The ancient Thai tradition of royal ownership of all land had been relaxed and was perhaps on its way to extinction during the Sukhothai period because the Thais were holding more land and suffered chronic shortages of manpower. The adoption of the Hindu theory of kingship during the early Ayudhya period prevented any change in the actual law because the notion of royal ownership of all land comported so well with the idea of the king as god. It was seen as a logical corollary of divinity that the king should own the source of all sustenance. Thus ironically the adoption of a "substantively rational" system of law based on thammasat (natural law) by the Thai kings perhaps forestalled legal recognition of farmers' ownership rights in land.