The inclosure acts created legal property rights to land previously held in common in
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
, particularly
open fields and
common land
Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person ...
. Between 1604 and 1914 over 5,200 individual acts
enclosing
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
public land were passed, affecting 28,000 km
2.
History
Before the enclosures in England, a portion of the land was categorized as "common" or "waste". "Common" land was under the control of the lord of the manor, but certain rights on the land such as
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing.
Types of pasture
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...
,
pannage
Pannage is the practice of releasing livestock- pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests ...
, or
estovers
In English law, an estover is an allowance made to a person out of an estate, or other thing, for his or her support. The word estover can also mean specifically an allowance of wood that a tenant is allowed to take from the commons, for life or ...
were held variously by certain nearby properties, or (occasionally) ''in gross'' by all manorial tenants. "Waste" was land without value as a farm strip – often very narrow areas (typically less than a yard wide) in awkward locations (such as cliff edges, or inconveniently shaped manorial borders), but also bare rock, and similar. "Waste" was not officially used by anyone, and so was often farmed by landless peasants.
The remaining land was organised into a large number of narrow strips, each tenant possessing a number of disparate strips throughout the manor, as would the
manorial lord. Called the
open-field system
The open-field system was the prevalent Agriculture in the Middle Ages, agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each Manorialism, manor or village had two or thre ...
, it was administered by
manorial courts, which exercised some collective control.
[ What might now be termed a single field would have been divided under this system among the lord and his tenants; poorer peasants (]serfs
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...
or copyholders, depending on the era) were allowed to live on the strips owned by the lord in return for cultivating his land. The system facilitated common grazing and crop rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the pro ...
.[
Any individual might possess several strips of land within the manor, often at some distance from one another. Seeking better financial returns, landowners looked for more efficient farming techniques. Enclosure acts for small areas had been passed sporadically since the 12th century, but advances in agricultural knowledge and technology in the 18th century made them more commonplace. Because tenants, or even copyholders, had legally enforceable rights on the land, substantial compensation was provided to extinguish them; thus many tenants were active supporters of enclosure, though it enabled landlords to force reluctant tenants to comply with the process.
With legal control of the land, landlords introduced innovations in methods of crop production, increasing profits and supporting the Agricultural Revolution; higher productivity also enabled landowners to justify higher rents for the people working the land.
The powers granted in the Inclosure Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3. c. 81) of the ]Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...
were often abused by landowners: the preliminary meetings where enclosure was discussed, intended to be held in public, often took place in the presence of only the local landowners, who regularly chose their own solicitors, surveyors and commissioners to decide on each case. In 1786 there were still 250,000 independent landowners, but in the course of only thirty years their number was reduced to 32,000.
The tenants displaced by the process often left the countryside to work in the towns. This contributed to the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
– at the very moment new technological advances required large numbers of workers, a concentration of large numbers of people in need of work had emerged; the former country tenants and their descendants became workers in industrial factories within cities.
The Inclosure (Consolidation) Act 1801 ( 41 Geo. 3. (U.K.) c. 109) was passed to tidy up previous acts. The Inclosure Act 1845
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
( 8 & 9 Vict. c. 118) instituted the appointment of Inclosure Commissioners, who could enclose land without submitting a request to Parliament.
List of acts
*The Inclosure Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3. c. 81)
The Inclosure Acts 1845 to 1882 mean:[The ]Short Titles Act 1896
The Short Titles Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 14) is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Short Titles Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 10).
This act was retained for the Republic of I ...
, section 2(1) and second schedule
*The Inclosure Act 1845
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
( 8 & 9 Vict. c. 118)
*The Inclosure Act 1846
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
( 9 & 10 Vict. c. 70)
*The Inclosure Act 1847
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
( 10 & 11 Vict. c. 111)
*The Inclosure Act 1848
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
( 11 & 12 Vict. c. 99)
*The Inclosure Act 1849
Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
( 12 & 13 Vict. c. 83)
*The Inclosure Commissioners Act 1851 ( 14 & 15 Vict. c. 53)
*The Inclosure Act 1852 ( 15 & 16 Vict. c. 79)
*The Inclosure Act 1854 ( 17 & 18 Vict. c. 97)
*The Inclosure Act 1857 ( 20 & 21 Vict. c. 31)
*The Inclosure Act 1859 ( 22 & 23 Vict. c. 43)
*The Inclosure, etc. Expenses Act 1868 ( 31 & 32 Vict. c. 89)
*The Commons Act 1876
Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person w ...
( 39 & 40 Vict. c. 56)
*The Commons (Expenses) Act 1878 ( 41 & 42 Vict. c. 56)
*The Commons Act 1879 ( 42 & 43 Vict. c. 37)
*The Commonable Rights Compensation Act 1882 ( 45 & 46 Vict. c. 15)
See also
*English land law
English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal sy ...
*List of short titles
This is a list of stock short titles that are used for legislation in one or more of the countries where short titles are used. It is also a list of articles that list or discuss legislation by short title or subject.
* Access to Information and P ...
*Primitive accumulation of capital
In Marxian economics and preceding theories,Perelman, p. 25 (ch. 2) the problem of primitive accumulation (also called previous accumulation, prior accumulation, or original accumulation) of capital concerns the origin of capital and therefore ...
Notes
Citations
References
*
*
*
*
*
*The Parliamentary Debates, Volume 80. By Great Britain. Parliamen
p. 483
*Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Volume 12. By Great Britain. Parliament. House of Common
104p. 380
*Edinburgh Review, Or, Critical Journal, Volume 62
p. 327
*The Pictorial History of England, Volume 6. By George Lillie Craik
George Lillie Craik (1798–1866) was a Scottish writer and literary critic.
Life
Born at Kennoway, Fife, he was the eldest of three illustrious brothers to the local schoolmaster, his younger brothers including Henry Craik and James Craik.
...
, Charles Knightbr>p. 781
The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields
By Gilbert Slater
*An Analytical Digest of the Reports of Cases Decided in the Courts of Common Law, and Equity, of Appeal, and Nisi Prius. By Henry Jeremy
p. 40
The Fence
By Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Compan
p. 21
*The Contemporary Review, Volume 67
p. 703
*Alienated tithes in appropriated and impropriated parishes
p. 38
Further reading
*Chambers, Jonathan D. "Enclosure and labour supply in the industrial revolution", ''Economic History Review'' 5.3 (1953): 319–34
in JSTOR
*Linebaugh, Peter. ''The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
External links
Thesaurus of Acts
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173144/http://www.ukat.org.uk/thesaurus/term.php?i=18335 , date=3 March 2016
Parliamentary enclosure – Surrey County Council
Archive details and description
The Enclosures of the 18th Century
BBC Radio 4 discussion with Rosemary Sweet, Murray Pittock & Mark Overton (''In Our Time'', 1 May 2008)
Lists of legislation by short title and collective title
Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales
Enclosures
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1845
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1846
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1847
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1848
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1849
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1851
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1852
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1854
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1857
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1859
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1868
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1876
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1878
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1879
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1882
Agriculture legislation in the United Kingdom
History of agriculture in England
History of agriculture in Wales
English land law
fr:Mouvement des enclosures
ru:Огораживания