Book M

, No._ 482, 1671-1676 (_Original in Public Record Office_)], 1671.

_Division of the Town Fields of Bishop Auckland_, October, 1671

Forasmuch as heretofore by order and decree of this Court bearing date the fifteenth day of September last past, made between the parties above named, for the reasons then appearing to this Court it was then ordered and decreed by the consent of all the said parties ... that all the lands and grounds lying and being in the three common fields called the Hitherfield, Midlefield and Fairfield lying at Bishop Auckland, therein mentioned should ... be forthwith measured and divided according to the agreements and consents of the said parties, ... and also that every of the said parties should have his and their particular shares, parts, and proportions therein particularly allotted and set forth in severalty unto him and them, to be by them respectively hedged, fenced, enclosed and enjoyed in severalty for ever thenafter for the better husbandry and improvement thereof.... And now upon the motion of Mr. William Brabart ... alleging that since the making of the said decree several of the

## parties thereunto, perceiving that some of the defendants, formerly

being the chief opposers of the said intended division, have obtained their shares in the premisses to be in such part thereof as themselves desired, their said parts being small and inconsiderable, they have therefore of late descended from their shares and parts of the premisses formerly by them desired or consented unto and do now endeavour to have their proportionate parts to lie in other parts and places of the premisses, to the great decay, hindrance, and obstruction of the said division, notwithstanding their former consents thereunto. It was therefore humbly prayed by the said Counsel that a Commission might be awarded out of this Court to indifferent Commissioners ... as well for the hearing of all the said objections ... as also to view and divide all the said premisses and to appoint and set forth to every of the said

## parties their proportionable parts therein.

[_August, 1672, Decree of the Court._]

Forasmuch as ... every owner's share hath been duly set out ... and yet nevertheless one of the said defendants hath endeavoured to obstruct the said division ... it is therefore now thought fit and so ordered by the Right Honourable Sir Francis Goodriche Knight, Chancellor of the County of Durham and Sadberge, that the Award ... shall stand absolutely confirmed and decreed unless good cause be shown to the contrary at the next sitting at Durham.

2. ADVICE TO THE STEWARDS OF ESTATES [_Edward Lawrence, The Duty and Office of a Land Steward, 3rd Ed._, 1731, _pp._ 25, 26, _and_ 39], 1731.

A Steward should not forget to make the best enquiry into the disposition of any of the freeholders within or near any of his Lord's manors to sell their lands, that he may use his best endeavours to purchase them at as reasonable a price, as may be for his Lord's advantage and convenience--especially in such manors, where improvements are to be made by inclosing commons and common-field; which (as every one, who is acquainted with the late improvement in agriculture, must know) is not a little advantageous to the nation in general, as well as highly profitable to the undertaker. If the freeholders cannot all be persuaded to sell, yet at least an agreement for inclosing should be pushed forward by the steward, and a scheme laid, wherein it may appear that an exact and proportional share will be allotted to every proprietor; persuading them first, if possible, to sign a form of agreement, and then to choose commissioners on both sides.

If the Steward be a man of good sense, he will find a necessity for making a use of it all, in rooting out superstition from amongst them, as what is so great a hindrance to all noble improvements? The substance of what is proper for the proprietors to sign before an inclosure is to be made, may be conceived in some such form as followeth.

"Whereas it is found, by long experience, that common or open fields, wherever they are suffered or continued, are great hindrances to a public good, and the honest improvement which every one might make of his own, by diligence and a seasonable charge: and, whereas the common objections hitherto raised against inclosures are founded on mistakes, as if inclosures contributed either to hurt or ruin the poor; whilst it is plain that (when an enclosure is once resolved on) the poor will be employed for many years, in planting and preserving the hedges, and afterwards will be set to work both in the tillage and pasture, wherein they may get an honest livelihood: And whereas all or most of the inconveniences and misfortunes which usually attend the open wastes and common fields have been fatally experienced at----, to the great discouragement of industry and good husbandry in the freeholders, viz., that the poor take their advantage to pilfer, and steal, and trespass; that the corn is subject to be spoiled by cattle, that stray out of the commons and highways adjacent; that the tenants or owners, if they would secure the fruits of their labours to themselves, are obliged either to keep exact time in sowing and reaping or else to be subject to the damage and inconvenience that must attend the lazy practices of those who sow unseasonably, suffering their corn to stand to the beginning of winter, thereby hindering the whole parish from eating the herbage of the common field till the frosts have spoiled the most of it," etc., etc.

