34G STATUTE OF ME ETON. 



were attempted to be perpetrated, were greatly 

 strengthened ; and from time to time the question was 

 raised in the House of Commons, at the instance of 

 the Commons Society. Thus, in the year 1871, in 

 the Select Committee on the Commons Bill which I 

 had introduced, Mr. Cowper Temple moved an amend- 

 ment for the repeal of the Statute of Merton. He 

 was defeated by a majority of ten to four, in spite of 

 the fact that a majority of the members of the Com- 

 mittee were Liberals. Again, in the discussions in 

 Committee on Lord Cross's measure in 1S76, the 

 same question was raised in various forms. I proposed 

 myself a new clause to secure that no Commons 

 should thenceforward be inclosed without the sanction 

 of Parliament. The Minister in charge of the Bill had 

 said on this that " he hoped no British Parliament would 

 ever consent to a scheme of pure confiscation, such as 

 was involved in the proposal." The clause, at his 

 instance, was rejected by a majority of 206 to 82. 

 Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice, at a later stage, renewed 

 the proposal by moving a new clause for the repeal 

 of the Statute of Merton. It was negatived by a 

 majority of 79 to 28. Lastly, Sir William Harcourt 

 proposed a clause providing that the " unlawful in- 

 closure of am' Common, or part of a Common, should 

 be deemed to be a public nuisance." This would 

 have made it possible for any outsider to raise a ques- 

 tion as to the legality of an inclosure, quite irrespective 

 of whether he had any right of common or not, and 

 would have enabled the local authorities of a district 



