Researching:
There are many ways we can do Common Good research.
Andy Whightman works on research on many aspects of the Common Good and the law connected to it.
You can find his Common Good Guide Here And lots of reading material and research papers at Scottish Commons. See links below
There are libraries with loads of information on the Common Good and it is all available to public scrutiny.
Of course we are not all internet users, we might not be to comfortable in libraries or even with the written word. So there is two things we could do, one is learn how to use these mediums – or do something else.
An essential part, if not the most important part of researching the Common Good can also be done in the great out doors – using cameras, recorders, video, sketching, walking and talking.
Some of us may like to work alone and others as a team – but the most important thing is communicating with each other – we can spend a lot of time re inventing the wheel rather than organising our time in order to continue breaking new ground.
A series of workshops and conference on Common Good awareness is being planned for sometime in 2010. If you are interested in doing a workshop or helping to setting them up please get in touch.
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Links from: Commonweal
Identifying, documenting and restoring Scottish Commons
There is a bit of work to be done though, we don’t get much of any use without a bit of struggle – but there is no reason without teamwork and socialising the boring bits this kind of work cant be enjoyable and rewarding.
The following publications
provide background reading on Commons in Scotland. They
exclude documents relating specifically to the Common Good
- these are available at the Common Good
Further Information page.
Callander, Robin. 1987. A
Pattern of Landownership in Scotland. Haughend
Publications, Finzean.
This book is out of print but 2nd hand copies should be
available from www.abebooks.co.uk. An updated version of Robin’s chapter
on Commons is published as Commonweal Working Paper No.
1
Johnston, Thomas. 1920. A
History of the Working Classes in Scotland. Forward
Publishing, Glasgow.
This book is out of print but 2nd hand copies should be
available from www.abebooks.co.uk. His chapter, the Rieving of the
Common Lands is available to download as Commonweal
Working paper No.4. (see Commonweal Working
Papers)
Adams, Ian, 1971.
Directory of Former Scottish Commonties. Scottish Record
Society New Series 2, Edinburgh.
This book is out of print but 2nd hand copies should be
available from www.abebooks.co.uk.
Simpson, John H., 1986.
The Feuars of Gifford. Scotland’s Cultural Heritage,
Edinburgh.
An account of the history of Gifford
Common. Contact me for details on how to purchase this
book.
Four Categories of
Property Rights (opens in same
window)
based on Owen J Lynch
(1999)
Mackenzie, Fiona, 1988.
Land and Community in the Isle of Harris
(52kb pdf)
Brown, Katrina
M. & Slee, Bill, 2002. Common Grazings – A Tragedy of a
Different Kind (472kb pdf)
Lloyd, Toby, 2003. How to
Untie the Knot. The need for appropriate access regimes
(12kb pdf)
Originally published in Land & Liberty
Autumn/Winter 2002/3
Wightman, Andy, 2007.
Scotland’s Commonweal, The Drouth, Issue 14, Winter 2004.
(20kb pdf)
In this short introductory article published in Drouth
magazine Andy Wightman reviews Scotland’s rich history of
common land. He summarises the processes whereby common
lands were lost through weak democratic institutions,
manipulation of the legal and justice systems, corrupt
officials and the lack of proper electoral oversight and
accountability. The article concludes by proposing that a
campaign of restitution of common land would be an
appropriate way of bring back into common ownership assets
which the current land reform legislation shamefully
dictates we must pay for.
Turner,
Michael, 1986. English Parliamentary Enclosures. Costs and
Gains. ReFRESH 3, Autumn 1986. (296kb pdf)
The subject of Parliamentary land enclosures in England
has produced a controversial literature where claims of
decisive economic gains in productivity have been hotly
debated amid accusations that they were achieved through
class robbery and the creation of a rural proletariat. In
this judicious survey Dr. Michael Turner reviews the
evidence on those and related issues.