* * * * *

To conclude this article upon commons,[334] I would advise all noblemen and gentlemen, whose tenants hold their lands by Copy of Court Roll for three lives, not to let them renew, except they will agree to deliver up their Copy, in order to alter the tenure by converting it to leasehold on lives. This method will put a stop to that unreasonable custom of the widow holding a life by her free-bench, which is a fourth life, not covenanted for in the Copy, but only pretended to by custom; which deprives the lord of an undoubted right of making the best, and doing what he will with his own.

[Footnote 334: p. 39.]

3. PROCEDURE FOR ENCLOSURE BY PRIVATE ACT, _January &c._, 1766 [_Commons Journals, Vol._ XXX, 1765-6, _p. 459, etc._], 1766.

A Petition of Stephen Croft, the Younger, Esquire, Lord of the manor of Stillington, in the county of York, and owner of several estates, within the said manor and parish of Stillington, and also Improprietor of the Great Tithes there; of the Reverend James Worsley, Clerk, Prebandary of the Prebend of Stillington aforesaid, patron of the Vicarage of Stillington aforesaid, of the Reverend Lawrence Sterne, Clerk, Vicar of the said parish,[335] and of William Stainforth, Esquire, and of several other persons, whose names are thereunto subscribed, being also owners of copyhold messuages, cottages, estates, and other properties, within the said parish; was presented to the House and read; setting forth, that, within the said manor and parish, is a common, or waste, called Stillington Common, and also open fields and ings,[336] which, in their present situation, are incapable of improvement; and that it would be of great advantage to the several persons interested in the said common, fields and ings, if they were enclosed and divided into specific allotments, and all rights of common and average thereon, or upon any other commonable lands in the said parish, were extinguished, or if the said common was so inclosed, and a power given to the several proprietors and owners of estates in the said fields and ings, to flat and inclose the same, first making satisfaction to the improprietor upon the tithes thereof; and after the flatting and inclosing the same, all right of common, or average, was to cease; and therefore praying, that leave may be given to bring in a Bill for the purposes aforesaid, or any of them, in such manner, and under such regulations, as the House shall deem meet.

Ordered, That leave be given to bring in a Bill pursuant to the prayer of the said petition: and that Mr. Cholmley, Sir George Savile, and Sir Joseph Mawbey, do prepare and bring in the same.

[_February 3._--Bill presented to the House and read a first time.]

_February 10, 1766._[337] A Bill for inclosing and dividing the common waste grounds, open fields, open meadows, grounds, and ings, within the parish of Stillington, in the county of York, was read a second time.

Resolved, That the Bill be committed to Mr. Cholmley, Mr. Fonereau, Sir John Taines [etc., etc.]; and all the members who serve for the counties of York, Nottingham, Northumberland, and Durham: and they are to meet this afternoon, at five of the clock, in the Speaker's Chamber.

_February 27._[338] Mr. Cholmley reported from the Committee, to whom the Bill for inclosing and dividing the common waste grounds [etc.] within the parish of Stillington, in the county of York, was committed. That the Committee had examined the allegations of the Bill; and found the same to be true; and that the parties concerned had given their consent to the Bill, to the satisfaction of the Committee, except the proprietors of sixty acres of land in the said fields and ings, who refused their consent to the inclosure, and the proprietors of twenty seven acres of land, who were not at home when application was made for their consents; and that the whole of the said fields and ings contain six hundred acres or thereabouts; and also, except the proprietors of eight common rights, who refused to consent, and the proprietors of seven common rights, who were from home when application was made for their consents; and that the whole number of common rights are eighty-nine; and that no person appeared before the Committee to oppose the Bill; and that the Committee had gone through the Bill, and made several amendments thereunto; which they had directed him to report to the House; and he read the report in his place; and afterwards delivered the Bill, with the amendments, in at the Clerk's Table; where the amendments were once read throughout; and then a second time, one by one; and, upon the Question severally put thereon, were agreed to by the House; and several amendments were made, by the House, to the Bill. Ordered, that the Bill, with the amendments be ingrossed.

[_March 3._ The Bill read a third time and passed. Sent to the House of Lords.

_March 18._ Reported that the Lords agreed to the Bill without amendment.

The King's Assent given to the Bill.]

[Footnote 335: Author of _Tristram Shandy_.]

[Footnote 336: _i.e._ Meadows.]

[Footnote 337: _Ibid._ p. 522.]

[Footnote 338: _Ibid._ p. 610.]

