Nick Hayes’ The Book Of Trespass shocks, challenges and informs our understanding and acceptance of land ownership and the law in England. 

William the Conqueror began the process of exclusion, defining the royal forests as spaces from which commoners were barred then parcelling up huge areas to gift to his barons who assumed ownership and exclusive power over use of the land. The following centuries saw almost all the remaining common land claimed piecemeal by acts of enclosure as powerful landowners fenced off more acreage for their use and profit leaving the landless majority to find other ways to survive.

Property law evolved, strongly influenced by landowners protecting their assets. It was instrumental in  forming and embedding a social order in which landowners were ranked as superior, reinforcing their privilege and  for centuries denied the landless the right to vote. Despite lacking any moral basis, the established system has worked by assumed consensus backed by the power derived from land ownership.

The result is astonishing inequality. Today 92% of England is privately owned; a third of it by the aristocracy. Large landowners have fiercely resisted any measure to democratise the imbalance by means such as land taxes or a right to roam.

To illustrate what us plebs are missing, Nick Hayes recounts sorties on to private estates, causing no harm or nuisance but experiencing the beauty and freedom such places offer – totally illegal in this country but legitimate and accepted in many other European countries including Scotland. Covering the history, philosophy, social, legal and cultural dimensions of land in England, this intensely interesting and readable book, complemented by Nick’s striking illustrations, will transform your understanding of how this country works.

(Review by Andrew)