VILLAGE GREENS. 303 
wherever they pleased. It may be a question whether that 
would be a good custom in law, and, of course, if in point of 
fact, it is proved as to all the world, it is proved as to the 
inhabitants. On the other hand, if the plea be taken to mean 
that the subject is only in the inhabitants, it is disproved, for 
the proof shows it to be, if it exists at all, in all the world.” 
Under this direction the jury found a verdict for the 
Lord of the Manor who had inclosed; and what was 
undoubtedly a village Green, where the inhabitants of 
Woodford had been in the habit of playing games, 
would, but for the action of the Corporation of London 
some years later, have been lost to them for ever, because 
the population of London had in recent years joined in the 
user of the Green, and it could no longer be proved that 
the custom was confined to the inhabitants of the place. 
This unfortunate and, it would seem, most narrow 
and technical view of the case, was followed by an even 
greater lawyer, the late Sir George Jessel, in the case 
of Stockwell Green. Stockwell is, or rather was, until 
swallowed up by the ever-extending population of 
London, a hamlet in the parish of Lambeth. In the 
centre of it was a small open space, part of the waste of 
the Manor, of a little more than an acre, known as 
Stockwell Green, and so marked in all the old maps. 
Tt was till a comparatively recent date open to the 
public, and the evidence showed that the people of 
Stockwell had been accustomed to play games upon it. 
The growth of population, however, and the want of 
means for regulating it, made it a nuisauce to the 
people living in the adjoining houses. 
