Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-08-18

language OF IND MlnOrS lusLlbutes,
page 800, When our ancestors came
hither in 1907 they brought with
them the common law of England
and the general statutes made in aid
thereof, but not any local customs,
none of which, therefore, existed
that year in the colony and he
quotes abundant authority to sus-
tain that proposition. If the Hon.
John B. Minor is right there can be
found no warrant for the right OF
common in the common law, because
no common law right OF custom ever
existed in Virginia. AS no custom
can be immemorial in Virginia, it
follows ms a necessary consequence
that no prescription can be. and
hence prescription cannot exist in
Virginia. Two eminent law writer's
In Virginia sustain this proposition,
namely fuckers Commentaries, page
ell, and Lomax's Digest, page 1856,
and their reasoning is, it seems to
me, unanswerable; and so far as |
am advised the Virginia decisions
are in accord with the law as laid
down by them on this subject. The
date of immemorialty, as it is termed
in England, commenced in the first
year Of the reign of King Richard l.,
long prior to the discovery OF Amer
lea. The authorities, State and Fed
eral, are ample to sustain these prop
ositions.h
According to these gentlemen there
is no such thing as public commons,
so called-no prescriptive or common
law right of the public to the social
ed commons. To entitle the public
to the use Of thing by prescription
or long continued use, that use must
be immemorial, and the common law
of England, (by which we are gov
erned, except in so far as certain por-
tions Of it have been modified or ab-
rogated by statutory enactments),
fixes the commencement Of the date
of immemoriality from the first year
of the reign of King Richard (11S9),
and no one would hazard the absurd
proposition that any local or general
custom in any one OF these United
States could date from the time 81
Richard the / OF England, since the
first settlement of the colony dates
ONLY from the year 1907. No law
can be found anywhere, whether in
the common law OF England or any
OF the statutory enactments OF any
state in this Union, requiring u land
ed proprietor to fence his land, and,
in the absence Of fences authorizing
the running at large Of cattle upon
the unfenced domain Of such pro-
prietor.
Many poor man who owns tract
of land he is not able to fence, and
from which he might derive i'll part
or entirely his subsistence If he could
cultivate it without fencing, is de-
barred that privilege simply because
o. neighbor's COW or hog running free
would render such effort on his part
utterly futile. In times past when
legal rights were not SO strictly en-
CURED into as now, these abuses were
allowed to go on unchallenged.
Then especially in the South,
where landholders owned large tracts
and had in cultivation only portion
of their lands, and these cultivated
mostly by slaves who made the rails
and fenced the land, timber being
abundant. the rest was allowed to
lie OUT unienced, and, therefore,
subject to these abuses of unlimited
and unhindered grazing without
question. These large estates have
been greatly subdiyided and many
Of them have no timber on them.
Many of the owners OF the subdivis-
ions would cultivate their little
tracts, but are not able to incur the
expense OF fencing The lands "lie
outn and forsooth are called COM
mons, upon which every man thinks
his cattle may range and Craze with
out let or hindrance.
Several counties in Maryland have
lately dispensed with fences, and the
writer is informed by q gentleman
who resided in Worcester Co., when
the "No-fence" system was adopted
there, that many who at first object
ed to the "No-fencen system are now
earnest advocates of it. The great
grain growing and grazing States Of
the West have no fences for they
have no timber. A plain, slowgoing
people are slow to adopt innovations.
They are perfectly content 80 plod
along and do as their fathers did be-
fore them. The introduction OF Ia
Dor ga wing machines such as gang
plows, reapers, sewing and knitting
machines, and many others, were at
first strenuously objected to, but
does any one in his senses for mo-
ment think that they have not on
the whole been beneficial to human
ity? ~.
ia was waking up and getting in line
with human progress in other parts
of the country. The ''No-tence" sys-
TEN may meet with DIRECTORS at first,
but ultimately its beneficial results
will be acknowledged by all.
CIvIs.
Chincotcague Island, Va.
July 81, 1904.