Village greens, commons land and the emergence of sports law in the UK

Abstract

This article traces the legal development of recreational rights surrounding village greens and, later, urban public spaces in the UK. The article highlights that at a critical juncture in the development of modern sport in Britain—in the mid-nineteenth century—the law helped embed not only just a space for sport in the emerging industrialised and increasingly urbanised environment, but also the place of sport in the Victorian era’s evolving socio-economic landscape and, further, the relevant case law was the precursor for what is known today as sports law.