whatever means the primal occupant obtained his lands, these descended, free of all service, to his descendants. But we could never understand why an Odaller, who rested on such right alone, should complain if his neighbour, coveting his vineyard, should, by the strong hand, oust him from his allodium.

I therefore pass by the long tale of oppression in the islands under Scottish rule, the subversion of the native laws, the imposition of the feudal system upon the odalism of the north, the appropriation of the greater part of the land by adventurers from Scotland; in short, the ruin of the native race.