Commons are resources that are owned in common or shared among communities. These resources are said to be "held in common" and can include everything from natural resources and common land to software. The commons contains public property and private property, over which people have certain traditional rights. In some areas the process by which commonly held property is transformed into private property is termed "enclosure". A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is called a commoner.
Read more about Commons: Concepts, Digital Commons, Caring For The Commons, Historical Movements, Contemporary Movements, Notable Theorists
Famous quotes containing the word commons:
“[I]n Great-Britain it is said that their constitution relies on the house of commons for honesty, and the lords for wisdom; which would be a rational reliance if honesty were to be bought with money, and if wisdom were hereditary.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I am really sorry to see my countrymen trouble themselves about politics. If men were wise, the most arbitrary princes could not hurt them. If they are not wise, the freest government is compelled to be a tyranny. Princes appear to me to be fools. Houses of Commons & Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools; they seem to me to be something else besides human life.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Anybody who enjoys being in the House of Commons probably needs psychiatric care.”
—Ken Livingstone (b. 1945)