SUMMARY OF MEDIAEVAL LEGISLATION. 203 



(much relaxed in practice) than an enactment of new 

 ones. To one merit, if we give credit to Matthew Paris, 

 he was most unquestionably entitled : the then existing 

 penalties of loss of eyes and of cutting off hands and feet for 

 transgressions committed in hunting were repealed, and 

 such offences declared to be punishable in future by fines 

 only. John, amongst his other extravagances, stretched 

 the forest laws to the utmost, and by the severity of his 

 proceedings provoked insurrections amongst his barons 

 and principal feudatories, the consequences of which we 

 are well acquainted with. Yet it was in this reign that 

 all lands aforested by Henry I., or Richard (except the 

 demesne woods of the Crown) were declared to be dis- 

 afforested. Various provisions were likewise made respect- 

 ing the woods of individuals within the royal forests, and 

 a laudable restriction was enacted that in future no person 

 should lose a life or a member for taking the king's deer, 

 but should pay a considerable fine, and if unable to do so, 

 should be imprisoned for a year and a day, as well as find 

 security for his good behaviour. If these terms were not 

 complied with, he was then compelled to leave the realm. 

 Similar regulations were repeated in the succeeding reign 

 of Henry III., and in the ninth year after his succession 

 that famous charter of English liberties, the Charta de 

 Foresta, was promulgated. The various regulations origi- 

 nating with John, and afterwards adopted by Henry III., 

 were also sanctioned by Edward I. The latter monarch, 

 amongst other acts equally wise, both confirmed the charter 

 of the forest and added much to the regulations of his 

 royal progenitors. In his reign perambulations of the 

 king's forests were required by the people, and acceded to 

 by the king, with a view to ascertaining their real bound- 

 aries, as well as to prevent disputes in respect to their 

 extent ; on the other hand, the boldness and audacity 

 of offenders in forests, chases, and warrens, rendered it 

 absolutely necessary to give protection to the keepers, and 

 occasioned the statute ' De Malefactoribus in Parcis.' The 

 ' Ordinatio de Foresta/ which passed in the thirty-fourth 



