The Common Lands and Village Greens of England and Wales

The royal commission on Common Land was set up by Royal Warrant dated the first day of December, 1955. We were charged 'to recommend what changes, if any, are desirable in the law relating to common land in order to promote the bene? fit of those holding manorial and common rights, the enjoyment of the public, or, where at present little or no use is made of such land, its use for some other desirable purpose*. We were a Commission of twelve under the chairmanship of Sir William Ivor Jennings, a lawyer and Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and were ably served by our Secretary, Mr. G. L. Wilde of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Our comprehensive report is dated 11 July 1958 and includes three lengthy appendices, one on the 'History of Common Land and Common Rights* by Dr. W. G. Hoskins, another on 'Some legal problems' by Sir Ivor Jennings and a third on the 'Geographical distribution of Common Land' by myself. To my personal knowledge the appointment of a Royal Commission on Commons had been under discussion for some twenty years, but successive governments had apparently regarded the subject as political dynamite, too dangerous to handle. Under wartime powers those commons which could be made agriculturally produc? tive had been requisitioned but, with the lapsing of wartime powers, were due to be handed back, though it was not always clear to whom. For, incredible as it may seem, there was and still is no national record of either common lands or common rights. In the crowded country of England and Wales where 47,000,000 people jostle one another on a mere 37,000,000 acres, we started off with the information that common rights were believed to exist over some 2,000,000 acres, but that there might be an error of a million acres either way! Our Report and its recommendations were received with acclamation and surprisingly little dissent, and the Government has repeatedly promised legislation along the lines proposed, probably in two stages. The first stage to be covered is the registration of commons and common rights. We were criticized for allowing twelve years for that stage?we were constantly concerning ourselves with an imaginary commoner in Australia who might not hear what was happening?and it is being argued that five years is enough. But already nearly six years have passed: parliamentary time cannot be found for the introduction of the first simple Act which is needed, despite repeated promises, the latest on 10 February 1964, and the knowledge that the necessary Bill has been drafted. Once commons and common rights are registered?known and agreed?the question of future management would arise. That is stage two

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