176 COULSDON COMMONS. 



the sense that the Commoners could only exercise their 

 rights over the Commons nearest to them. 



In this view he abandoned the intention of inclosing 

 all the Commons. He made arrangements with some 

 of the Commoners, by promising grants to them of 

 portions of the waste, in extinguishment of their 

 rights, and then began to inclose some parts of it. 

 He also commenced the sale of turf from Coulsdon 

 and Riddlesdown Commons on a very great scale, in 

 such manner as to ruin their surface. 



It was in consequence of all these acts, which in 

 the aggregate amounted to an assertion of absolute 

 right over the Commons, that the Messrs. Hall com- 

 menced a suit against the Lord of the Manor, claiming 

 in the usual way, on behalf of the Commoners, a 

 determination of their rights, and asking for an 

 injunction to restrain the inclosures and the excessive 

 digging of gravel and loam. Mr. Byron replied, deny- 

 ing the rights of common, whether in the Messrs. Hall 

 or in the class of persons on whose behalf they claimed, 

 and asserting that no general right of common existed 

 over all the different Commons in the Manor, but that 

 each Commoner was restricted to a particular Common. 



As in all the other Commons' cases, the investigation 

 of the history and customs of the Manor, and the 

 determination of the persons entitled to common rights, 

 gave rise to protracted, difficult, and expensive pro- 

 ceedings. After some years the case was ultimately 

 heard by Vice-Chancellor Hall in 1877, and occupied 

 eight consecutive days. In the end the Judge was 



