CHAPTER VIII 



STATUTORY CIVIL LIABILITY FOR TIMBER TRES- 

 PASS 



86. The Development of Timber Trespass Legisla- 

 tion in America. Quite contrary to the common belief 

 the first legislation in America making the cutting of timber 

 unlawful was directed not to the prevention of harm to pri- 

 vate property but to the protection of the public lands, 

 generally described in colonial laws and documents as the 

 "commons." By order of March 29, 1626, 1 the exportation 

 of timber without the consent of the governor and council 

 was forbidden in the colony that had been founded at Ply- 

 mouth in December, 1620. On November 7, 1632, 2 the 

 general court at Boston forbade the cutting of paling from 

 public ground except with the approval of the proper public 

 official. Similar regulations as to the use of timber from 

 common or public lands were early promulgated in other 

 English colonies. 3 These enactments were soon followed 

 by laws imposing liability for single or multiple damages 

 or penalties for the cutting of timber from private lands 

 without the consent of the owner. 4 In nearly every colony 

 the civil liabilities imposed by the earlier acts proved in- 

 sufficient to prevent trespass and later laws increased the 

 exemplary damages or provided for imprisonment. 5 



Subsequent to the institution of a national government 

 new timber trespass statutes were enacted in nearly all of the 

 original states and as new states or territories were erected 



1. Compact, Charter and Laws, Colony of New Plymouth, Boston, 1836, p 28. 



2. Records of Mass. Bay Colony, Boston, 1853, Vol. 1, p. 101. 



3. Rhode Island, 1638; Connecticut, 1639; New Hampshire, 1640; New Jersey, 



1666; New York, 1699. 



4. Rhode Island, 1647; New Jersey, 1681; Pennsylvania, 1683; Massachusetts, 



1694; New Hampshire, 1697; New York' 1699; Maryland, 1704; Connecticut, 

 1718; Delaware, 1741. 



5. For discussion of such laws see: Forest Legislation in America Prior to March 4, 



1789, Kinney, (Published as Bulletin 370, Cornell University Agr. Exp. Sta... 

 January, 1916), pp. 371-380. 



96 



