14 The Forests of the Ancients. 



That the Greek republics had mainly public forests 

 seems to be likely ; for Attica, at least, this is true with- 

 out doubt. 



While the first Eoman kings seem to have owned royal 

 domains, which were distributed among the people after 

 the expulsion of the kings, the public property which 

 came to the republic as a result of conquest was in most 

 cases at once transferred to private hands, either for 

 homesteads of colonists or in recognition of services of 

 soldiers and other public officers or to mollify the con- 

 quered, or by sale or for rent, not to mention the rights 

 acquired by squatters. The rents were usually farmed 

 out to collectors (publicani) or corporations formed of 

 these, but Livy mentions State forests in which the cut- 

 ting was regulated, probably largely merely reserving the 

 ship timber. 



That single cities and other smaller units owned com- 

 mon forest properties occasionally seems also established. 



Private forest properties connected with farm estates 

 existed in Ethiopia, in Arabia, among the Greeks and 

 among the Eomans at home as well as in their colonies. 

 Especially pasture woods (saltus) connected with small 

 and large estates (latifundia) into which probably most 

 forest areas near settlements were turned, are frequently 

 mentioned as in private ownership; but also other 

 private forests existed. 



The institution of servitudes or rights of user (usus 

 and usus-fructus) and a considerable amount of law 

 regarding the conditions under which they were exercised 

 and regarding their extinguishment were in existence 

 among the Romans in the first centuries of the Christian 

 era. 



