Commons Registration Act 1965
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1965 c. 64 |
Commons RegistrationAct 1965
1965 CHAPTER 64
An Act to provide for the registration of common land and of town or village greens; to amend the law as to prescriptive claims to rights of common; and for purposes connected therewith.
[5th August 1965]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Registration of commons and town or village greens and ownership of and rights over them.
(1) There shall be registered, in accordance with the provisions of this Act and subject to the exceptions mentioned therein,—
( a ) land in England or Wales which is common land or a town or village green;
( b ) rights of common over such land; and
( c ) persons claiming to be or found to be owners of such land or becoming the owners thereof by virtue of this Act;
and no rights of common over land which is capable of being registered under this Act shall be registered under the Land Registration Acts 1925 and 1936.
(2) After the end of such period, not being less than three years from the commencement of this Act, as the Minister may by order determine—
( a ) no land capable of being registered under this Act shall be deemed to be common land or a town or village green unless it is so registered; and
( b ) no rights of common shall be exercisable over any such land unless they are registered either under this Act or under the Land Registration Acts 1925 and 1936.
(3) Where any land is registered under this Act but no person is registered as the owner thereof under this Act or under the Land Registration Acts 1925 and 1936, it shall—
( a ) if it is a town or village green, be vested in accordance with the following provisions of this Act; and
( b ) if it is common land, be vested as Parliament may hereafter determine.
2 Registration authorities.
(1) The registration authority for the purposes of this Act shall be—
( a ) in relation to any land situated in any county or county borough, the council of that county or county borough; and
( b ) in relation to any land situated in Greater London, the Greater London Council;
except where an agreement under this section otherwise provides.
(2) Where part of any land is in the area of one registration authority and part in that of another the authorities may by agreement provide for one of them to be the registration authority in relation to the whole of the land.
3 The registers.
(1) For the purpose of registering such land as is mentioned in section 1(1) of this Act and rights of common over and ownership of such land every registration authority shall maintain—
( a ) a register of common land; and
( b ) a register of town or village greens;
and regulations under this Act may require or authorise a registration authority to note on those registers such other information as may be prescribed.
(2) Any register maintained under this Act shall be open to inspection by the public at all reasonable times.
4 Provisional registration.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a registration authority shall register any land as common land or a town or village green or, as the case may be, any rights of common over or ownership of such land, on application duly made to it and accompanied by such declaration and such other documents (if any) as may be prescribed for the purpose of verification or of proving compliance with any prescribed conditions.
(2) An application for the registration of any land as common land or as a town or village green may be made by any person, and a registration authority—
( a ) may so register any land notwithstanding that no application for that registration has been made, and
( b ) shall so register any land in any case where it registers any rights over it under this section.
(3) No person shall be registered under this section as the owner of any land which is registered under the Land Registration Acts 1925 and 1936 and no person shall be registered under this section as the owner of any other land unless the land itself is registered under this section.
(4) Where, in pursuance of an application under this section, any land would fall to be registered as common land or as a town or village green, but the land is already so registered, the registration authority shall not register it again but shall note the application in the register.
(5) A registration under this section shall be provisional only until it has become final under the following provisions of this Act.
(6) An application for registration under this section shall not be entertained if made after such date, not less than three years from the commencement of this Act, as the Minister may by order specify; and different dates may be so specified for different classes of applications.
(7) Every local authority shall take such steps as may be prescribed for informing the public of the period within which and the manner in which applications for registration under this section may be made.
5 Notification of, and objections to, registration.
(1) A registration authority shall give such notices and take such other steps as may be prescribed for informing the public of any registration made by it under section 4 of this Act, of the times and places where copies of the relevant entries in the register may be inspected and of the period during which and the manner in which objections to the registration may be made to the authority.
(2) The period during which objections to any registration under section 4 of this Act may be made shall be such period, ending not less than two years after the date of the registration, as may be prescribed.
(3) Where any land or rights over land are registered under section 4 of this Act but no person is so registered as the owner of the land the registration authority may, if it thinks fit, make an objection to the registration notwithstanding that it has no interest in the land.
(4) Where an objection to a registration under section 4 of this Act is made, the registration authority shall note the objection on the register and shall give such notice as may of this Act.
(5) Where a person to whom notice has been given under subsection (4) of this section so requests or where the registration was made otherwise than on the application of any person, the registration authority may, if it thinks fit, cancel or modify a registration to which objection is made under this section.
(6) Where such an objection is made, then, unless the objection is withdrawn or the registration cancelled before the end of such period as may be prescribed, the registration authority shall refer the matter to a Commons Commissioner.
(7) An objection to the registration of any land as common land or as a town or village green shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as being also an objection to any registration (whenever made) under section 4 of this Act of any rights over the land.
(8) A registration authority shall take such steps as may be prescribed for informing the public of any objection which they have noted on the register under this section and of the times and places where copies of the relevant entries in the register may be inspected.
(9) Where regulations under this Act require copies of any entries in a register to be sent by the registration authority to another local authority they may require that other authority to make the copies available for inspection in such manner as may be prescribed.
6 Disposal of disputed claims.
(1) The Commons Commissioner to whom any matter has been referred under section 5 of this Act shall inquire into it and shall either confirm the registration, with or without modifications, or refuse to confirm it; and the registration shall, if it is confirmed, become final, and, if the confirmation is refused, become void—
( a ) if no appeal is brought against the confirmation or refusal, at the end of the period during which such an appeal could have been brought;
( b ) if such an...
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