4. FARMING IN NORFOLK [_A. Young, The Farmer's Tour_, 1771, _Vol. II, Letter XIV, pp._ 150, 156, 161], 1771.

As I shall presently leave Norfolk it will not be improper to give a slight review of the husbandry which has rendered the name of this county so famous in the farming world. Pointing out the practices which have succeeded so nobly here, may perhaps be of some use to other countries possessed of the same advantages, but unknowing in the art to use them.

From forty to fifty years ago, all the northern and western, and a part of the eastern tracts of the county, were sheep walks, let so low as from 6d. to 1s. 6d. and 2s. an acre. Much of it was in this condition only thirty years ago. The great improvements have been made by means of the following circumstances.

First. By inclosing without the assistance of parliament.

Second. By a spirited use of marl and clay.

Third. By the introduction of an excellent course of crops.

Fourth. By the culture of turnips well hand-hoed.

Fifth. By the culture of clover and ray-grass.

Sixth. By landlords granting long leases.

Seventh. By the country being divided chiefly into large farms.

* * * * *

_The Course of Crops._[339]

After the best managed inclosure, and the most spirited conduct in marling, still the whole success of the undertaking depends on this point: No fortune will be made in Norfolk by farming, unless a judicious course of crops be pursued. That which has been chiefly adopted by the Norfolk farmers is,

1. Turnips. 2. Barley. 3. Clover: or clover and ray-grass. 4. Wheat.

* * * * *

_Large Farms._[340]

If the preceding articles are properly reviewed, it will at once be apparent that no small farmers could effect such great things as have been done in Norfolk. Inclosing, marling, and keeping a flock of sheep large enough for folding, belong absolutely and exclusively to great farmers.... Nor should it be forgotten that the best husbandry in Norfolk is that of the largest farmers.... Great farms have been the soul of the Norfolk culture: split them into tenures of an hundred pounds a year, you will find nothing but beggars and weeds in the whole county.

[Footnote 339: _Ibid._ p. 156.]

[Footnote 340: _Ibid._ p. 161.]

5. A PETITION AGAINST ENCLOSURE [_Commons Journals_[341] _July 19, 1797_], 1797.

A Petition of the hereunder-signed small Proprietors of Land and Persons entitled to Rights of Common [at Raunds, Northamptonshire].

That the petitioners beg leave to represent to the House that, under the pretence of improving lands in the same parish, the cottagers and other persons entitled to right of common on the lands intended to be enclosed, will be deprived of an inestimable privilege, which they now enjoy, of turning a certain number of their cows, calves, and sheep, on and over the said lands; a privilege that enables them not only to maintain themselves and their families in the depth of winter, when they cannot, even for their money, obtain from the occupiers of other lands the smallest portion of milk or whey for such necessary purpose, but in addition to this, they can now supply the grazier with young or lean stock at a reasonable price, to fatten and bring to market at a more moderate rate for general consumption, which they conceive to be the most rational and effectual way of establishing public plenty and cheapness of provision; and they further conceive, that a more ruinous effect of this enclosure will be the almost total depopulation of their town, now filled with bold and hardy husbandmen, from among whom, and the inhabitants of other open parishes, the nation has hitherto derived its greatest strength and glory, in the supply of its fleets and armies, and driving them, from necessity and want of employ, in vast crowds, into manufacturing towns, where the very nature of their employment, over the loom or the forge, soon may waste their strength, and consequently debilitate their posterity, and by imperceptible degrees obliterate that great principle of obedience to the Laws of God and their country, which forms the character of the simple and artless villagers, more equally distributed through the open counties, and on which so much depends the good order and government of the state. These are some of the injuries to themselves as individuals, and of the ill consequences to the public, which the petitioners conceive will follow from this, as they have already done from many enclosures, but which they did not think they were entitled to lay before the House (the constitutional patron and protector of the poor) until it unhappily came to their own lot to be exposed to them through the Bill now pending.

[Footnote 341: Quoted Hammond, _The Village Labourer_, pp. 39-40.]

6. EXTRACTS ON ENCLOSURE FROM THE SURVEYS OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 1798-1809.

_Somersetshire_ [_J. Billingsley, Somerset_, 1798, _pp._ 48-50 _and_ 52].

Let us begin with taking a view of the objections which have been started to this species of improvement, and see if we cannot prove them to be for the most part either false or frivolous.

1st. Invasion of the rights and interest of the cottagers.

