Land that is subject to rights of common. These are rights to take the produce from land of which the right-holder is not the owner, for example a right of pasture. They are private rights, and need not be open to all. The right may be restricted, for example, to a portion of the year. The first commons were usually woodland or rough pasture for the villagers’ animals in medieval England. By the Statute of Merton (1236) the lord of the manor or other owner of a village was allowed to enclose waste land for his own use only if he left adequate pasture for the villagers. Enclosure of common land started in the 12th century, and increased dramatically in the second half of the 18th century, often arousing opposition and claims of theft.

In colonial America many village communities had large areas of common land, partly for defensive purposes as well as for pasturage. These areas sometimes survived to be used for recreation, the best known being Boston Common, today a public park but bought by the town for pasturage in 1634.