Legal Definitions - disturbance of common

In common law, a disturbance of common refers to a wrongful action that interferes with or obstructs another person's established legal right to use a shared resource or property. This shared resource, historically known as a "common," could be land for grazing animals, a body of water for fishing, or a woodland for gathering resources. The disturbance makes it harder for those with the right to benefit from the common, diminishing their enjoyment or use of it.

Here are some examples illustrating this concept:

• Example 1: Grazing Rights

  Imagine a small village where residents have a traditional right to graze a specific number of their cattle on a designated common pasture. A new individual moves into the area and, despite not possessing any grazing rights, begins to regularly pasture a large herd of horses on this common land. These horses consume a significant portion of the available grass, leaving insufficient forage for the villagers' cattle.

  This illustrates a disturbance of common because the new individual's wrongful act of grazing horses without a right directly interferes with and diminishes the villagers' established common right to pasture their cattle.

• Example 2: Fishing Rights

  Consider a community that holds a long-standing common right to fish in a particular stretch of a river. This right allows them to access the riverbanks and use traditional fishing methods. A private landowner, whose property borders this stretch of the river, decides to erect a series of permanent structures, such as large docks and boathouses, along the entire common fishing area, effectively blocking access to the riverbanks and making it impossible for the community members to fish as they traditionally have.

  Here, the landowner's actions constitute a disturbance of common because they wrongfully impede the community's access and ability to exercise their common right to fish in that specific river section.

• Example 3: Gathering Rights

  In a rural area, residents might have a common right to gather fallen timber or firewood from a specific communal woodland. A commercial logging company, without any legal entitlement to the common land, enters the woodland and begins clear-cutting large sections of trees, removing all the valuable wood and leaving the area barren. This action drastically reduces the availability of fallen timber and firewood for the community members.

  This scenario demonstrates a disturbance of common as the logging company's wrongful depletion of the woodland resource directly diminishes the community's ability to exercise their common right to gather firewood.