262 The yo2irnal of Forestry. 



Swainmote, of the duty of the different officers within each forest, and 

 of tlie power of the Justice in Eyre, it appears that ample means were 

 provided for the care and preservation of the forest, for guarding 

 against intrusions, and for the punishment of offences, so long as the 

 functions of those officers were properly executed. But the power 

 vested in the Chief Ju&tice in Eyre himself was often abused, and 

 that officer irregularly disposed of timber in the forest for his own 

 advantage. This abuse the authority given to those courts was well 

 calculated to prevent. By uniting the different officers, the surveyors- 

 general, the masters of the woods, the receivers and the auditors in 

 one court, they would have been a check upon one another, and if 

 either of these courts had been continued, and had acted in conjunc- 

 tion with the forest officers as was intended, great profit to the country 

 would have been the result. But the last of these courts being estab- 

 lished only by letters patent, it had perhaps on that account the less 

 weight ; and the Justices in Eyre, who had usually but improperly 

 taken upon themselves to make wood sales, and who happened 

 during that and the succeeding reign to be men of great power, 

 counteracted the measures of the Court of Augmentations, and made 

 great waste of the timber for their own profit — in fact, they stole it. 

 And although that court was afterwards confirmed by Act of 

 Parliament, power was given by another Act to Queen Mary to alter, 

 change, transpose, dissolve, or determine the Court of Augmentations, 

 and she did accordingly soon afterwards dissolve that court, and by 

 other letters patent annex the same to the Court of Exchequer. 

 According to such articles and ordinances as were contained in a 

 schedule annexed to the letters patent, by one of those articles no 

 wood sales could afterwards be made witliout a connnission from 

 the Lord Treasurer and two such other of the court as he should 

 call to him at the time, or in his absence by the Under Treasurer, 

 calling to him two of the said court ; and another article 

 gives power to the Lord Treasurer and the Court of Exchequer 

 to amend, reform, and correct any clause or article therein 

 contained, and to make such further order as the court should 

 think expedient. The Court of Augmentations was tluis dissolved, 

 and its powers transferred to the Court of Exchequer ; but the 

 system of management being still found to be defective, a surveyor- 

 general of the woods was afterwards appointed, which office existed 

 for a very long period, and finally the control of the forests was 

 vested in the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, who are at present 

 the custodians of the public interests. 



