of common1. Would this form of action protect the commoner against any curtailment of the land over which he exercised his rights by the lord? It seems that the fair inference to be drawn from Bracton's comment on the Statute of Merton (20 Henry III, cap. 4) is that the lord had no right independently of that Statute to appropriate any portion of the waste as against the freeholders having rights of common appendant. The effect of that Statute was to establish the right of the lord to appropriate the land over which rights of common of pasture existed, provided he left sufficient for the tenants of the manor in convenient places, with proper means of access. This is the footing on which the law as to the respective rights of the lord and the freeholders of the manor has rested ever since. The Statute of Merton only applied to the rights of common of pasture enjoyed by freehold tenants of the manor over the wastes of the manor. Rights of common enjoyed by prescription or grant by persons other than the tenants of the manor were beyond its scope; nor did it apply to rights of cutting turf or peat (common of turbary), nor to rights of taking 'estovers,' such as wood, gorse, heath, or fern 2.

Rights of common, other than those enjoyed by freehold tenants of a manor as such, created by grant or prescription and attached to the ownership of lands, are called rights of 'common appurtenant.' Where, as is usually the case, the claim rests on prescription, it is said in technical language that the tenant in fee of the lands and all those whose estate he has have enjoyed the right from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, or during the period required by the Prescription Act *.

A right of common may also be granted to a man and his heirs irrespective of the ownership of any land, and then it

1 Glanvill, lib. xiii. cap. 37; above, p. 100.

2 See Coke's Second Institute, 87.

This is technically called prescribing in a que estate.

42 and 3 Will. IV, c. 71.

descends like an estate in fee simple, and is called a right of common in gross.'

Bracton points out in the following passage that the lord could not curtail the common over which rights of common appurtenant or in gross existed, by any right derived either from the common law or from the Statute of Merton. A provision however of the Statute of Westminster II1 placed prescriptive rights of common of pasture appurtenant upon the same footing as rights of common appendant. It should be observed that where the right of common can be traced expressly to a grant, which gives the right over a definite extent of waste ground, the lord cannot enclose or curtail the common as against his own express grant.

The above may be taken as an outline of the leading principles of the law relating to rights of common at the present day 2. Much waste land has however from time to time been enclosed under local Acts of Parliament, and various general provisions have been enacted providing machinery for enclosing commons, with compensation to the owner of the soil and the various persons interested in the land 3.

BRACTON, lib. iv. cap. 38. fol. 222. Quoniam magis celebris est illa servitus per quam conceditur alicui jus pascendi, ideo primo dicendum est de illa quae dicitur communia pasturae. Commune autem nomen generale est, et convenit suis partibus sicut genus se habet ad suas species. Communia enim ex virtute vocabuli componitur ex una et cum, et subintelligitur alio, (id est) communia in alieno et una cum alio et non in fundo proprio, quia nemini servit suus fundus proprius ut supra. Acquiritur enim communia multis ex causis. Scilicet ex causa donationis, ut si

1 13 Ed. I, c. 46, given below, Chapter IV. § 4.

2 The rights of copyhold tenants of the manor to common resting on the custom of the manor will be treated of in dealing with copyhold rights generally. See Chapter V. § 6.

3 See Stephen, vol. i. pp. 663-666.

Thus we see how the doctrines of Roman law coincided with the interest of the lord to reduce the rights of commoners to the character of jura in alieno solo. See above, p. 162.

quis dederit terram cum pertinentiis et cum communia pasturae etc.1 Item ex causa emptionis et venditionis, ut si quis communiam emerit in fundo alieno, ut pertineat ad tenementum suum, licet sit de feodo alieno et diversa baronia, et ex constitutione dominorum fundorum. Item acquiritur ex causa dominorum fun13 dorum, sicut per servitium certum 2. Item ex causa vicinitatis, ut (si quis cum vicino, et vicinus cum eo3. Item ex longo usu sine constitutione cum pacifica possessione, continua et non interrupta, ex scientia, negligentia, et patientia dominorum, non dico ballivorum, quia pro traditione accipiuntur, ita quod nec per vim nec clam nec precario ut supra. Et eisdem rationibus pertinere poterit communia ad liberum tenementum, in eo autem quod communia est nomen generale continens sub se plures species. Est enim communia in eo quod dicitur pastura de omni quod edi poterit vel pasci, large sumpto vocabulo vel stricte, large, ut si quis habeat in alieno communiam pasturae, scilicet herbagii, pessonae, sive glandis sive nucis, et quicquid sub nomine pessonae continetur. Item foliorum et frondium stricte, scilicet aliquod istorum unum vel duo. Item distingui poterit communia pasturae per tempora, ut si omni tempore vel certis temporibus et certis horis *. Item per loca, ut si ubique, et per (totum, sine aliqua exceptione. Excipiuntur tamen quaedam tacite, et quandoque expresse; sicut rationabilia defensa, et exigi non poterunt ratione pasturae, nisi specialiter concedantur, et non nisi post tempus, qualia sunt blada, prata, ligna, Byngheys sicut ad boves 5, item ad vaccas et vitulos suis temporibus; item ad oves multones et oves matrices, et agnos suis temporibus. Item nec in curia alicujus nec in gardinis, nec in viridariis, nec parcis vel hujusmodi. Item nec in dominicis alicujus, quae claudi possunt et excoli, nisi per modum certum

1 In this case the common of pasture would attach or be appurtenant to the land granted, in other words would be enjoyed over land other than that granted by the grantee and his successors in title.

