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CHAPTEB III. 



PROTECTION OF THE FOREST AGAINST OFFENCES. 



1. General Account of the Subject. 



THE theory of forest legislation and the law of forest police 

 is dealt with under Forest Law.* 



There are, of course, a number of acts in a forest con- 

 stituting an infringement of the rights of the owner, which may 

 be remediable only by a civil court : either by a suit for an 

 injunction to the offender not to repeat his act, or for damages. 

 Of such cases it is not necessary to speak in detail ; but a 

 word may be said about " trespass." Ordinarily an entry on 

 a man's property which is not lawfully warrantable gives rise 

 to an action for damages ; but under the English law (and so 

 in India) trespass cannot be prosecuted criminally, unless there 

 is proof that the entry was with intention to do "mischief" 

 or commit a legal offence of some kind. When, therefore, in 

 forests, it is desirable (owing to the special circumstances) to 

 make penal the mere act of climbing a fence and aimlessly 

 wandering (off regular paths) in a compartment, or a young 

 plantation, it can be done only by an express enactment of a 

 suitable prohibition and (light) penalty. 



2. Definition oj a Forest Offence. 



Under the term "forest offence" is here included any act 

 done in a forest which is punishable under an existing forest or 

 other law. Offences which affect or threaten forests (or the 

 produce of them when converted and stored, or in transit) or 

 which interfere with control, are naturally sometimes of a 



* Reference may be made to " Forest Law," by B. H. Baden-Powell, C.I.E., 

 London (Bradbury, Agnew, & Co, Ld.), 1893, which also refers to the principal 

 works on the subject. 



