ABSTRACT
The contemporary common lands of England and Wales offer an interesting case study in the conceptualization of ‘common’ rural space. They illustrate many paradigm features of contested common pool resources (CPRs) – they have a multifaceted role as an agricultural resource, are an important source of natural capital providing ecosystem services, and provide a public space for open air recreation and communal enjoyment. These potentially conflicting roles are represented within a pluralist framework of legal and property concepts that are in many ways unique to English law. Part 2 of the Commons Act 2006 has introduced reform of the governance structures for managing common land. This will require both a reappraisal of the orientation of these conflicting land-use demands and a re-conceptualization of property rights in the commons. This chapter will confine itself to a consideration of the unique legal structures for property rights in the modern commons, and will consider the impact, in particular, of the registration of common rights under the Commons Registration Act 1965. It will consider measures in Part 1 of the 2006 Act for clarifying the commons registers and the property rights that they represent. The environmental governance implications of Part 2 of the 2006 Act will be considered in detail in Chapter 5.
