Ooh Arrr!!!

Wandering around Caerphilly we encroached upon a farm. The surrounding land may (or may not), be land owned by the Farmer but all the same, he exercised his right to graze sheep in what local people have branded “Common Land” by daubing graffiti across these gates, to which the Farmer has amusingly responded with a slight edit:


Common land (a common), in England and Wales is a piece of land over which other people, often neighbouring landowners, could exercise one of a number of traditional rights, such as allowing their cattle to graze upon it. The legal position concerning common land is confused. Most commons are based on ancient rights which predate the established law and even the Monarchy. The exact rights which apply to individual commons may be documented but more often are based on long held traditions. The UK government tried to regularise the definitions of common land with the Commons Registration Act 1965, which established a register of common land. However numerous inconsistencies and irregularities remain.

It is often thought that a common is somehow owned by everyone, or at least by the community in some sense. While that may have been true more than a thousand years ago, when wasteland would be used for grazing by the local community and over which there would not be, nor would there need to be, any particular limit or control of usage; since at least late Anglo-Saxon times, the right to exercise a right of common has been restricted to a commoner (owner of the land).

Prior to the Erection of Cottages Act 1588, an Englishman could build his house on common land if he could raise the roof over his head and have a fire at the hearth between sunrise and sunset and claim the dwelling as his home.

source http://www.answers.com/topic/common-land-3

Add comment May 17th, 2008