* * * * *

The foremost of these objections carries with it the appearance of a humane attention to the comfort of the poor; but a brief investigation will lessen its influence, if not totally refute it.

There are but two modes of enclosing commons. First, by unanimous consent of the parties claiming rights, who delegate power to commissioners, chosen by themselves, to ascertain their validity, and divide them accordingly, under covenants and agreements properly drawn and executed for the purpose. Or secondly, by act of parliament obtained by the petition of a certain proportion of the commoners, both in number and value, whereby a minority, sanctioned only by ignorance, prejudice, or selfishness, is precluded from defeating the ends of private advantage and public utility.

In point of economy, the first of these methods is most eligible, as it saves the expense of an act of parliament, with an equal security to the proprietors. But it is seldom practised unless in commons on a small scale, from the difficulty of procuring the consent of every individual claimant, without which it cannot be accomplished.

In either of these methods, it is manifest that the right of the cottager cannot be invaded; since with respect to legal or equitable construction, he stands precisely on the same ground with his more opulent neighbours; and as to his interest, I can truly declare that, in all cases which have fallen within my observation, inclosures have meliorated his condition, by exciting a spirit of activity and industry, whereby habits of sloth have been by degrees overcome, and supineness and inactivity have been exchanged for vigour and exertion.

* * * * *

Besides, moral effects of an injurious tendency accrue to the cottager from a reliance on the imaginary benefits of stocking a common. The possession of a cow or two, with a hog, and a few geese, naturally exalts the peasant, in his own conception, above his brothers in the same rank of society. It inspires some degree of confidence in a property, inadequate to his support. In sauntering after his cattle, he acquires a habit of indolence. Quarter, half, and occasionally whole days are imperceptibly lost. Day labour becomes disgusting; the aversion increases by indulgence; and at length the sale of a half-fed calf, or hog, furnishes the means of adding intemperance to idleness. The sale of the cow frequently succeeds, and its wretched and disappointed possessor, unwilling to resume the daily and regular course of labour, from whence he drew his former subsistence, by various modes of artifice and imposition, exacts from the poor's rate the relief to which he is in no degree entitled.

_Lincolnshire_ [_Arthur Young, Lincoln_, 1799, _pp._ 85-6].

[Evidence of Elmhurst, a Commissioner under Enclosure Act.]

Another observation I at the first made, and ever after put in practice, was this, always to begin to line out and allot for the smallest proprietors first (whether rich or poor) in every parish, so as to make such allotment as proper and convenient for the occupation of such, or their tenant (as that might be) to occupy; and so on, from the smallest to the greatest: for it is for the advantage of the greatest and most opulent proprietors that a bill is presented and act passed; and at their requests, and not the small ones; and, as the little ones would have no weight by opposition, they must submit, was it ever so disadvantageous to them; as it very often happens; and, therefore, there can be no partiality in defending those who cannot help or defend themselves; and a little man may as well have nothing allotted to him, as to have it so far off, or so inconvenient for him, that it is not worth his having, as it would prevent his going to his daily labour; and, therefore, he must sell his property to his rich and opulent adjoining neighbours; and that, in some measure, decreases population.

_Norfolk_ [_Young, Norfolk_, 1804, _pp_. 82, 86, 94, 135, 156]. _Bintrey and Twiford._[342] Enclosed 1795.

Poor. There were 20, acres allotted for fuel, let by the parish. There were 46 commonable rights; the whole divided according to value; very few little proprietors; but small occupiers suffered.

_Brancaster._[343] Enclosed 1755.

Poor. Very well off; Barrow-hills, a common of 65 acres, allotted to them; and each dwelling-house has a right to keep the two cows or heifers; or a mare and foal; or two horses; and also to cut furze.

_Cranworth_, _Remieston_, _Southborough_.[344] Enclosed 1796.

Poor. They kept geese on the common, of which they are deprived. But in fuel they are benefited; an allotment not to exceed 1/20 let, and the rent applied in coals for all not occupying above 5l. a year: this is to the advantage of those at Southborough, having enough allowed for their consumption; at Cranworth the poor are more numerous, and the coals of little use.

_Ludham._[345]

The commons were enclosed in 1801: all cottagers that claimed had allotments; and one for fuel to the whole; but the cottages did not belong to the poor; the allotments in general went to the larger proprietors, and the poor consequently were left, in this respect, destitute; many cows were kept before, few now. All the poor very much against the measure.

_Sayham and Ovington._[346] Enclosed 1800.

