examines the development of woodland ownership from the Middle Ages to the first half of the nineteenth century. Its focus is not the juridical ideals of woodland property but the realities of divergent property concepts visible in legislation, trial records and other legal documents. In broad outlines the development describes a transition from feudal commonage to individual private ownership. But the process was not without deviations. Even the form of capitalist land ownership that concludes the process is essentially ambiguous.

Hide more