How should land, or more precisely, rights in relation to land, be understood? Associative economics makes a distinction between the ownership of land (the title to the freehold) and the economic use of land (for example under contract to a tenant). The point being to emphasise that who 'owns' the land as freeholder is a question of little or no economic significance; what matters is that the 'right of use'is allocated in an economic way.

In this issue of  Associate! we focus on an area that is becoming increasingly important – land trusts. This is a complex topic that would require more than one edition to give justice to. In order to keep the discussion manageable we have narrowed the discussion to community land trusts and the issues they give rise to or seek to address. Through his account of the aims and achievements of the community land trust movement, the lead article by a well-known UK land trust advocate, Martin Large, gives a comprehensive sense of the place CLTs have in today's circumstances. Sign of our Time provides a case in point. It documents the specific case of Fordhall Farm in England, in which the issues of land ownership and securing young people the possibility of farming economically come together. Arthur Edwards's Trust in Land, widens the topic of land trusts out to a more general consideration of trusts, land ownership and highlights some of the key questions from an associative economic point of view. This month's Vignette has been chosen in connection with the theme of trust. Written many years ago by an English solicitor, Owen Barfield, it provides a fascinating insight into the nature of trust in law, namely, that it does not legislate for a kind of behaviour but protects our consciences from lapses in social obligation. Friends' Page is given over to a recent e-conversation between Christopher Houghton Budd and Paul Breslaw, prompted by the latter's article in June's Associate! Accounting Corner brings up the rear with a reflection on the true nature of accounting for assets.