Common Rights over CL65 and CL124
The rights that each of the common right holders can exercise can be seen in the Commons Register held at County Hall Norwich and include all of those listed below. However, not all of those rights apply to all of the Register entries therefore; Owners of common rights should check their own entry in the Register to ascertain what rights they are entitled to exercise.
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In exercising their rights commoners have recourse to “ancillary easements”, to quote. It should be noted, however, that a right of common also includes all easements which are “reasonably necessary for the reasonable enjoyment of the principle or primary right” (p 259, 6-03) Cousins E F and Honey R, 2012, Gadsden on Commons and Greens, Sweet and Maxwell London
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There are also restrictions upon the amount of produce that any one rightholder can take at any one time:
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An individual right is finite; it is a right to take between both the owners and rightholders only as much as would be reasonable for an individual to take for their own table. It is not a right to take an unlimited amount, or to supply all the rightholders wider family and friends. Any right holder, if they were to exceed the amount the right entitles them to take, would be acting illegally and liable to prosecution by the landowner and other rightholders. (Paraphrased Norfolk County Council Registration Authority.)
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Whilst there have been ongoing discussions with the Registration Authority since the 1990’s concerning the legal status of the original entries in the Register, it is a fact the a common right in gross can be held by up to four people, according to the Law of Property Act 1925. The Registration Authority puts it as follows; the right itself is indivisible, i.e. it cannot be broken down (apportioned). However, it is possible for a right to be held by up to four owners (shared). It is our view that such co-ownership is as ‘joint tenants’ on the terms prescribed by the Law of Property Act 1925 and the Trustees Act 1925. Co-owners are not entitled to take more from the land than a single owner, as indicated above.
The common rights listed are:
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Herbage – Grazing, Estovers, Samphire, Soil - Sand and Shingle, Fish, Shellfish, Bait, Wildfowl – Game, Reeds, Sea lavender, Seaweed.
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See also the Points of Law document for more information concerning the legal aspects of owning a common right.