---
title: "held for itself, used by many"
canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/held-for-itself-used-by-many
markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/held-for-itself-used-by-many.md
subtitle: "who holds land that can never be sold again, who uses it, and who keeps the holder honest"
category: philosophy
---

# held for itself, used by many

*who holds land that can never be sold again, who uses it, and who keeps the holder honest*

**Land held in trust for nature** is land whose title sits with a holder that cannot sell it, mortgage it or grant it away, for the benefit of the place itself. People can still use it, for a term.

Three questions follow: who holds it, who uses it, and who keeps the holder honest?

The soil, the water it holds, the habitat and the flows crossing a parcel's line exist and yield whether or not anyone collects on them. [*Ensurance*](/?from=guide) is how a parcel is paid out of the market and held for itself. It is not the land, and it is not a better landlord.

:::johnson
**held for itself, used by many.** — The English commons was lost because the land under it had an owner, and the law let owners fence it. Entrust is designed to lock the holding first, then give the use for a term.

[how the use is given →](/guide/usufruct-land-access-without-debt?from=guide)
:::

## the commons always had an owner

Picture a cottager in an English village around 1700, with recorded rights to keep two cows on the common, cut wood and dig turf. Those are **rights of common**. The UK National Archives lists five: pasture, estovers (wood), turbary (turf or peat), soil and piscary (fish). The land under them was something else. "All common land is private property, whether the owner is an individual or a corporation," the same guide says. "Historically, the owner of the common was normally the lord of the manor."

So the commons was a set of use rights on land someone else owned. As early as the Statute of Merton (1235), an owner could "inclose" or "approve" grazing beyond what the commoners' rights required. Much more went later, by agreement and through about 4,000 individual inclosure acts, frequent after 1750. Under the Inclosure Act 1845, the lord, the commoners and the tithe owner each received a freehold parcel as compensation for the lost right.

Shared use became separate freeholds, each with a price, each for sale.

**The use rights were never the weak point. The ownership under them was.** A commons on a title someone can fence, split or sell lasts only as long as that owner, and the law behind them, allows. A lock on the holding answers the owner. It does not bind a future legislature.

## two different returns

The founder of ensurance sees entrust as a flexible way to give land back to the land: out of the chain of buyers and sellers, held for what lives on it. [Sovereign nature](/guide/sovereign-nature?from=guide) sets out that vision. It needs a legal route.

Indigenous land back is a separate movement, led by Indigenous peoples, and this post does not speak for it. A tribal nation that chooses a structure described below does so on its own terms, with consent as the gate ([how to fund Indigenous land rights that last](/guide/how-to-fund-indigenous-land-rights-that-last?from=guide)).

The clearest legal case was won by an Indigenous people, and it is theirs, not a template. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Te Awa Tupua Act 2017, which settled the Whanganui iwi's claims, declares Te Awa Tupua, the river "from the mountains to the sea", "a legal person" and vests in it the fee simple of the Crown-owned parts of the riverbed. The Act records the relationship in the iwi's words: "Ko au te Awa, ko te Awa ko au: I am the River and the River is me". It acts through Te Pou Tupua, "the human face of Te Awa Tupua": two people, one nominated by the iwi and one for the Crown. The vested land "must not be alienated", though leases, licences and easements of under 35 years do not count as alienation. It took the iwi's long claim, a Treaty settlement and an act of Parliament ([more on Te Awa Tupua](/guide/naturalizing-finance-for-all-beings?from=guide)). What others can learn from is the legal form, not the authority behind it: a holding that cannot be sold, with use granted for a term.

