EARLY ENGLISH FOREST REGULATIONS 531 



aiide as a hunting ground for the king or his vassals, administered 

 under special laws and special courts, the officials being mainly law 

 officers and police. "'Afforesting" and "disafforesting" were the legal 

 terms for creating and abandoning the reservation. 



According to Cox, the history of the English forests may be divided 

 into three periods : from the earliest times up to 1217, when the Char- 

 ter of the Forest of Henry II was granted; from that date up to 1301, 

 when large tracts were thrown out of the forests by Edward I ; and 

 thirdly, from 1301 to the present time. 



There were forests, chases and parks under the English system. 

 The accepted definition of a forest was a portion of unenclosed terri- 

 tory consisting of extensive waste lands, and including both woodland 

 and pasture, defined by metes and bounds, within which the right of 

 hunting was reserved to the King, and which was subject to a special 

 code of forest laws administered by local as well as central officers. 

 A chase was also unenclosed land, but could be held by a private indi- 

 vidual. Offenses committed within it were subject to the common law 

 and not to forest jurisdiction. The words chase and forest were at 

 times used interchangeably. A park was an enclosure, fenced off by 

 pales, or a wall, or hedge. A forest might contain several parks. For- 

 est law held over these parks located within a forest, but not those 

 outside a forest. The number of forests, chases and parks varied 

 greatly from time to time. According to an estimate made during 

 Queen Elizabeth's reign, there was a total of 09 forests, 13 chases, and 

 more than 700 parks in Englnd. 



F'or purposes of contrast and comparison, the writer has grouped 

 roughly the forest activities of early England into lines of work used 

 in the Federal Forest Service in the United States ; also he has con- 

 verted the English currency rates into American equivalents wherever 

 money values are stated. 



PERSON NEL .\ND ADMINISTRATION 



There was a distinct organization for handling the forests and forest 

 business in those days. This business bears a striking resemblance to 

 that on our National Forests today, and the similarity makes one realize 

 the verity of there being nothing new under the sun. Administrative 

 and per.-^onnel problems seem almost as troublesome then as they are 

 today. 



The chief local authority of a forest was the keeper or warden or 

 chief or master forester. This title varied with the different forests 



