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Common land (a common) 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 firewood, or to cut turf for fuel.〔(Natural England ).〕 A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is called a commoner. This article deals mainly with common land in England, Wales and Scotland, where the extent is much reduced due to enclosure of commons from the millions of acres that existed until the 17th century. However, a considerable amount of common land still exists, particularly in upland areas, and there are over 7,000 registered commons in England alone.〔(DEFRA Database of registered common land in England )〕 ==Historical origins== 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,〔(Legal dictionary )〕 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. 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 of marl. Right to take sand and gravel. * 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.〔(New Forest explorers guide ).〕〔(UK government ).〕 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''.〔(Forest rights ).〕 However, if excessive use was made of the common, for example, in overgrazing, a common would be ''stinted'',〔Susan Jane Buck Cox - "No tragedy on the Commons" Journal of Environmental Ethics, Vol 7, Spring 1985 ()〕 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「common land」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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