HISTORY OF COMMONS. 21 
eventually compelled to sell, and their land was bought 
up by the larger owners of the district. This effect 
may be illustrated by the fact that only in places 
where large Commons, or Forests, or waste lands still 
exist, are there to be found any considerable number of 
small ownerships and small holdings of land—as in 
Cumberland and Westmorland, in the mountainous 
parts of Wales, and on the borders of such Forests 
as Dartmoor and the New Forest. 
The inclosures were also carried out without any 
regard to the interests of the agricultural labourers 
of the districts concerned. It has already been shown 
that the law did not recognise that these labourers had 
any rights whatever over the Commons, unless they 
were owners of land, however much they might have 
benefited from the usages which prevailed, so long as 
the wastes remained open and uninclosed. The In- 
closure Acts made no provision therefore in the nature 
of compensation to labourers, and no consideration was 
given to them. They had no Jocus standi to oppose 
such private Acts, even if they had the means. No 
local inquiries were held to ascertain what were the 
wishes and interests of these people. It has generally 
been admitted that great injustice was often done, and 
that inclosures were frequently authorised, where no 
public advantage accrued to the district, and where no 
attention was given to the change effected in the con- 
dition of the labourers. 
The complaints became so frequent that at last 
Parliament was compelled to interfere, and the General 
