Common land is land that a certain group of people can use for specific purposes, regardless of who owns it. It was historically important for agrarian societies and still exists in many countries, but has been reduced and codified over time. The US has largely replaced it with private ownership, but still uses the underlying theory in some instances.
Common land is land in which a certain class of people has an interest that allows them to use the land for a specific purpose, regardless of who actually owns the land. The notion of common land has historical and modern applications. Historically, common land was important to agrarian societies in Europe and North America, granting rights to graze, hunt, fish, graze, gather firewood, and other activities crucial to the conduct of life in the past centuries. In modern times, the commons law has come to include parks, preserves, waterways, streets, sidewalks, highways, and commons managed collectively for the benefit of a defined group of people.
The right to use common land is a traditional right that predates English common law. Some traditional land rights, such as grazing and grazing rights, arose out of necessity and were demonstrated and enforced as a result of common sense and historical use, rather than through specific law. Common land rights were integral to the territory that became England and Wales, and the notion spread to many former British colonies, including the United States and Ireland. Other counties, including Germany, Switzerland and India, have developed their own variants of common land to suit the needs of their particular societies.
Common land rights still exist in many countries, but have gradually been reduced in quantity and codified as society has changed. For example, the UK passed the Commons Registration Act 1965, which defined common land and established a common land register. In 2006, the UK passed the Commons Act which empowered Commons Councils to manage the remaining strands of common land. Developing nations in Latin America, India, Asia, and Africa, however, still rely heavily on common land rights systems to sustainably allocate limited resources in the absence of civilian wealth and infrastructure.
In the United States, private ownership of land has largely replaced the common land rights system. Notably, this underlying theory is still practiced in the use of land trusts, business improvement districts where commercial infrastructure is collectively managed for the benefit of the commercial public, neighborhood managed parks, and other instances of entity-owned property but with a collective benefit connected to its use. The commons law underlies state condominium and cooperative statutes that authorize apartment owners for collective use of the common areas of a building and its environs.
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