A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



No man from henceforth shall lose either Life or Member for killing of our 

 Deer : (2) But if any man be taken and convict for taking of our Venison, he shall 

 make a grievous Fine, if he have anything whereof : (3) and if he have nothing to 

 lose, he shall be imprisoned a Year and a Day : (4) and after the Year and Day 

 expired, if he can find sufficient sureties, he shall be delivered ; and if not, he shall 

 abjure the Realm of England. 



This great Forest Charter was formally confirmed by Edward I. in 1299, 

 and again, along with Magna Charta, in section i of the twenty Articuli 

 super Cbartas of 1300, when he was in straits for money wherewith to 

 prosecute his French war. In 1306 an Ordinatio Forestce was also passed 

 for amending and regulating the procedure in presenting, trying, and 

 punishing forest offences, and for dealing with lands disafforested and 

 commons in the forests. There had been regulations brought into force 

 before this however, such as the Assiza et Consuetudines Forestce, supposed 

 to have been promulgated in or about 1278 (or later) for prescribing more 

 clearly than heretofore the procedure to be adopted and the penalties to 

 be inflicted for certain forest offences, and the statute De Malefactoribus 

 in Para's, ' In what Cases the killing of Offenders in Forests, Parks, and 

 Chases, is punishable, and in what not,' in 1293 ( or l ater )- A second 

 pourallee or general perambulation of the forests was held in 1299 to 

 inquire into and rectify the infringements of the Charta Forestce of 

 1225, and in 1305 an Ordinatio Forestce was passed that 'They whose 

 Woods are disafforested, shall not have Common or other Easement 

 in the Forest.' But the statute of 1306 was by far the most important 

 of these, as it ordained that alleged offences against vert (e.g. greenhew 

 or cutting timber, etc.) or venison should be presented at the next 

 swainmote and should there be tried in the presence of the foresters, 

 verderers and other ministers of the forest. It secured, in a certain 

 measure, something like the right of trial by jury, because the verderers 

 (who were now to form a part of the bench) were to be chosen by 

 the local freeholders and then appointed by writ of the king. This 

 forest ordinance is second in importance only to the Charta Forestce. 

 In the small extent of six sections * it relieved the people at large, the 

 rural population of all classes, from many grievous hardships still experi- 

 enced from the provisions of the forest laws and the tyrannous oppression 

 of the foresters. Malpractices were common ; the number of foresters 

 was often excessive ; and, poorly paid, they made money by extortion, 

 by trumping up false charges, and by illicit traffic in vert and venison. 



No forest legislation was enacted in Edward II. 's reign. But on 

 Edward III. ascending the throne in 1327 the very first Act passed con- 

 tained a section (caput 8) as to ' how he shall be used that is taken for 

 any Offence in the Forest : Bailment of him,' which ordained among 

 other matters ' That from henceforth no man shall be taken nor im- 

 prisoned for Vert or Venison, unless he be taken with the Maner (i.e. 



1 (l) How Offences done in the Forest shall be presented ; (2) An Officer dying, or being absent, 

 another shall be put in his Place ; (3) No Forester shall be put in Assizes or Juries out of the Forest ; 

 (4) The Punishment of Officers surcharging the Forest ; (5) Grounds disafforested ; (6) Common in 

 the Forest. 



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