64 



CHAPTEK IV. 



PROTECTION AGAINST DANGER PROM FOREST 

 RIGHTS. 



SECTION I. GENERAL VIEW OF FORESTS AS "ESTATES" OR 

 PIECES OF PROPERTY. 



1. What is Property ? 



A DISCUSSION cannot here be attempted of the legal defini- 

 tions of property, or the questions involved in legal possession, 

 and so forth, with which the whole subject is bound up. We 

 commence with the practical consideration, that in modern times 

 most things that are available for use have, or are presumed 

 to have, an owner. In particular all land (in countries where 

 there is a civilised government) has come to be recognised as 

 the "property " of someone : even an open moor or waste is 

 owned by someone. This ownership implies the following 

 elements : 



(a) That within certain limits or boundaries, 



(b) the " owner" has certain positive rights: which other 

 people have not. 



(c) He has also the negative right, that other persons are 

 bound not to interfere with his rights. 



In either case there is a legal remedy, which the owner can 

 invoke in the case of an infringement of his right. 



(d) It is possible that some other persons (without actually 

 infringing the owner's right) may have certain rights of their 

 own which limit the enjoyment of the owner; if so, these 

 rights must be known and certain. 



Where these conditions are not yet legally existing there 

 cannot be, for any practical purposes of management or 

 control, an estate or property. 



Where the owner's right (a and b above) is not limited by 

 the existence of other rights under (d), the lawyers shortly 



