354 STATUTE OF ME I? TON. 



The consideration of these cases at the beginning 

 of last year, 1893, first suggested to me that the prin- 

 ciple of the clause in the Copyhold Act might be 

 applied equally to inclosures under the Statute of Merton, 

 and that the argument in favour of such a course might 

 be used with great force, and with every prospect of 

 success in the House of Lords, where the clause had 

 originated. In this view a Bill was drawn in exact 

 accord with the clause in the Copyhold Act, but apply- 

 ing to inclosures under the Statute of Merton. Lord 

 Thring was induced to take charge of this measure on 

 behalf of the Commons Society. It was hoped that, 

 under the shadow of the precedent of 1887, it might 

 pass the Lords without much notice. It was, however, 

 detected by Lord Salisbury, who made a powerful speech 

 against it on the second reading. 



" This is a Bill/' he said, " simply to take away from land- 

 owners or Lords of Manors a right which they have had under 

 Statute for six centuries, and to take it without a whisper or 

 shadow of compensation ... I do not believe the Statute of Mer- 

 ton, as it at present acts, does any harm. On the contrary, I 

 believe that in the past it has done a great deal of good, and that 

 it is largely the cause of the extensive cultivation of the poorer 

 land in this country. But be that as it may, this right has been 

 in the Lords of Manors without contest for six centuries, and it 

 is contrary to all the principles by which Parliament guarantees 

 the sanctity of property in this country, that property should be 

 taken without some compensation. " * 



In a later speech in the Grand Committee on the 

 Bill, he spoke of the Bill as a measure of spoliation, and 

 * Parliamentary Debates, vol. xv., p. 604. 



