Common land
Common land (a common), in England and Wales and the United States, is a piece of land owned by one person, but over which other people can exercise certain traditional rights, such as allowing their livestock to graze upon it. If the owner of the common right becomes the owner of the fee simple estate, then the common right becomes extinguished. If the crop or other item over which there is a common right is severed from the land, then the common right becomes extinguished. Other situations in which the common right becomes extinguished include legal release and approvement (improvement of common lands, by inclosing and converting them to the uses of husbandry for the advantage of the lord of the manor.)