BANSTEAB COMMONS. 205 



destroying the pasturage of the Commons ; and an 

 order was made for the abatement of his inclosures. 

 He was also ordered to pay the costs of the suit up to 

 the hearing ; but this was of no value to the plaintiffs, 

 for Sir John was already a bankrupt. The Judge, how- 

 ever, declined to decide, as against the mortgagees, 

 whether the destruction of the surface of the Commons 

 was of such a character as to warrant an injunction. 

 He directed a reference to Mr. Meadows White, Q.C., 

 to inquire who were the persons entitled to rights of 

 common, what their rights were, and whether there was 

 sufficiency of common on the waste lands for the persons 

 entitled to the rights. For the purposes of this inquiry, 

 the right of common for sheep was directed by the 

 Judge to be taken as limited to two sheep to every acre 

 of land to which the right attached. 



This was the first occasion on which, in the course 

 of legal proceedings for the protection of Commons, an 

 inquiry had been directed of this kind into the extent 

 of the rights of common existing over the land. It 

 was a course much to be deprecated, as it enormously 

 increased the costs of the suit, without, as Lord Justice 

 Fry, in giving judgment in the Court of Appeal, said, 

 " lessening the intricacy of the arguments " used before 

 the Court. It will be obvious that if the report of Mr. 

 Meadows White had been adverse to the Commoners, it 

 would have buoyed out the course for a future inclosure 

 under the Statute of Merton. 



The proceedings before the referee were most 

 lengthy and costly ; they occupied forty days. The 



