Property and Commons: The tangible and the intangible

Jones, Henry; Gerrard, Chris

Abstract

In this chapter we review the commons in law and in practice in a British context, taking the long historical perspective. We set the scene with some modern legal definitions, then explore what ancient common land meant in practice. The commons is a property regime, but survives from a fundamentally different relationship with land to that of legal modernity. Before enclosure and the converting of common land to private property, land was not understood conceptually as a form of property. Land was a resource, which many people could have different rights over without conflict. Land can sustain many different uses, some continuously, some irregularly, some for only a fixed season or period of time. Legal modernity has thinned out the content of the legal commons, but the idea of the commons remains a powerful challenge to how we own and use land.

Citation

Jones, H., & Gerrard, C. (2023). Property and Commons: The tangible and the intangible. In N. Graham, M. Davies, & L. Godden (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Property, Law and Society (349-361). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003139614

• Online Publication Date: Nov 14, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 15, 2024
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 349-361
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Book Title: The Routledge Handbook of Property, Law and Society
• Chapter Number: 29
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003139614
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1649327
• Contract Date: Aug 31, 2022