## land held in trust for nature: who can hold it

**Entrust** is the designed end state of a natural asset policy: the acquisition cost paid, the land free of the owner's perpetuity, of debt and of private claims on it, and protected for good. Contract rent for use can continue. Property tax, the care plan and prior easements remain. It prescribes no single holder. No parcel is at entrust yet, and permanence is unproven ([what it has to survive](/guide/permanent-protection-has-to-survive-us?from=guide)).

| holder | when it fits | what makes it hold |
|---|---|---|
| BASIN Foundation | No local holder exists yet, or one wants a backstop | Restrictions recorded on the title, and an enforcer outside it. The Foundation is affiliated with BASIN LLC, which administers the contracts |
| A local land trust | A trust already works that ground | Its charter, plus restrictions recorded on the title |
| A group of stewards | The people who tend the place can form a legal body | An association or trust under local law |
| The land itself | The long-run vision | A holder or wrapper with the place as beneficiary, or legal personhood where a jurisdiction grants it |

Land does not own itself because an account is named after it: [an account cannot protect a watershed by itself](/guide/an-account-cannot-protect-a-watershed-by-itself?from=guide). A legally capable holder has to sign, and [the property right is what the money buys](/guide/buy-the-land-use-decision?from=guide).

## four roles, no new framework

[Governance: the tyranny of theory](/guide/governance-the-tyranny-of-theory?from=guide) names four roles that have worked for centuries. Entrusted land needs the same four.

| role | on entrusted land | job |
|---|---|---|
| Trustee | The holder | Holds the land. Cannot sell it, mortgage it or grant it away forever. Signs use grants |
| Executor | Stewards and other users | Use, fruits and ordinary care, for a term |
| Enforcer | The public condition record, a second party with an enforcement right over the holder, and the ENSURANCE DUNA once formed | Reads the land's condition. Starts the ladder below. Polices the trustee too |
| Beneficiary | The place, its dependents, later generations | Receives. Has standing to object |

The second party borrows a tool conservation law already has: one body holds the land or the easement, another holds a recorded right to enforce it. Wyoming's statute calls this a "third-party right of enforcement". Both are design: the DUNA is planned, not formed, and BASIN LLC administers the contracts today.

Decisions sit at different tables, which is what [polycentric](/guide/four-things-your-committee-will-say?from=guide) means.

- **The local table** grants use by application, need or merit, and sets any fee, which is contract rent paid to the place. [The people who tend and depend on a place already govern it](/guide/who-governs-a-natural-asset?from=guide).
- **The holder** signs the grant.
- **The place account's signers** set the split; [an ensurance admin cannot](/guide/community-led-conservation-needs-an-account-it-controls?from=guide).
- **The protocol layer** keeps only the hard rules in [the usufruct post](/guide/usufruct-land-access-without-debt?from=guide) and the care-first order of payments: what can never be done, not what is done.

Tables nest at larger sizes ([the same shape at any size](/guide/place-purpose-people-at-any-size?from=guide)).

## the ladder runs both ways

Elinor Ostrom found that commons which last use graduated sanctions. The designed ladder for a user:

1. Public notice when the condition record shows a slip.
2. A cure plan, paid from the care fund if the user did not cause it.
3. Reduced scope: fewer head, a rested field.
4. No renewal at term.
5. Forfeiture, only for damage to the land's substance, with a route to a neutral third party.

Under a lease, forfeiture hands the premises back to a landlord. Here no owner gains: the land cannot be sold, and any fee from the next user goes to the place. Forfeiture is a weak weapon, not no weapon, so it stays the last rung.

The holder can drift too: a foundation can be mismanaged, sued or dissolved. So, by design, the purpose binds the holder, the people and living things the place serves have standing, the terms travel to any successor, and the enforcer can ask a court to move the land to a new holder if one fails.

## is entrusted land a commons?

Usually not. The governance post is right that most regenerative projects are not commons. They are legal bundles of rights with clear authority, and entrusted land is one.

Where several users draw on one resource and what one takes the others lose, such as a pasture or a fishery, the old word fits: a commons that cannot be enclosed. Ostrom's principles belong at that table, not on every parcel.

