VILLAGE GREENS. 303 



wherever they pleased. It may be a question whether that 

 would be a good custom in law, and, of course, if in point of 

 fact, it is proved as to all the world, it is proved as to the 

 inhabitants. On the other hand, if the plea be taken to mean 

 that the subject is only in the inhabitants, it is disproved, for 

 the proof shows it to be, if it exists at all, in all the world." 



Under this direction the jury found a verdict for the 

 Lord of the Manor who had inclosed ; and what was 

 undoubtedly a village Green, where the inhabitants of 

 Woodford had been in the habit of playing games, 

 would, but for the action of the Corporation of London 

 some years later, have been lost to them for ever, because 

 the population of London had in recent years joined in the 

 user of the Green, and it could no longer be proved that 

 the custom was confined to the inhabitants of the place. 



This unfortunate and, it would seem, most narrow 

 and technical view of the case, was followed by an even 

 greater lawyer, the late Sir George Jessel, in the case 

 of Stockwell Green. Stockwell is, or rather was, until 

 swallowed up by the ever-extending population of 

 London, a hamlet in the parish of Lambeth. In the 

 centre of it was a small open space, part of the waste of 

 the Manor, of a little more than an acre, known as 

 Stockwell Green, and so marked in all the old maps. 

 It was till a comparatively recent date open to the 

 public, and the evidence showed that the people of 

 Stockwell had been accustomed to play games upon it. 

 The growth of population, however, and the want of 

 means for regulating it, made it a nuisance to the 

 people living in the adjoining houses. 



