Historical Roots of American Land Use Institutions

Abstract

Concepts of property rights and land use law in the United States owe much to the legal systems of the countries of origin of settlers in various regions. The English common law, based heavily on prior judicial decisions, or precedent, was implanted in New England and mid-Atlantic settlements. Elements of civil law, based on administrative codes like the Napoleonic Code, were imported to settlements by migrants from France and Spain, as in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

The common bell called the commons to the town from the common streets and the green commons to the common hall and in common hall assembled a common seal to release their common land, for which a fine is paid into their common chest. All is common; nothing is public.

Frederick W. Maitland, Township and Borough, 1898

And did the Countenance Divine

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here

Among these dark Satanic mills?

William Blake, 1809