Answer:
(a)
He is trying to say that the law is one-sided, only favouring the rich farmers,
who have taken over the commons. A poor man can be hanged for stealing one
sheep, whereas the rich landlords have taken over the common land in which the
poor were earlier grazing their large numbers of sheep.
The rich farmers were not being penalised for taking over the commons,
although they deprived the poor men's sheep of fodder. He was protesting
against the unjust laws.
(b) John Middleton is arguing in favour of the rich
farmers. He says that before the law regarding enclosures was enacted, the farmer
could not make improvements in the soil, as other people were also using the
same land. Now, when it is enclosed, he can make whatever changes he desires to
improve the agricultural yield and thus increase his profits.
(c) The main argument for open fields is that they are
open to all for doing whatever they wanted, thus benefiting everybody.
The main argument against open fields is that the land could not be
improved for increasing the yield by anyone who wanted to do it He would have
to abide by the majority opinion of all who were using the land. I would
definitely sympathise with the people who wanted open fields, as they benefited
everyone equally, without giving excess profit to one person at the expense of
all other users.
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