EARLY ENGLISH FOREST REGULATIONS 



By John D. Guthrie 



Forest Supervisor, U. S. Forest Service 



It is interesting and perhaps instructive to the forester of today ir 

 handHng the problems which confront him to read of the problems and 

 difficulties which has confronted foresters of old. Some of these 

 questions and difficulties as they occurred in early England are very 

 completely covered in the very interesting book by John Charles Cox,^ 

 without which the writer considers no forester's library complete. 



The early English conception of a forest was totally different from 

 our present-day conception in A-.merica. Manwood, in his "Lawes of 

 the Forest," published in 1598, describes a forest as "a certen territorie 

 of wooddy grounds and fruitful pastures, privileged for the wild 

 beasts and foules of farrish, chase, and warren, to rest and abide in, in 

 the safe protection of the King, for his princely delight and pleasure." 

 This definition largely describes the English view of a forest for many 

 centuries, and even to some extent today. The Encyclopedia Brittanica 

 defines a forest as "a tract of country covered with trees, of one or 

 several species, or with trees and underwood." This is the generally 

 accepted meaning, but according to Manwood's definition it is not his- 

 torically correct. Wedgwood considers "forest" as a modified form of 

 Welsh gores, gorest, waste, waste ground ; whence the English word 

 gorze, furze, the growth of waste land. Other authorities - give the 

 derivation of the word a Teutonic origin, namely, voorst, the segregated 

 property of the King or leader of the tribe. The word is also given by 

 other writers as being derived from the Latin foris, out of doors, the 

 unenclosed land. At best, as Fernow says, "the etymology of the word 

 is doubtful." 



Whatever the derivation of the word, the fact remains that "forest" 

 originally did not mean what we now understand by it, a description 

 of natural conditions, but was a legal term designating a territory set 



'"The Royal Forests of England." By John Charles Cox, LL. D., F. S. A. 

 The Antiquary Books Series. Methuen & Co., 36 Essex St., London. 1905. Pp. 

 372. 



^ See Fernow's "Economics of Forestry," pp. 81-84; 448-450. 



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