Poor.--An allotment of not less than 50l. a year, for distributing to the poor in coals, was ordered by the act; it let for 98l. There were 100 commonable right houses. They used to sell a cottage of 3l. a year, with a right, for 80l. For each, four acres were allotted: and the cottage with this allotment would now sell for 160l. And what is very remarkable, every man who proved to the Commissioners that they had been in the habit of keeping stock on the common, was considered as possessing a common-right and had an allotment in lieu of it. Nor was it an unpopular measure, for there were only two men against it from the first to the last.

_Gloucestershire_ [_Thomas Rudge, Gloucester_, 1807, _pp._ 92-93].

In all Acts of Inclosure, it might perhaps be proper, as it would certainly be equitable, to relieve the pressure which weighs on small proprietors, in a degree not proportioned to the advantages they derive from them: for it should be remembered, that the expence of fencing a small allotment is considerable greater than that of a larger one, according to the quantity; that is, a square piece of land containing ten acres will cost half as much as forty, though only of one-fourth value. This disproportion occasions much reluctance in the class of proprietors before-mentioned; and though it is frequently overcome by the superior influence of the great landholders, yet the injustice of it cannot but strike the considerate mind with conviction.[347]

_Leicestershire_ [_William Pitt, Leicester_, 1809, _pp._ 15,16 _and_ 166].

The enclosure of this vale[348] has not at all, I believe, hitherto lessened the number of its inhabitants, as the farms are small, and few changes of tenantry have taken place. The farmer and his family take a hand in the business, yet few can do without a male and female servant, and labourer, who may have a family: these with the necessary mechanics, blacksmith, wheelwright, tailor, weaver, etc., form a considerable population in each village, I should suppose about 10 or 12 to every 100 acres.... As the tendency of the country is to pasture and feeding, the rejected occupier and his family must emigrate into towns, or elsewhere, for employ.

The management of the Duke of Rutland's property has always been conducted in the most liberal and benevolent manner; yet I think the enclosure of a rich district, and converting it to grass, has a natural tendency to decrease the population of that district; less corn is certainly now raised in Belvoir than in its open state.

Mr. Ainsworth complains that labourers have not in general sufficient gardens, nor even cottages, for want of which they are driven into towns; and that in many cases by enclosures the cottages have been suffered to go to decay, as the land would let for as much rent without them to the larger farmers, and by turning it to grass, fewer labourers' cottages are wanting.

_Northamptonshire_ [_William Pitt, Northampton_, 1809, _p._ 70].

From the observations I have made in this county, I have no doubt but, if the average produce of common fields be three quarters per acre, the same land will, after a little rest as grass, and the improvements to be effected by enclosure, produce, on an average, four quarters per acre; and I believe that the produce of every common field may be increased in a like proportion by enclosure and an improved cultivation.

[Footnote 342: p. 82.]

[Footnote 343: p. 86.]

[Footnote 344: p. 94.]

[Footnote 345: p. 135.]

[Footnote 346: p. 156.]

[Footnote 347: The expenses of enclosure of an average amount were calculated by the Board of Agriculture at 497l. for the Act, 259l. for the Survey, 344l. for the Commissioners, 550l. 7s. 6d. for fencing, etc. General Report on Enclosures, 1808.]

[Footnote 348: Belvoir.]

7. ARTHUR YOUNG'S CRITICISM OF ENCLOSURE [_Young, An Inquiry into the Propriety of Applying Wastes, etc._, 1801, _pp._ 13 _and_ 42], 1801.

Go to an alehouse kitchen of an old enclosed country, and there you will see the origin of poverty and poor rates. For whom are they to be sober? For whom are they to save? (Such are their questions.) For the parish? If I am diligent, shall I have leave to build a cottage? If I am sober, shall I have land for a cow? If I am frugal, shall I have half an acre of potatoes? You offer no motives; you have nothing but a parish officer and a workhouse! Bring me another pot.

* * * * *

Objection VIII. Wastes are as much property as my house.

Will a farmer give up his right of commonage?

I will not dispute their meaning[349]; but the poor look to facts, not meanings: and the fact is, that by nineteen enclosure bills in twenty they are injured, in some grossly injured. It may be said that commissioners are sworn to do justice. What is that to the people who suffer? It must be generally known that they suffer in their own opinions, and yet enclosures go on by commissioners, who dissipate the poor people's cows wherever they come, as well those kept legally as those which are not. What is it to the poor man to be told that the Houses of Parliament are extremely tender of property, while the father of the family is forced to sell his cow and his land because the one is not competent to the other; and being deprived of the only motive to industry, squanders the money, contracts bad habits, enlists for a soldier, and leaves the wife and children to the parish? If enclosures were beneficial to the poor, rates would not rise as in other parishes after an act to enclose. The poor in these parishes may say, and with truth, _Parliament may be tender of property_; _all I know is, I had a cow, and act of Parliament has taken it from me_. And thousands may make this speech with truth.

