The New International Encyclopædia/Pasturage

PASTURAGE (OF. pasturage, Fr. pâturage, from OF. pasturer, Fr. pâturer, from ML. pasturare, to pasture, from Lat. pastura, feeding, pasture, from pasci, to feed; connected with pastor, shepherd, pabulum, food, OChurch Slav. pasati, to feed, Skt. pā, to protect). In law, the right of one who is not the owner of land to put his cattle and sheep on such land to feed there. In England the strips of waste land between inclosed fields and the public highways are presumed to belong to the owner of the inclosed land, subject to the right of passage in the public, and he can pasture his own cattle there, and prevent others from doing so. Pasturage is one of the rights in ‘common’ in many communities in Great Britain. The right is seldom separated from the ownership of the land itself in the United States. See Common, Tenancy in; Easement.