PARKS AND WARRENS 19 



that the Royal forest belonged to the Crown. In a 

 chase the hunting rights were often vested in a 

 subject usually as a gift for good service. Some- 

 times a part of a forest was turned into a chase or 

 vice ver^a when the King seized a chase and converted 

 it into a forest. The forest laws applicable to a 

 forest were not applied in all their severity to a 

 chase. 



* 



A park was an enclosure surrounded by a wall, 

 hedge, or fence, and was a privilege given by the 

 King to a subject. 



The warren was a right to hunt certain wild 

 animals over specified unenclosed waste lands other- 

 wise free to all, provided such lands were not within 

 the limits of a forest, chase, or park. An inexpensive 

 gift for the King to give to a camp follower or under- 

 ling was the grant of exclusive hunting over a piece 

 of ground in this manner, the grant consisting of 

 the land plus the right to hunt hares, rabbits, and 

 birds, but not Royal game, on it. 



We are coming back to this old idea, which we 

 have long practised in India, and is in force in Russia 

 and elsewhere, in the suggestion of settling soldiers 

 on small holdings as a reward for good service during 

 the war. In fact the Dominions have already 

 started schemes of this nature. 



Foresters were appointed within the Royal forest 

 to see that no offences were committed and to 

 apprehend offenders. The penalties were in con- 

 formance with the times e.g. in William I.'s time 

 the penalty for slaying a red deer was having your 

 eyes gouged out, and William Rufus went one better 