8. ENCLOSURE CONSOLIDATING ACT [_Statutes, Geo. III, 109_], 1801.

An Act for consolidating in one act certain provisions usually inserted in acts of inclosure; and for facilitating the mode of proving the several facts usually required on the passing of such acts.

II. No commissioner shall be capable of being a purchaser of any part or parts of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments within any parish in which the lands and grounds intended to be inclosed are situate, either in his own name, or in the name or names of any person or persons, until five years after the date and execution of the award to be made by any such commissioner or commissioners.

IV. And be it further enacted, that a true, exact, and particular survey, admeasurement, plan, and valuation, of all the lands and grounds to be divided, allotted, and inclosed by any such act, and also of all the messuages, cottages, orchards, gardens, homesteads, ancient inclosed lands and grounds, within any such parish or manor, shall be made and reduced in writing, by such commissioner or commissioners, or by such other person or persons as he or they shall nominate and appoint, as soon as conveniently may be, for the purposes of such act.

VI. And be it further enacted, that all persons, and bodies corporate or politic, who shall have or claim any common or other right to or in any such lands so to be inclosed, shall deliver or cause to be delivered to such commissioner or commissioners, or one of them, at some one of such meetings as the said commissioner or commissioners shall appoint for the purpose (or within such further time, if any, as the said commissioner or commissioners shall for some special reason think proper to allow for that purpose) an account or schedule in writing, signed by them, or their respective husbands, guardians, trustees, committees, or agents, of such their respective rights or claims, and therein describe the lands and grounds, and the respective messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, in respect whereof they shall respectively claim to be entitled to any and which of such rights in and upon the same or any part thereof, with the name or names of the person or persons then in the actual possession thereof, and the particular computed quantities of the same respectively, and of what nature and extent such right is, and also in what rights, and for what estates and interests, they claim the same respectively, distinguishing the freehold from the copyhold or leasehold; or on non-compliance therewith, every of them making default therein shall, as far only as respects any claim so neglected to be delivered, be totally barred and excluded of and from all right and title in or upon such lands so to be divided respectively, and of and from all benefit and advantage in or to any share or allotment thereof.

[All objections must be delivered in writing to the commissioners before the meeting appointed to consider objections.]

VII. Provided also, and be it further enacted, that nothing herein contained shall authorise such commissioner or commissioners to hear and determine any difference or dispute which may arise, touching the right or title to any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, but such commissioner or commissioners shall assign and set out the several allotments directed to be made unto the person or persons, who, at the time of the division and inclosure, shall have the actual seisin or possession of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, in lieu or in right whereof such allotment shall be respectively made.

[VIII. Commissioners, before making any allotments, to appoint public carriage roads, and prepare a map thereof to be deposited with their clerk, and give notice thereof, and appoint a meeting, at which, if any person shall object, the commissioners, with a justice of the division, shall determine the matter.]

XII. And be it further enacted, that such commissioner or commissioners in making the several allotments directed by any such act, shall have due regard as well to the situation of the respective houses or homesteads of the proprietors, as to the quantity and quality of the lands and grounds to be allotted to them respectively, so far as may be consistent with the general convenience of the said proprietors; and that such commissioner or commissioners in making the said allotments shall have particular regard to the convenience of the owners or proprietors of the smallest estates in the lands and grounds directed to be allotted and exchanged.

XIV. And be it further enacted, that the several shares of and in any lands or grounds shall, when so allotted, be and be taken to be in full bar of and satisfaction and compensation for their several and respective lands, grounds, rights of common, and all other rights; and that from and immediately after the making the said division and allotments, and the execution of the award, all rights whatsoever, by such act intended to be extinguished, belonging to or claimed by any person or persons whomsoever, bodies politic or corporate, in, over, or upon such lands or grounds, shall cease, determine, and be for ever extinguished.

[XXIV and XXIX. If allotments are not enclosed and fenced within an appointed time the commissioners may have the work done and charge the expense to the proprietor or let the allotment and apply the rents till the expenses are paid. If it has been provided by an act that the expenses of obtaining and executing it are to be shared among the proprietors of allotments the commissioners may levy them by distress and sale of the goods of those who fail to pay at the appointed times.]

