The decision has camping enthusiasts jumping.
Dartmoor, a national park popular with hikers for its wild moors, was the only place in England where camping was not prohibited.
It will now be necessary "the consent of the owner of the land" before pitching his tent there, estimated the British justice, seized by a rich local owner.
Saturday, despite the cold, so there were some 3,000 according to the organizers to meet in the small village of Cornwood for a protest march to the "Stall Moor", a vast moor with lunar landscapes belonging to Alexander Darwall, the owner opposed to the bivouac.
The moor under the stars
"It's a fundamental right that was taken away from us and I'm here today to get it back," said Anya Wilding, a 21-year-old photography student.
“It was the only place where it was legal so it really makes your teeth cringe.
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She remembers with nostalgia her last stay in the surroundings and the “magical” moment when she “awoke with this golden light that illuminated the moor.
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The right to wander
In an England whose lands are almost entirely privatized, the English are only allowed to venture off the beaten track on a tiny part of their territory: 8% of the countryside and 3% of the waterways according to the official figures.
This "Right to Roam" (right to wander) guarantees since 2000 a right of access to the public to certain private natural spaces but it is very limited.
You can't do anything there, especially not camp, and even less do it anywhere.
Within this restrictive legislative framework, Dartmoor was a "magnificent anomaly", underlines Guy Shrubsole, author of the book
Who Owns England?
which details how a small elite of aristocrats, businessmen and corporations came to own the vast majority of England.
Leisure ?
A law specific to Dartmoor has guaranteed since 1985 the right to exercise any "outdoor leisure" there.
A unique case in England, the bivouac was therefore practiced there without fear before the courts considered that it was not a “leisure”.
However, "it's a pleasure, an adventure, an exploration," says Alison Thomas, a 72-year-old retiree who came to join the protest on Saturday.
Although she is no longer camping - "the bags are too heavy at our ages" - she wants the youngest to experience "the simple joy of looking at the stars".
"We all need nature and nature needs us", abounds Guy Shrubsole guiding hikers on the narrow road that leads to the moor.
The question of waste
Before the British courts, Alexander Darwall justified wanting to ban the bivouac because of the waste left by some campers, an argument swept away by Harriet White.
"Everyone must be responsible, the owners too", she believes, stressing that "overgrazing the moor or breeding pheasants (Mr Darwall organizes hunts) is much more dangerous than the bivouac".
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