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division, as between individual inhabitants or householders, of any of the lands of the township, but only of the products. But so far back as accurate See also:

INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information extends the arable land is found to be parcelled out, each householder owning strips in each See also:

field. These strips are always See also:

long and narrow, and See also:

lie in sets parallel with one another. The plough for cultivating the fields was maintained at the common expense of the village, and the See also:

DRAUGHT (from the common Teutonic word " to draw "; cf. Ger. 7'racht, load; the pronunciation led to the variant form " draft," now confined to certain specific meanings)

draught oxen were furnished by the householders.

From the time when the See also:

CROP (a word common. in various forms, such as Germ. Kropf, to many Teutonic languages for a swelling, excrescence, round head or top of anything; it appears also in Romanic languages derived from Teutonic, in Fr. as troupe, whence the English " crupper "

crop was carried till the next See also:

SOWING (from "to sow," O. Eng. shwan, cf. Du. zaaijen, Ger. saen, &c.; the root is seen in Lat. severe, cf. "seed")

sowing, the field lay open to the cattle of the whole See also:

VILL

vill, which also had the free run of the fallow field throughout the See also:

YEAR

year. But when two of the three fields were under crops, and the meadows laid up for See also:

hay, it is obvious that the cattle of the township required some other resort for pasturage. This was supplied by the waste or common. Upon it the householder turned out the oxen and horses which he contributed to the plough, and the cows and See also:

sheep, which were useful in manuring the common fields, in the words of an old See also:

law See also:

case: " horses and oxen to plough the land, and cows and sheep to compester it." Thus the use of the common by each householder was naturally measured by the stock which he kept for the service of the common fields; and when, at a later See also:

period, questions arose as to the extent of the rights on the common, the necessary practice furnished the See also:

RULE

rule, that the commoner could turn out as many See also:

head of cattle as he could keep by means of the lands which were parcelled out to him, the rule of levancy and couchancy, which has come down to the See also:

PRESENT

present See also:

day. In the earliest See also:

POST

post-See also:

CONQUEST

conquest times the vill or township is found to be associated with an over-See also:

lord. There has been much controversy on the question, whether the vill originally status of owned its lands free from any See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control, and was subse- township. quently reduced to a See also:

state of subjection and to a large extent deprived of its ownership, or whether its whole history has been one of See also:

GRADUAL (Med. Lat. gradualis, of or belonging to steps or degrees; gradus, step)

gradual emancipation, the ownership of the waste, For the commons (communitates) in a socio-See also:

POLITICAL

political sense see See also:

REPRESENTATION

REPRESENTATION and See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

PARLIAMENT. 2 There is an entry on the See also:

court rolls of the See also:

MANOR

manor of See also:

WIMBLEDON

Wimbledon of the division amongst the inhabitants of the vill of the crab-apples growing on the common. or common, now ascribed by the law to the lord being a remnant of his ownership of all the lands of the vill. (See MANOR.) At whatever date the over-lord first appeared, and whatever may have been the See also:

PERSONAL

personal relations of the villagers to him from time to time after his See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance, there can be hardly any doubt that the village lands, whether arable, meadow or waste, were substantially the See also:

PROPERTY

property of the villagers for the purposes of use and enjoyment. They resorted freely to the common for such purposes as were incident to their system of See also:

agriculture, and regulated its use amongst themselves. The See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea that the common was the " lord's waste," and that he had the See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power to do what he liked with it,subiect to specific and limited qualifying rights in others, was, there is little doubt, the creation of the See also:

Norman lawyers. One of the earliest assertions of the lord's proprietary See also:

INTEREST

interest in waste lands is contained in the See also:

STATUTE

Statute of Merton, a statutes statute which, it is well to See also:

NOTICE

notice, was passed in one oiAerton of the first assemblies of the barons of England, before and See also:

West- the commons of the See also:

REALM

realm were summoned to parliamtnster ment.

This statute, which became law in the year the Second.

End of Article: COMMONS

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