What ends at entrust is [the perpetuity on the land](/guide/rent-is-a-perpetuity?from=guide), not use, and not income. A certificate or coin is designed to stay a share of what the place and the protocol earn, as its governance allows (no distribution has been paid to date), with no claim on the land and, [today, no access or use right](/guide/one-token-cant-be-your-home-your-vote-and-your-visit?from=guide).

## next steps

If you want land held for itself, [how to bring a property into ensurance](/guide/how-to-bring-a-property-into-ensurance?from=guide) walks the path. Land trusts and stewards' groups can start at the [land stewards page](/solutions/land-stewards?from=guide&topic=rent-is-a-perpetuity), or [tell us about the place](/contact?from=guide&topic=rent-is-a-perpetuity). None of this is legal advice.

## frequently asked questions

### what is land held in trust for nature?

Land whose holder cannot sell it, mortgage it or grant it away, and holds it for the place itself. Entrust is the designed version in ensurance. No parcel is at entrust yet.

### can land legally own itself?

Only through a legal route: a holder or wrapper owns the land with the place as beneficiary, or a jurisdiction grants legal personhood. An account named after a place does not hold title.

### who polices the holder of entrusted land?

By design: a second party with an enforcement right over the holder, a public record of the land's condition, and the ENSURANCE DUNA, which is planned, not formed.

## sources

[The National Archives (UK), "Land ownership, use and rights: common lands" research guide](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/common-lands/) — Common land as private property, the lord of the manor as usual owner, and the five usual rights of common (opening sections of the guide)

[The National Archives (UK), "Enclosure awards" research guide](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/enclosure-awards/) — Private enclosure acts more frequent after 1750 (section 7); general acts from 1801 (section 8)

[Foundation for Common Land, "Loss of commons"](https://foundationforcommonland.org.uk/toolkit/loss-of-commons) — The Statute of Merton right to "inclose" or "approve" surplus grazing; about 4,000 individual inclosure acts; freehold parcels as compensation under the Inclosure Act 1845

[Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017 (New Zealand), 2017 No 7](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2017/0007/latest/whole.html) — s 12 "from the mountains to the sea"; s 13(c) "Ko au te Awa, ko te Awa ko au"; s 14(1) legal person; s 18(2) "the human face of Te Awa Tupua"; s 20(1)–(2) two persons, one nominated by iwi and one on behalf of the Crown; s 41(1) fee simple of the Crown-owned parts of the bed vests in Te Awa Tupua; s 43(1)–(2) land "must not be alienated", with leases, licences and easements of less than 35 years not counted as alienation. Checked against the reprint as at 30 January 2021; latest version linked

Elinor Ostrom, *Governing the Commons* (Cambridge University Press, 1990), chapter 3 — Design principles for long-enduring commons, including graduated sanctions (principle 5) and nested enterprises (principle 8)

[Wyoming Statutes § 34-1-201(b)(iii)](https://farmlandinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/WY_34-1-201_1.htm) — "Third-party right of enforcement": a right in a conservation easement to enforce its terms, granted to a body that is eligible to be a holder but is not one

## the series

1. [rent is a perpetuity](/guide/rent-is-a-perpetuity?from=guide) — **Read first:** why land is priced like an income that never ends, and how a parcel leaves that contest
2. [three things called rent](/guide/three-things-called-rent?from=guide) — Contract rent, economic rent and rent-seeking, and which one entrust ends
3. [a better lease is still a lease](/guide/a-better-lease-is-still-a-lease?from=guide) — What reformed leases fix, and what community land trusts and purpose trusts already do
4. [the annuity that ends the perpetuity](/guide/the-annuity-that-ends-the-perpetuity?from=guide) — Time value of money as a way out that takes nothing from anyone
5. [usufruct: the use is given, the land is held](/guide/usufruct-land-access-without-debt?from=guide) — An old idea rebuilt: use and fruits, the substance kept, the land never for sale
6. [held for itself, used by many](/guide/held-for-itself-used-by-many?from=guide) — Who holds entrusted land, who uses it, and who keeps the holder honest