The Commons Registration Act 1965
The Commons Registration Act 1965 was a direct outcome of the Report of the Royal Commission into common land published in 1958. This recommended the introduction of legislation in three key areas:
A register of all common land
A general public right of access to commons
Improved management of commons.
The Act delivered the first of these recommendations; it required that all common land and town or village greens should be registered, together with the rights exercisable over the land, and a record of its ownership.
There was a three year period during which all registration had to occur. Any land which was capable of being registered but which remained unregistered at the end of the three year period was deemed no longer to be common land. Similarly, rights of common which were not registered within the three year period were deemed to have been lost. By contrast, failure to register ownership of a common during the initial registration phase did not prejudice a person’s title.
There were over 15,000 objections to registrations and these were handled by Commons Commissioners. There is a large volume of papers recording Commissioners’ inquiries and decisions. These documents contain useful information about specific commons, and explain why certain entries were accepted or rejected. The information is available on the Association of Commons Registration Authorities website.
The Commons Registration Act defines common land as “land subject to rights of common” whether these rights are exercisable at all times or only during limited periods. The definition also covers waste land of a manor which was not subject to rights of common.
The Act did not define waste land of a manor but it was subsequently interpreted by the Commons Commissioners and courts to mean open, uncultivated and unoccupied land that is:
physically within a manor and
either currently in the ownership of the lord of the manor or owned by them in the past.
The Act defines rights of common as including cattle gates or beast gates (see Glossary) and sole rights (refer to General Definitions) but not rights held for a term of years or from year to year.