XXXII. And be it further enacted, that in case it shall be provided by any such act, that the expenses attending the same shall be paid by sale of any part of the land so to be inclosed, the said commissioner or commissioners shall mark and set out such part or parts of the said waste or commonable lands, as in his or their opinion will by sale thereof raise a sum of money sufficient to pay and discharge all such charges and expenses as may by any such act be directed to be paid and discharged out of the same; and the said commissioner or commissioners shall sell such part or parts of the said lands to any person or persons for the best price or prices that can be gotten for the same.

XXXV. And be it further enacted, that as soon as conveniently may be after the division and allotment of the said lands and grounds shall be finished, pursuant to the purport and directions of this or any such act, the said commissioner or commissioners shall form and draw up, or cause to be formed and drawn up, an award in writing, which shall express the quantity of acres, roods, and perches, in statute measure, contained in the said lands and grounds, and the quantity of each and every part and parcel thereof which shall be so allotted, assigned, or exchanged, and the situations and descriptions of the same respectively, and shall also contain a description of the roads, ways, footpaths, watercourses, watering places, quarries, bridges, fences, and land marks, set out and appointed by the said commissioner or commissioners respectively as aforesaid, and all such other rules, orders, agreements, regulations, directions, and determinations, as the said commissioner or commissioners shall think necessary, proper, or beneficial to the

## parties; which said award shall be fairly ingrossed or written on

parchment, and shall be read and executed by the commissioner or commissioners, in the presence of the proprietors who may attend at a special general meeting called for that purpose, of which ten days' notice at least shall be given in some paper to be named in such act and circulating in the county, which execution of such award shall be proclaimed the next Sunday in the church of the parish in which such lands shall be, from the time of which proclamation only, and not before, such award shall be considered as complete.

XL. And be it further enacted and declared that nothing in such act contained shall lessen, prejudice, or defeat the right, title, or interest of any lord or lady of any manor or lordship, or reputed manor or lordship, within the jurisdiction or limits whereof the lands and grounds thereby directed to be divided and allotted are situate, lying, and being of, in, or to the seigniories, rights, and royalties incident or belonging to such manor or lordship, or reputed manor or lordship, or to the lord or lady thereof, or to any person or persons claiming under him or her, but the same (other than and except the interest and other property as is or are meant or intended to be barred by such act) shall remain, in as full, ample, and beneficial manner, to all intents and purposes, as he or she might or ought to have held or enjoyed such rights before the passing of such act, or in case the same had never been made.

[Footnote 349: _Ibid._ p. 42.]

9. GENERAL ENCLOSURE ACT [_Statutes_, 8 _and_ 9 _Victoria_, 118], 1845.

An act to facilitate the inclosure and improvement of commons and lands held in common, the exchange of lands, and the division of intermixed lands; to provide remedies for defective or incomplete executions, and for the non-execution of the powers of general and local inclosure acts; and to provide for the revival of such powers in certain cases.

... Be it therefore enacted ... that it shall be lawful for one of her Majesty's principal secretaries of State to appoint any two fit persons to be commissioners under this act ... and the commissioners shall, with the first commissioner of her Majesty's woods, forests, land reserves, works and buildings for the time being, be the commissioners for carrying this act into execution.

[Assistant commissioners may be appointed to whom powers may be delegated.

Village greens may not be enclosed. Land near towns and land subject to unlimited rights of pasture, etc., may not be enclosed without special direction of parliament.]

XXX. And be it enacted, that in the provisional order of the commissioners concerning the enclosures under the provisions of this act of any waste land of any manor on which the tenants of such manor have rights of common, or of any other land subject to rights of common which may be exercised all times of the year, and which shall not be limited by number or stints, it shall be lawful for the commissioners to require ... the appropriation of an allotment for the purpose of exercise and recreation for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood [10 acres for a population of 10,000; 8 for 5,000 to 10,000, etc.]

XXXI. [In similar cases the commissioners may order the appropriation of such an allotment for the labouring poor as the commissioners shall think necessary.]

L. All encroachments and enclosures, other than enclosures duly authorised by the custom of the manor of which such land shall be parcel ... within twenty years next before the first meeting for the examination of claims ... shall be deemed parcel of the land subject to be enclosed; provided always that in case ... it shall appear to the commissioners just or reasonable that rights or interests in the lands to be enclosed should be allowed to the persons in possession of such encroachments, it shall be lawful for the commissioners ... to direct what rights shall be allowed.

