page_title: Common land
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Common land / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Sow and her piglets in woodland alongside Ober Water, New Forest
context_page_description: Common land is land owned collectively by a number of persons, or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
  A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is called a commoner.
  Although the extent there is much reduced due to enclosure of common land from the millions of acres that existed until the 17th century, a considerable amount of common land still exists, particularly in upland areas, and there are over 7,000 registered commons in England alone.
  Common land or former common land is usually referred to as a common; for instance, Clapham Common or Mungrisdale Common.
context_section_description: Originally in medieval England the common was an integral part of the manor, and was thus part of the estate held by the lord of the manor under a feudal grant from the Crown or a superior peer, who in turn held his land from the Crown which owned all land. This manorial system, founded on feudalism, granted rights of land use to different classes. These would be appurtenant rights, that is the ownership of rights belonged to tenancies of particular plots of land held within a manor. A commoner would be the person who, for the time being, was the occupier of a particular plot of land. Some rights of common were said to be in gross, that is, they were unconnected with tenure of land.  This was more usual in regions where commons are more extensive, such as in the high ground of Northern England or on the Fens, but also included many village greens across England and Wales. Most land with appurtenant commons rights is adjacent to the common or even surrounded by it, but in a few cases it may be some considerable distance away.
  Historically Manorial courts defined the details of many of the rights of common allowed to manorial tenants, and such rights formed part of the copyhold tenancy whose terms were defined in the manorial court roll.
  Example rights of common are:
  Pasture. Right to pasture cattle, horses, sheep or other animals on the common land.  The most widespread right.
  Piscary. Right to fish.
  Turbary. Right to take sods of turf for fuel.
  Common in the Soil. This is a general term used for rights to extract minerals such as sands, gravels, marl, walling stone and lime from common land.
  Mast or pannage. Right to turn out pigs for a period in autumn to eat mast (beech mast, acorns and other nuts).
  Estovers. Right to take sufficient wood for the commoner's house or holding; usually limited to smaller trees, bushes (such as gorse) and fallen branches.
  On most commons, rights of pasture and pannage for each commoner are tightly defined by number and type of animal, and by the time of year when certain rights could be exercised.  For example, the occupier of a particular cottage might be allowed to graze fifteen cattle, four horses, ponies or donkeys, and fifty geese, whilst the numbers allowed for their neighbours would probably be different.  On some commons (such as the New Forest and adjoining commons), the rights are not limited by numbers, and instead a marking fee is paid each year for each animal turned out. However, if excessive use was made of the common, for example, in overgrazing, a common would be stinted, that is, a limit would be put on the number of animals each commoner was allowed to graze. These regulations were responsive to demographic and economic pressure. Thus rather than let a common become degraded, access was restricted even further.
  The Lord of the Manor must only exercise his rights so far as to leave a "sufficiency" of resource for commoners. This was at Issue in 1889 when the Lord of the Manor and owner of Banstead Downs and Heath, a Mr Hartopp, excavated gravel and threatened to reduce the available pasture.  The meaning of sufficiency was challenged in court, expert witnesses stated that the grazing capacity was 1200 animals, the commoners rights totaled 1440 animals, and 600 animals were normally turned out. It was decided sufficiency was whether enough grazing would be available for all the animals that could be turned out. The judgement was that "The Lord is bound to leave pasture enough to satisfy the commoners rights whether such rights are to be exercised or not". Commoners also have the right to "peaceful enjoyment" of their rights, so that they cannot be hindered by the Lord of the Manor. This was first proposed in 1500 and became case law in 1827.
caption: Modern-day pannage, or common of mast, in the New Forest
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