THE FOREST POLICY OF FRANCE— ITS VINDICATION 



1381 



ANOTHER OF THE SAWMILLS OF THE 20th ENGINEERS IN THE VOSGES MOUNTAINS 



political and economic order to the new. It extended 

 indeed to the state forests, sequestered properties of the 

 crown and nobility. Particularly during the period from 

 1814 to the end of the second Empire, a large number of 

 state forests were alienated under the theory that it was 

 wise to convert this public property into cash and that 

 the land would best contribute to the economic welfare of 

 the country under private ownership and use. These 

 alienations carried no restrictions as to cutting or denu- 

 dation and in the case of most of them reforestation was 

 left to chance. 



The most interesting feature of this history is not the 

 extent of the reaction but the rapidity and effectiveness 

 with which French common sense and French conserva- 

 tive instinct toward natural resources reasserted them- 

 selves under the very freedom of democratic institutions. 

 As early as 1803, a law restored public control of the 

 extent to which privately owned forests might be de- 

 stroyed. And in 1827 was adopted the "code forestier" 

 which, with minor modifications, has remained to the 

 present day as the corner stone of French forest policy. 

 The forestry code aimed primarily to establish the basis 

 for administering and perpetuating the forests in all 

 forms of public ownership. But the conceptions under- 

 lying it are of special interest as illustrating the attitude 

 of the French toward their forest resources as a whole — 

 private as well as public ; an attitude which finds expres- 

 sion in practically all the subsequent legislation. 



The French conceive of their forests as standing apart 

 from other forms of real property because of (1) their 

 peculiar nature from the standpoint of principal and 

 interest and (2) their public utility. The trees compos- 



ing a forest at any given time represent its capital, or 

 growing stock, together with certain quantities of wood 

 which have been produced by that capital and comprise 

 its expendable revenue, which will be realized from time 

 to time by cutting. Revenue and capital are thus inter- 

 mingled ; both are readily convertible into money ; and 

 the danger of reducing the forest capital of the country 

 by unwise or ill-timed lumbering is always present. 

 Furthermore, a forest once ruined by abuse restores itself 

 slowly. While a few years can efface the effects of poor 

 farming, a century may be required to restore a forest 

 capital reduced or destroyed by imprudent cutting. On 

 the other hand, their public utility demands that the 

 forests of the country be extended rather than reduced. 

 Forests figure largely in the public policies of France 

 because the French know that, aside from their direct 

 econofnic value, forests hold the soil on mountain slopes, 

 prevent erosion, stop the devastation of shifting sand, 

 preserve the sources of their rivers and their marvelous 

 inland waterways, and maintain the atmospheric humid- 

 ity necessary for the cultivation of the valleys. Hence 

 the necessity of special and restrictive legislation, going 

 far beyond the terms of the common law, even beyond 

 the provisions of the penal code, to preserve the integ- 

 rity of French forests, public and private alike. 



This conception is well expressed in Guyot's discus- 

 sion of the laws against the destruction of privately 

 owned forests.* "This legislation constitutes a remark- 

 able anomaly in our civil law concerning the legal obliga- 

 tions imposed on private property. In principle, the 

 private owner is free to use and enjoy his property, free 



♦Cours de Droit Forestier, Livre V., Par. 1659 