[Encroachments of twenty years standing to be deemed old enclosures.]

SECTION III

GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF WAGES, CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, AND PUBLIC HEALTH

1. An Act against Truck, 1701--2. A Wages Assessment at a Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, 1738--3. Spitalfields Weavers Act, 1773--4. A Middlesex Wages Assessment under the Spitalfields Act, 1773--5. Agricultural Labourers' Proposals for a Sliding Scale of Wages, 1795--6. Debates on Whitbread's Minimum Wage Bill, 1795-6--7. Arbitration Act for the Cotton Industry, 1800--8. Amendment of the Arbitration Act, 1804--9. The First Factory Act, 1802--9A. Minutes of Committee on Children in Factories--10. Calico Printers' Petition for Regulation, 1804--11. Report on Calico Printers' Petition, 1806--12. Cotton Weavers' Petition against the Repeal of 5 Elizabeth c. 4, 1813--13. Debates on the Regulation of Apprentices, 1813-1814--14. Resolutions of the Watchmakers on Apprenticeship, 1817--15. Report of Committee on the Ribbon Weavers, 1818--16. The Cotton Factory Act of 1819--17. Oastler's First Letter on Yorkshire Slavery, 1830--18. Factory Act, 1833--19. Proposals for a Wages Board for Hand-loom Weavers, 1834--20. Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1842--21. Debate on Factory Legislation, 1844--22. Factory Act, 1844--23. Recommendations of the Commission on the Health of Towns, 1845.

The eighteenth century was nearly a blank period in the history of direct regulation of industrial conditions by the State. There was no systematic intervention on the scale of Tudor or Victorian times; and political opinion hardened against the principle and destroyed the machinery which had been inherited from the sixteenth century. Such machinery, for the regulation of wages, was still occasionally used in the early part of the eighteenth century, as is shown by occasional examples of wages assessments at Quarter Sessions (No. 2). Acts were passed for individual trades forbidding the practice of paying wages in truck (No. 1). Local pressure even obtained a special Act providing for the regulation of London silk-weavers' wages (No. 3, No. 4). This Spitalfields Act was used as a precedent for the proposals to extend the policy of regulation, which began to fill the Journals of the House of Commons during the period when the new machinery and methods and the French wars dislocated employment and wages. Examples are given of petitions asking that wages should be regulated and that the limitation of apprentices should be enforced under the statute 5 Elizabeth c. 4, to which attention had been called (Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 14). Independent attempts were made to set up a minimum wage, directly and through wages-boards (Nos. 5, 6 and 19). All these applications ended in complete failure. Parliament provided a system of arbitration for the cotton industry (Nos. 7 and 8), but repealed both the wages and apprenticeship clauses of the Elizabethan Act. Contemporary opinion in Parliament relied on the working of free bargaining and economic forces (Debates on Whitbread's Bill and on Apprenticeship, Nos. 6 and 13).

The history of Factory legislation (Nos. 9, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22) shows how the policy of non-interference was abandoned in another field. The employment of children in the new factories was one result of the eighteenth century system of Poor relief. It produced horrors which the first Factory Act was designed to remedy (No. 9). But the use of steam-power and the growth of big industrial districts led to the wholesale employment of children not under the Poor Law. Public opinion was at last aroused by the campaigns of Oastler and others, who pointed to the contrast between the Anti-Slavery agitation and the conditions of the English mills (No. 17). The successive Acts of 1819, 1833, 1842 and 1844 (Nos. 16, 18, 20, 22) show how legislators were forced to extend the principle of regulation from children to young persons and women, and from cotton mills to other textile factories and to mines. In the debate on the Act of 1844 the respective points of view of the Tory philanthropist, the political economist, and the manufacturer, were dramatically contrasted (No. 21). The last extract is from one of a series of reports on the condition of great industrial towns (No. 23), by which Chadwick, a disciple of Bentham and a champion of the new Poor-law, forced Parliament to interfere in the economic control of town life.

AUTHORITIES

For modern writers on general conditions, see Authorities for Section I. The history of agitation for Factory legislation is to be found in Hutchins and Harrison, _History of Factory Legislation_; Von Plener _Die Englische Fabrikgesetzgebung_; Alfred (S. Kydd), _The Factory Movement_; Cooke Taylor, _The Factory System and the Factory Acts_; Keeling, _Child Labour in the United Kingdom_,