Local ideas about rights of common in the context of a historical transformation from commons to private property

Erling Berge () and Anne Sigrid Haugset
Additional contact information
Erling Berge: Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Postal: Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432 Aas, Norway
Anne Sigrid Haugset: Trøndelag R&D Institute

No 13/13, CLTS Working Papers from Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies

Abstract: More than 200 years after the King sold one of the “King’s commons” (Follafoss, located in the current Verran municipality) to urban timber merchants, local people in some ways still behave as if the area is a kind of commons. The paper will outline the history of the transformation of the area from an 18th century King’s commons to a 21th century battleground for ideas about ancient access and use rights of community members facing rights of a commercial forest owner and the local consequences of national legislation. This battleground will be illuminated by the answers that current users provide to questions about what they believe their rights of access and use are. We shall in particular look for differences between what people believe and what the law seems to say about rights and duties in the Follafoss area.

Keywords: King’s commons; private forest; rights of common; customary rights; national legislation; loss of customary rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: P48 Q15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2013-11-18, Revised 2019-10-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env and nep-his
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2013_013

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