Property Conditions. 39 



the duke or king for himself is then transferred with 

 the territory given to his friends and vassals, who 

 thereby secure for themselves his powers and jurisdic- 

 tion, immunity from taxes and from other duties as well 

 as the right to exact taxes and services from others, 

 the favored growing into independent knights and 

 barons. 



The forest, then, originally was communal property 

 and the feeling of this ownership in common remains 

 even to the present day. Indeed, actually it remained 

 mostly so until the 13th century, although the changes 

 noted had their origin in the 7th century when the kings 

 began to assert their rights of princely superiority. 



In these earlier ages the main use of the forests was 

 for the hunt, the mast and the pasture, and since wood 

 was relatively plentiful, forest destruction was the rule. 

 Those who became possessed of larger properties through 

 the causes mentioned tried to secure an increased value of 

 their possessions by colonization, in which especially the 

 slaves or serfs were utilized. These often became freed- 

 men, paying rent in product or labor and acquiring the 

 rights of usufruct in the property, out of which devel- 

 oped the so-called servitudes or rights of user, a limited 

 right to use the property of another, the praedium of the 

 Romans. 



Through the development of private property there 

 developed naturally also the right which in our coun- 

 try we have not yet fully attained of preventing the 

 hunting on such lands, this being then their main use. 

 This exclusive right to the chase or hunt we find recog- 

 nized as a part of the property in the 8th century, when 



