STATUTE OF MERTON. 347 
to undertake the cause of the Commoners, and to fight 
their battle against an inclosing Lord of the Manor. 
The clause was rejected by 64 to 30. 
One definite advantage, however, resulted from these 
discussions. The Government at length consented, at 
the instance of Lord Henry Scott (now Lord Montagu), 
to insert a clause providing that any person proposing 
to inclose Common land otherwise than under the 
Inclosure Acts, should advertise his intention in the 
local papers, three months in advance. It will be seen 
that, combined with recent legislation, this provision 
may become of considerable value. 
Later, between the years 1880 and 1890, the Com- 
mons Society, in every recurring Session, endeavoured 
through its members to obtain a discussion on a Bill 
for the repeal of the Statute of Merton, but never suc- 
ceeded in doing so. Lord Meath, in a Bill dealing with 
Commons, introduced in the Lords in 1890, proposed a 
clause with this object. It was discussed in the Grand 
Committee of the Lords, and was strongly supported 
by Lord Herschell, on the ground that the Statute was 
obsolete, and that the long course of litigation of late 
years had proved that it was only put in force in the 
hopes that Commoners would be unwilling to incur the 
heavy expense of resisting inclosure. The clause was 
rejected by a large majority of their Lordships. It 
seemed, therefore, hopeless to expect that any measure 
would ever pass both Houses of the Legislature for 
effecting our purpose, and for repealing an Act which 
had been 600 years on the Statute Book. 
