The Lawful Forest: A Critical History of Property, Protest and Spatial Justice

This book explores the critical history of space and how a dominant property ideology has entrenched an exclusionary and alienating version of spatial ordering. It uses the forest as a thematic device to explore the tensions between commodity and community, abstraction and context, and private enclosure and the public square. The book draws on a range of case studies to illustrate the origin, history, and legal status of the lawful forest and its modern-day companions.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 31 August 2022
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

This book delves into the critical history of space, exploring how a dominant property ideology has entrenched an exclusionary and alienating version of spatial ordering. It focuses on select periods in time when the seemingly linear trajectory of enclosure momentarily wavers, and alternate spatial paths briefly materialize before disappearing from plain sight. Using the forest as a thematic device, Clark and Page examine the tensions that pervade our property-related relationships, such as the relationship between commodity and community, abstraction and context, and private enclosure and the public square.

The book draws on a range of case studies, including the 13th-century Forest Charter, Thomas More's Utopia, the Diggers' radical agrarianism, the Paris Commune's battle for the right to the city, and Australian forest protestors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Through analysis of these movements and their contexts, the authors illustrate the origin, history, and legal status of the lawful forest and its modern-day companions.

While the dominant spatial paradigm may prioritize private rights, this book demonstrates that communal relationships with land have always been an integral part of our law and culture. The authors argue that the forest, as a symbol of communal ownership and stewardship, holds the potential to challenge the dominant property ideology and promote a more inclusive and sustainable spatial order.

Overall, this book offers a thought-provoking exploration of the complex relationship between space, property, and power, and provides valuable insights into the historical and contemporary challenges facing our understanding of spatial ordering.

Weight: 512g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474487443