Inclosure Acts

The Inclosure or Enclosure Acts were a series of United Kingdom Acts of Parliament which enclosed open fields and common land in the country. They removed previously existing rights of local people to carry out activities in these areas, such as cultivation, cutting hay, grazing animals or using other resources such as small timber, fish, and turf. "Inclosure" is an old or formal spelling of the word now more usually spelled "enclosure": both spellings are pronounced  /ɨŋˈkloʊʒər/.

Inclosure Acts for small areas had been passed sporadically since the 12th century but the majority were passed between 1750 and 1860. Much larger areas were also enclosed during this time and in 1801 the Inclosure (Consolidation) Act was passed to tidy up previous acts. In 1845 another General Inclosure Act allowed for the appointment of Inclosure Commissioners who could enclose land without submitting a request to Parliament.

Under this process there were over 5,000 individual Inclosure Acts and 21% of land in England was enclosed, amounting to nearly 11,000 square miles (28,000 km2).

Contents

List

The Enclosure Act 1773 (13 Geo.3 c.81)

The Enclosure Acts 1845 to 1882 means:[1]

The Inclosure Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c.118)
The Inclosure Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c.70)
The Inclosure Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c.111)
The Inclosure Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c.99)
The Inclosure Act 1849 (12 & 13 Vict. c.83)
The Inclosure Commissioners Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict. c.53)
The Inclosure Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c.79)
The Inclosure Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 97)
The Inclosure Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c.31)
The Inclosure Act 1859 (22 & 23 Vict. c.43)
The Inclosure, etc. Expenses Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c.89)
The Commons Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c.56)
The Commons (Expenses) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c.56)
The Commons Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c.37)
The Commonable Rights Compensation Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c.15)

See also

References

  1. ^ The Short Titles Act 1896, section 2(1) and second schedule

External links