Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, 19th Century: The Preservation of Open Spaces, and of Footpaths, and Other Rights of Way: A Practical Treatise on the Law of the Subject

Sir Robert Hunter (1844-1913) became a leading legal authority on common land. As solicitor to the Commons Preservation Society, where he first met Octavia Hill, he was instrumental in saving Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest and the New Forest for the nation, and he developed the principles of protection upon which the National Trust would be founded. First published in 1896, and informed by a lifetime of experience, this work was devised specifically to instruct 'those who are interested in preserving the open lands of the country'. Covering iconic English landscapes ranging from cliff tops to forests and from village greens to allotments, each chapter explores real cases and the statutes that shaped their conclusions. The result is an account of the nineteenth-century legal developments that provided the foundations which both government and charitable bodies have since used in preserving the heritage - both natural and man-made - of the nation.

Preface; List of cases; List of statutes; Table of abbreviations; Part I. Of Commons and Other Open Spaces: 1. Of the nature of a common and the rights thereon; 2. Of the inclosure of a manorial common by the Lord of the Manor; 3. Of rights of common connected with the manorial system; 4. Of rights of common not connected with the manorial system; 5. Of common of estovers and common of turbary; 6. Of rights of digging gravel and other species of sub-soil; 7. Of rights of sole vesture and sole pasture; 8. Of claims by the inhabitants of a district to enjoy rights on a common; 9. Of the mode of ascertaining common rights, and of the loss or extinguishment thereof; 10. Of the power of local authorities to prevent inclosures by the Lord of the Manor; 11. Of the inclosure of a manorial common by way of copyhold grant; 12. Of the disfigurement of a manorial common; and herein, of the powers of highway authorities; 13. Of the inclosure of a manorial common by the authority of parliament; 14. Of common fields, meadows, and pastures; 15. Of the waste and commonable lands of a forest; 16. Of village greens; 17. Of fuel allotments and recreation grounds; 18. Of exceptional provisions as to inclosure; 19. Of the appropriation of common lands for the purposes of industrial undertakings; 20. Of the regulation of commons as open spaces. I. Under the Metropolitan Commons Act; 21. Of the regulation of commons as open spaces. II. Under the Commons Act, 1876; Part II. Of Footpaths and Other Rights of Way: 1. Of the nature of a footpath; 2. Of the obstruction of footpaths; and, herein, of their dedication; 3. Of the remedies for the obstruction of footpaths; 4. Of the stoppage or diversion of a footpath by an order of Quarter Sessions; 5. Of the repair of footpath; 6. Of highways of an exceptional kind; 7. Of roadside waste; 8. Of fore-shore and cliffs; 9. Of rivers and lake; Appendices; Index.