CONCLUSION. 361 



subsists, this would be impossible. It is most important, 

 therefore, that the powers now conferred on Urban 

 Authorities, of acquiring rights over Commons within 

 their area, should be extended to other Local Authorities 

 in rural districts, and should be acted upon. The ac- 

 quisition in this way of a single right over a Common, 

 will suffice to prevent the extinction of the Manor. 



It is also time that the pedantic and senseless doc- 

 trines that the inhabitants of a parish or district are too 

 vague a body to enjoy a "profit a prendre," or to pre- 

 scribe for such a right, and that a custom to be valid 

 must be proved to be enjoyed by the inhabitants of 

 a district only, and not by the public generally doc- 

 trines which it has been shown have been used to 

 defeat claims and customs of a just and necessary 

 character must be reviewed by the light of modern 

 ideas and common sense. These matters, however, are 

 easy and certain of accomplishment compared to what 

 has been effected during the past thirty years. 



The result achieved during this period has not been 

 without prevision. It was deliberately devised and 

 steadily pursued through a long course of years. It has 

 already been pointed out that at the commencement of 

 the movement, when it was found necessary to fight the 

 battle of the Commons in the Courts of Law, it was 

 determined to use every effort to reverse the current 

 of previous decisions, and to bring back the Judges 

 to the older view of the relations of the Lords of 

 Manors to their Commoners, and to accustom them 

 to the idea that public rights and interests might be 



