98 J. E. HAETIIfG HEETFOEDSHIEE DEEE-PAEKS. 



vert, venison, and inclosure, and if any one of these be wanting, it 

 is (strictly speaking) no longer a park. By the removal of any 

 one of these essentials it becomes " disparked." From this it fol- 

 lows that on the death of the owner of a park the deer belong 

 to the heir-at-law, because without them the park, which is his 

 inheritance, would be no park. Formerly no one could make a 

 park without a royal licence under the Great Seal; for by so doing he 

 would be inclosing animals which are ferce nature and consequently 

 nulliiis in bonis, and thus appropriating them by restraining them 

 of their natural liberty, which no one could do without prescription 

 or a grant from the Crown. It is true there are parks in use and 

 reputation which have been formed without such licence, and, 

 having been so used for a considerable period, the law allows the 

 owner a right of action for killing or stealing deer therein ; but 

 whether these are parks, or not, they are ' ' grounds inclosed where 

 deer are usually kept" and are protected by statute. 



To inquire into the various laws which have been made from 

 time to time relating to deer, and to show how they have been 

 modified, altered, or repealed, would not only require more space 

 than can be here accorded to the subject, but would be in fact 

 beside my present purpose, which is merely an attempt to determine 

 the situation and extent of the deer-parks which formerly existed 

 in Hertfordshire, and to ascertain the number and position of those 

 still maintained in the county. 



The extent to which parks increased throughout England as 

 successive sovereigns granted licences to inclose, and subsequently 

 decreased in number, as many, from various causes, became " dis- 

 parked," is very curious. In the first distribution of property after 

 the Conquest, licences to inclose portions of the ancient forests, 

 with liberty to chase and kill the wild animals of the district, were 

 almost daily bestowed, enormous tracts being here and there re- 

 served to the Crown for the pleasure of the sovereign, whose chief 

 delight was in hunting. As the forest-laws became mitigated and 

 in a great measure repealed, such grants became still more frequent, 

 until the forests became mere remnants of their former greatness, 

 so split up were they and so parcelled out amongst the English 

 nobility. Not unfrequently these privileges were purchased from 

 the Crown, and in some reigns this proved a very convenient mode 

 of recruiting an impoverished exchequer, until at length there was 

 scarcely a nobleman or gentleman of position in the country who 

 was not the possessor of a park. 



But at length this state of things reached a climax, and the 

 number of existing parks began to decrease. The civil wars caused 

 the destruction of many a noble park and the extermination of the 

 deer within its pales, while the forfeiture of others to the Crown 

 was brought about \>j the attainder of the owners for treason. 

 Many noblemen, impoverished by the enormous expenses or losses 

 incurred during the civil wars, were no longer able to hold so many 

 unproductive acres as lay within their parks, and were forced to 

 sell. As timber became more and more valuable, and the value of 



