The territorial lord was generally a member of the high aristocracy (Hochadel) or clergy, who was the title bearer or office holder of an existing or constituent state through the custom of primogeniture or feudal law.
During the High Middle Ages, the system was further expanded as the lords began reclaiming territories and this was done by granting vassals jurisdiction over the acquired lands.
A prerequisite for being a territorial lord was the combination of property and estate ownership, as well as sovereignty, in one person as a unified legal concept.
The lords' economic domination, particularly in the Western European territories, can be demonstrated in the way ownership of the mill was vested in their hand.
An account cited that a uniquely good phenomenon that resulted from the emergence of the territorial lords was the way they manifested claim to dominion, which was responsible for the thriving forests in Europe today.