COMMODATUM. A contract, by which one of the parties binds1 himself to return to the other certain personal chattels2 which the latter delivers to him, to be used by him, without reward; loan -for use. Vide Loan for use.
COMMON. or right of common, English law. An encorporeal hereditament, which consists in a profit which a man has in the lands of another. 12 S. & R. 32; 10 Wend. R. 647; 11 John. R. 498; 2 Bouv. Inst. 1640, et seq.
2. Common is of four sorts; of pasture, piscary, turbary and estovers. Finch's Law, 157; Co. Litt. 122; 2 Inst. 86; 2 Bl. Com. 32.
3. - 1. Common of pasture is a right of feeding one's beasts on another's land, and is either appendant, appurtenant, or in gross.
4. Common appendant is of common right, and it may be claimed in pleading as appendant, without laying a prescription3. Hargr. note to 2 Inst. 122, a note.
5. Rights of common appurtenant to the claimant's land are altogether independent of the tenure4, and do not arise from any absolute necessity; but may be annexed5 to lands in other lordships, or extended to other beasts besides. such as are generally commonable.
6. Common in gross, or at large, is such as is neither appendant nor appurtenant to land, but is annexed to a man's person. All these species of pasturable common, may be and usually are limited to number and time; but there are also commons without stint6, which last all the year. 2 Bl. Com. 34.
7. - 2. Common of piscary is the liberty of fishing in another man's water. lb. See Fishery.
8. - 3. Common of turbary is the liberty of digging turf in another man's ground. Ib.
9.-4. Common of estovers is the liberty of taking necessary wood-for the use or furniture of a house or farm from another man's estate. Ib.; 10 Wend. R. 639. See Estovers.
10. The right of common is little known in the United States, yet there are some regulations to be found in relation to this subject. The constitution of Illinois provides for the continuance of certain commons in that state. Const. art. 8, s. 8.
11. All unappropriated lands on the Chesapeake Bay, on the Shore of the sea, or of any river or creek7, and the bed of any river or creek, in the eastern parts of the commonwealth8, ungranted and used as common, it is declared by statute9 in Virginia, shall remain so, and not be subject to grant. 1 Virg. Rev10. C. 142.
12. In most of the cities and towns in the United States, there are considerable tracts11 of land appropriated to public use. These commons were generally laid out with the cities or towns where they are found, either by the original proprietors12 or by the early inhabitants. Vide 2 Pick. Rep. 475; 12 S. & R. 32; 2 Dane's. Ab. 610; 14 Mass. R. 440; 6 Verm. 355. See, in general, Vin. Abr. Common; Bac. Abr. Common; Com. Dig. Common; Stark13. Ev. part 4, p. 383; Cruise on Real Property, h. t.; Metc. & Perk14. Dig. Common, and Common lands and General fields.
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