The Charter of the Forest, the lesser-known but equally significant twin of Magna Carta, asserted the rights of ordinary people to access from “the commons” the means for a livelihood and shelter, whether it was grazing their livestock, cutting wood for housing and fuel, fishing and hunting, creating water mills, or sharing the other resources of the forest. It restricted the rights of the king and nobles to privatise and exploit the forest while guaranteeing the rights of the commoners. It represented an early constitutional victory for ordinary people over a wealthy elite, and as such was hugely influential in the writing of other constitutions around the world. The battles in England continued of course, and waves of enclosures across Britain through subsequent centuries stripped away many of the rights.
The Guardian has an article here about it and its modern relevance. Being the voice of liberal, the Guardian author calls for the usual menu of reforms - a universal basic income, affordable housing, energy and water - rather than the return to common ownership although she does pay homage to it with her rhetorical phrase "common ownership or control of the means of providing it" which she mistakenly holds to be cooperatives and municipalisation, a trend that is increasingly popular since the disillusionment with nationalisation and state-ownership.
Our blog post on The Forest Charter here
http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-carta-de-foresta.html
A discussion on the Carta de Foresta to give its proper title also took place a couple of years ago here.
https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/comments/hype-and-hypocrisy-%E2%80%93-magna-carta
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