In every state the constitution of which was grounded on a certain number of houses, a commonalty grew up or subsisted by the side of the burghers or of the freeholders. They who belonged to this commonalty, were not only recognized as freemen, but also as fellow-countrymen: they received like succour against foreigners, were under the protection of the laws, might acquire real property, had their motes for making by-laws and their courts, were bound to serve in time of war, but were excluded from the government, which was confined to the houses.

The origin of the commonalty, though exceedingly various, in cities mostly coincides with that of the rights of the pale-burghers; of the dwellers within the pale or the contado: but it increased in extent and still more so in importance, when a city acquired a domain, a distretto, containing towns and a variety of small places. Among the ancients, the inhabitants of such a domain were sometimes taken in a body under the protection of the law and admitted to the rights of freemen; more frequently this was done in the case of such as removed thence into the city: these were persons of very different rank, gentle and simple.