Fitch v Rawling: 1795

A common was claimed at Steeple Bumpstead in Essex for ‘all kinds of lawful games, sports and pastimes . . at all seasonable times of the year.’ including cricket.
Held: Rights of common over land can include the right of local inhabitants to play at all kinds of lawful games, sports and pastimes at all seasonable times of the year.

Citations:

(1795) 2 Hy Bl 393

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedOxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council, Catherine Mary Robinson ChD 22-Jan-2004
Land had been registered in part as a common. The council appealed.
Held: The rights pre-existing the Act had not been lost. The presumption against retrospectively disapplying vested rights applied, and the application had properly been made. . .
CitedOxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and others HL 24-May-2006
Application had been made to register as a town or village green an area of land which was largely a boggy marsh. The local authority resisted the application wanting to use the land instead for housing. It then rejected advice it received from a . .
See AlsoFitch v Fitch 1798
The defendants had trampled the grass on a common which the owner had mowed, thrown the hay about and mixed some of it with gravel.
Held: The court considered the rights arising from land being declared to be a common: ‘The inhabitants have a . .
CitedEdwards v Jenkins 1896
Application was made to register a customary right over land.
Held: The ‘locality rule’ applied. The inhabitants of the contiguous Surrey parishes of Beddington, Carshalton and Mitcham could not have a customary right of recreation over land . .
CitedPaddico (267) Ltd v Kirklees Metropolitan Council and Others ChD 23-Jun-2011
The company sought the rectification of the register of village greens to remove an entry relating to its land, saying that the Council had not properly considered the need properly to identify the locality which was said to have enjoyed the rights . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land

Updated: 26 November 2022; Ref: scu.192090