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CHAPTER VIII. 



Epping Forest. 



The next case, in order of date, which came up for deci- 

 sion in the Law Courts, and by far the most important, 

 as affecting the public interests of London, was that of 

 Epping Forest. It may be doubted, indeed, whether in 

 the annals of litigation there has ever been a Common 

 case of such magnitude, involving so many interests, 

 or so wide-reaching in the effect of the issues deter- 

 mined. Epping Forest, as it now exists, after the abate- 

 ment of the numerous inclosures which were effected in 

 the twenty years before the commencement of the suit, 

 and which had robbed it for a time of half its area, con- 

 sists of a little over 6,000 acres of woodland, open to the 

 public at all points, extending for a distance of nearly 

 thirteen miles from Wanstead on the confines of 

 London to the village of Epping, with an irregular 

 breadth at its widest part of about one mile, and in its 

 narrower parts of about half a mile. Some small 

 portions of it are detached from the main Forest, the 

 intervening land having been inclosed more than twenty 

 years before the commencement of litigation. Apart 

 from these, the Forest constitutes a continuous stretch 

 of uncultivated land, very much in the condition in 

 which it has been from the earliest times of our history. 

 It is densely covered with timber, but here and there, 



