Extinguishment
[1] If two persons are jointly but not severally liable for a simple contract debt, a judgment at common law obtained against only one of the debtors works as an extinguishment of the claim on the other debtor as a matter of law.[1] Common land (a common), in England and Wales and the United States, is a piece of land owned by one person, but over which other people can exercise certain traditional rights, such as allowing their livestock to graze upon it.[1] Other situations in which the common right becomes extinguished include legal release and approvement (improvement of common lands, by inclosing and converting them to the uses of husbandry for the advantage of the lord of the manor.[1] Such grants/servitude was not always in the best interest of the peasant and the copyhold could be extinguished by an act of the tenant showing an intention not to hold the land any longer.[1] Copyholds were gradually enfranchised (turned into ordinary holdings of land—either freehold or 999-year leasehold) during the 19th century.