REGULATION OF COMMONS. 313 



not give his consent, it is still in the power of the 

 Board of Agriculture to approve the scheme, and it will 

 be valid for all the purposes contained in it, save that 

 the rights of the lord, whatever they may be, under the 

 Statute of Merton or otherwise, are reserved, and, like 

 other rights over the Common, cannot be materially 

 interfered with without compensation. The lord may 

 still put in force his rights of digging gravel and turf, 

 and the Commoners may still exercise their rights of 

 turning out cattle, subject to regulations made by the 

 Conservators. 



Under the Commons Act of 1876, which applies to 

 all Commons beyond the Metropolitan Police area, 

 schemes of the same nature may be made for the 

 regulation of Commons, whether in urban or rural dis- 

 tricts. There is, however, the important difference that 

 a scheme can only be entertained by the Board on the 

 application or consent of one-third of the Commoners, 

 and it cannot be finally approved by the Department, 

 unless two-thirds (in value) of the Commoners agree, and 

 the Lord of the Manor consents. The lord, in fact, has 

 an absolute veto on such a scheme. Schemes in respect 

 of rural Commons are generally applied for, not in the 

 interest of the public, but for the purpose of defining and 

 regulating the rights of Commoners, in cases where 

 inclosure is not likely to be approved, or where it is not 

 worth while to inclose and fence the land in fact, where 

 the object is to turn them into stinted pastures, leaving 

 them unin closed and open to the public. In cases of 

 this kind the Board of Agriculture almost invariably 



