EPPING FOREST. 137 



might have created that right. If, at the time when the Forest 

 was originally formed, the land was the property of the Crown, 

 I cannot see why the King, when he formed the Manors, might 

 not have granted to the Lord of each Manor, for himself and his 

 tenants, a right of common over all the wastes of the Forest. 

 Or if the lands were not the lands of the Crown at the time 

 when the Forest was formed, then the Forest might have been 

 formed with the consent of the owners of the land over which the 

 Forest was formed, because in point of law the King could not 

 make a man's land into Forest without some agreement or 

 consent from him. Then it may have been part of the arrange- 

 ment by which the Forest was formed that all the owners of 

 lands within the Forest were to have rights of common over 

 the wastes of the Forest." * 



This important preliminary legal point being deter- 

 mined, it remained to investigate and decide the issues 

 of fact. Before, however, describing the result of the 

 suit, it is necessary to point out other proceedings in 

 Parliament on the subject of the Forest. 



The continued inclosures in the various Manors of 

 Epping Forest, and the consequent rapid shrinkage of 

 its area, at last thoroughly aroused the attention of the 

 public, and there were loud complaints against the 

 Government for not enforcing the Crown rights, for the 

 purpose of abating the inclosures and preserving the 

 Forest. Especially had the action of a Mr. Hodgson 

 excited indignation. This gentleman had within very 

 recent years inclosed upwards of 300 acres of Forest in 

 the Manor of Chingford, over which the Crown still 

 retained its forestal rights, had cut down all the trees 



* Glasse v. Commissioners of Sewers. L.R. 7, Ch. 456. 