2 This means apparently that a right of common may be granted by the lord in return for services to be rendered.

3 As to common of vicinage, see below, p. 173.

See below, p. 167.

5 Rights of common would prima facie be exercisable over waste land only. Of course they may be granted over any land, but this requires express mention in the grant. So also if there be a special right of common for any species of cattle other than the ordinary commonable cattle.

constitutionis, et certis temporibus vel certis locis et determinatis et infra certa loca. Item ad certa genera averiorum, vel si ad omnimoda averia et sine numero, vel cum coarctatione et cum numero, vel ad certum genus averiorum. Item notandum quod non debet dici communia, quod quis habuerit in alieno sive pro precio, sive ex causa emptionis, cum tenementum non habeat ad quod possit communia pertinere, sed potius herbagium dici debet quam communia; cum hoc posset esse quasi personale quid, sive certum dederit quis pro herbagio habendo sive incertum 1. Item communia dici poterit secundum quod stat in generali, secundum quod supra dictum est, habere jus fodiendi in alieno, aurum scilicet, et inde aurifodina dici potest locus iste. Item argentum et inde argentifodina, et sic de ceteris metallis 2. Item jus fodiendi lapides, cretam, arenam, et turbam3, et hujusmodi. Item communia et non herbagium, ut jus falcandi herbam vel brueram vel hujusmodi ad rationabile estoverium. Item eodem modo ad secandum in alieno bosco ad rationabile estoverium aedificandi, claudendi, et ardendi.

Ib. fol. 224. Nemo potest communiam pasturae clamare ut pertinentem ad liberum tenementum suum nisi ille qui liberum tenementum habet. Liberum autem dicitur ad differentiam villenagii et villanorum qui tenent villenagium, quia non habent actionem nec assisam, sed dominus cujus liberum tenementum villenagium fuerit *.

Ib. fol. 225. (Of defences open to the tenant of the land to an assize of novel disseisin for disturbance of common rights.) Item poterit tenens respondere contra assisam quod querens nullam communiam clamare potuit in tali loco, quia tenementum illud est suum separale, et quod illud includere possit et excolere pro voluntate sua, et inclusum habere omni tempore. Ad quod querens (si possit) doceat contrarium vel diversum per assisam, scilicet quod nullo tempore includi poterit,

1 This distinction was not recognised in later law. Common of pasture in gross, i.e. not appurtenant to any tenement, is recognised as a class of rights of common.

2 The right to mines of gold and silver is by the common law of England part of the royal prerogative. Blackstone, i. 294.

3 Turf,' or peat-the well-known right called common of turbary. As to the foundation of the claim of copyholders to rights of common, see Chapter V. § 6.

vel quod non nisi certis horis et temporibus1. Item respondere potest tenens et dicere quod ille qui queritur nullum omnino habet tenementum liberum, vel quasi, ad quod aliqua communia pertinere possit vel etiam mansiunculam. Item dicere potest quod nulla communia pertinet ad tale tenementum : quia illud fuit aliquando foresta, boscus, et locus vastae solitudinis et communia, et jam inde efficitur assartum, vel redactum est in culturam, et non debet communia pertinere ad communiam, et ubi omnes de patria solebant communicare 2. Ad hoc facit de Itinere W. de Ralegh in comitatu War. assisa novae disseisinae de communia pasturae si Augustinus, etc. Eodem modo dici poterit de mariscis, et aliis vastitatibus in culturam redactis, quia ubi eadem ratio, ibi esse debet idem jus.

Ib. fol. 227. Item potest constitutio servitutis aliquando minui et restringi, ut si prius constituatur quod per totum et ubique, restringi poterit quoad certum locum. .. Item quod prius sine numero, coarctari potest ad certum numerum. Et eodem modo poterunt omnia praedicta augeri et ampliari, sed non contra voluntatem contrahentium; quia per hoc competeret assisa novae disseisinae domino tenementi, sed in contrarium per vim ageretur, sicut competeret assisa novae disseisinae de communia pasturae ei cui debetur servitus secundum modum et constitutionem servitutis. Est tamen quaedam constitutio quae dicitur constitutio de Merton, per quam etiam invito eo cui servitus debetur communia coarctatur, unde primo videndum est qualis est illa constitutio, et est talis1:—

Quia multi sunt magnates qui feoffaverunt milites et libere tenentes suos in maneriis suis de parvis tenementis, et qui impediti sunt per eosdem quod commodum suum facere non possunt de residuo maneriorum suorum, sicut de vastis, boscis, et pasturis

1 This is one of the many allusions which this passage contains to rights of common pasturage enjoyed over lands at certain periods of the year, which at other times is the separate property of an individual. See above, p. 6.

2 The language of this passage and the principle here stated seem strongly to support the historical view that the idea that all the neighbouring inhabitants had equal rights over the soil of waste lands is the true origin of rights of common.

3 This is the name of the case decided on the circuit in question.

See the text and translation of this statute as given in the Statutes of the Realm, above, § 9.