BANSTEAD COMMOXS. 207 



held it to be proved that the Commons would not 

 furnish pasture for more than 1,200 sheep, even if they 

 were kept and turned out on the wastes according' to 

 the modern practice of sheep-farming; while if the 

 sheep were turned out to get all their sustenance from 

 the land during the summer months, according to the 

 old practice, the Commons would not carry more than 

 600 sheep. 



The Judges repudiated the doctrine contended for 

 by the mortgagees that the measure of the rights of the 

 Commoners was the average number of sheep which 

 had actually of late years been turned out a doctrine 

 which involved the conclusion that because full use of 

 their legal rights had not been made by the Commoners, 

 they had therefore lost them. 



They also declared that the Commoners were 

 entitled to the several rights which they claimed over 

 the wastes, that the mortgagees were not justified in 

 continuing Sir John Hartopp's inclosures, and that the 

 cutting of the pasture, herbage and turf, and the digging" 

 of loam by the mortgagees, were excessive, and consti- 

 tuted distinct injuries to the rights of the Commoners 

 and should be restrained ; and they directed that the 

 costs of the whole proceedings from the time when the 

 mortgagees were made parties to the action should be 

 paid by them. 



There could not have been a more triumphant 

 victory for the Commoners. The judgment established 

 all their claims. It is probable that, even without the 

 accession of Lord Egmont and Sir Charles Russell, they 



