Collectives

Twelve sanction ladders

Ostrom's finding was not that commons have rules. It was that the ones that last have graduated ones: a first offence gets a word, and only a persistent offender loses the thing itself.

Here is every ladder in the gallery, in the same order as the list — oldest first. They are not ranked, and a longer ladder is not a better one. Look instead at where each ladder starts, and at what it takes to reach the bottom rung.

Bali subakContested

The sanction ladder

  1. A hearing before the subak assembly
  2. A fine, set in the subak's own awig-awig
  3. Ritual sanction — exclusion from the subak temple's obligations
  4. Loss of water

English open-field commonsCollapsed

The sanction ladder

  1. Presentment at the manorial court by a jury of neighbours
  2. An amercement — a fine set by the court
  3. Distraint — animals impounded until the fine is paid
  4. Forfeiture of the right itself

Tribunal de las AguasEnduring

The sanction ladder

  1. The case is heard in public and the judgement spoken aloud
  2. A fine, set in that canal's own ordinances
  3. Payment for the water taken and the damage done
  4. Deprivation of water — the canal is closed to the offender

Mongolian pasturesCollapsed

The sanction ladder

No ladder. Two different absences, and this page should not merge them. After 1991 no institution held authority to sanction over-use of summer pasture — that is a finding about the collapse, and it is the mechanism. What the CUSTOMARY ladder was before then is simply not established in this draft — that is a gap in the research, and HC-009 is where it gets filled.

Törbel alpine grazingEnduring

The sanction ladder

  1. A warning from the alp officials
  2. A fine, set in the articles
  3. Excess animals driven off the alp at the owner's cost
  4. Loss of the right to send animals for the season

Newfoundland codCollapsed

The sanction ladder

  1. A warning, or a condition attached to the licence
  2. A fine
  3. Licence suspension
  4. Licence revocation, and forfeiture of gear or vessel

Acequias of the Rio GrandeEnduring

The sanction ladder

  1. A word from the mayordomo
  2. Loss of this week's turn
  3. Loss of the season's allocation
  4. Removal from the association

Iriai forest commonsEnduring

The sanction ladder

  1. A warning from the assembly
  2. A fine, or forfeiture of what was taken
  3. Suspension of access for a season
  4. Murahachibu — exclusion from all but two of the village's mutual obligations

Maine lobster harbour territoriesEnduring

The sanction ladder

  1. A word, in person or over the radio
  2. Trap doors left open, so the catch walks out
  3. Knots tied in the buoy line — unmistakable, and it leaves the gear usable
  4. Trap lines cut and the gear lost

Community energy co-opsContested

The sanction ladder

  1. A question at the general meeting, in public, to a board that lives locally
  2. A vote against the board at the next election
  3. Expulsion of a member under the co-operative statute

Open-source infrastructureContested

The sanction ladder

  1. A review that declines the change
  2. Loss of commit rights
  3. Code-of-conduct enforcement — warning, then temporary ban
  4. A fork — the commons splits, rather than the member leaving

Dudley Street community land trustEnduring

The sanction ladder

  1. Notice of default under the ground lease
  2. A cure period, with the trust's assistance
  3. The trust exercises its option and buys the home at the formula price
  4. Lease termination and loss of the home