354 STATUTE OF MERTON. 
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... Ido 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, 
