302 VILLAGE GREENS. 



in the Queen's subjects generally, was bad ; that the 

 public had no right to be there ; but they intimated 

 that if the defendant could have claimed as an in- 

 habitant of Newmarket, he might possibly have main- 

 tained the custom.* 



This distinction between the user by the public 

 generally, and that of the inhabitants of a parish, was 

 also brought out clearly in a later case, that relating to 

 Woodford Green, forming a part of Epping Forest. In 

 this case a claim was made on behalf of the inhabitants 

 of the village to the enjoyment of the Green, and to 

 prevent the inclosure of it by the Lord of the Manor. 

 It was maintained in the first place that there was 

 a right of way in all directions over the Green, and 

 secondly that the inhabitants were accustomed to 

 play at all lawful games on the Green. In sum- 

 ming up this case to the jury, Mr. Justice Wightman 

 said : 



"The question is, first, whether there was a right of way 

 over the spot where the hurdles were put up. In one sense 

 there was a way there, for it appears that the Green was part of 

 the ancient forest, and the effect of the evidence is that people 

 went wherever they liked, and so in that sense the whole forest 

 was one great way. . . But there was no distinct evidence of 

 any definite way in any particular direction, and though there 

 were tracks from time to time, which might last for a few 

 weeks or months, there was no beaten or enduring track in any 

 one direction which had lasted for years. Then, as to the 

 alleged custom, it is laid in the inhabitants ; but the proof is 

 wider than the plea, for it appears that all the world went 



* Coventry v. Willes. 12, Weekly Reporter, 127. 



