In my case it allowed me to see the significance of the criminalization of the Moselle Valley peasants' access to wood during the 1830s, which aroused Marx's interest in economics when these customary
estovers were legislated as 'theft'.
2001) (holding that a life tenant's fights to harvest timber as
estovers does not include right to harvest timber for commercial purposes, even if harvesting would allow tenant to provide himself with essentials for life and increase his standard of living); Twin States Land & Timber Co.
Thus, the customary rotational grazing system became a "right of common in pasture"; the right to feed pigs on acorns became a "right of pannage"; the custom of taking wood became "
estovers"; the customary fishing hole became a "common piscary." (70) Custom was transformed into a series of "incorporeal hereditaments"--inheritable, intangible property such as profits a' prendre.
The loss of common use-rights such as pasture,
estovers, and turbary had dire economic effects for some, who were consequently forced to abandon rural life and move to urban centres to take up wage labour.
were rights of common of pasturage,
estovers, turbary, pannage, piscary and
