FORESTRY AND THE NEW FOREST 



Forty Days after Michaelmas, videlicet, on the Feast of St. Martin. At that Time 

 the Forest should again be cleared, and no Animal (except Deer) admitted, from the 

 nth Day of November until the 23rd Day of April (Old Stile) which Period is 

 called the Winter Haining. 



'At this Court the Presentments of the Court of Attachments ought to be 

 received, and inrolled, the smaller Offences tried, and those of more Importance 

 presented to the Justice in Eyre, to whom the Rolls of this Court ought to be certified 

 at the next Sessions of Eyre ; and those Rolls should contain an Account of every 

 Offence committed, of every Deer killed, and of every Tree felled in the Forest ; by 

 what Warrant, and of what Price or Value ; with every Fine imposed ; and the Agist- 

 ment, or Money paid for the Pasturage of Cattle and Pannage of Swine. 



' The Court of Justice Seat ought to be held in each Forest once in every Three 

 Years, when the Rolls of those inferior Courts should be presented to the Chief Justice 

 in Eyre, and the Offences tried.' * 



The woodmote or forty day court was simply a court of inquest, at 

 which, if the offence charged seemed capable of being proved, the offen- 

 der could be committed for trial at the next swainmote. In place of 

 being held every forty days as ordered by law, it was wont to be held at 

 the will of the chief officers of the forest ; and this gave rise to much 

 oppression and extortion. 



The swainmote was a court held under the jurisdiction of the ver- 

 derers, assisted by their steward and with a jury chosen from among 

 the swains or freeholders of the forest who might be present in court. 

 For the purpose of furnishing a representative jury each town and village 

 within the forest had to send a reeve and four swains, and all the free- 

 holders owed suit and service as jurymen when thus called upon. The 

 swainmote tried all charges presented by the woodmote, committed grave 

 offences to the next justice seat, and ordered conviction and fine as to 

 minor offences brought home to offenders ; but as it was not a court of 

 record these convictions had to be certified, under the seals of the jury, 

 to the justice seat for confirmation by the chief justice in eyre before 

 the final judgment could issue and its execution be carried out. The 

 court of swainmote is still in existence, in a greatly modified form, and is 

 held in the verderers' hall of the King's House at Lyndhurst. 2 



The justice seat was the high court for the trial of forest offences of 

 all sorts. Originally held at indefinite periods, upon a general summons 

 being issued to all men within the county a disturbance which they 

 greatly resented it was afterwards ordered to be held once every third 

 year for the hearing and determining of 'all trespasses within the forest, 

 all claims of franchises, liberties and privileges, and all pleas and causes 

 whatever therein arising' (Lewis, op. cit. p. 39). Here the chief justice 

 in eyre sat, assisted by some one learned in forest law and by a jury of 

 eighteen, twenty or twenty-four chosen from among the freeholders and 

 others in court. It was the only court of record for inflicting fine or im- 

 prisonment for forest offences. The convictions of the swainmote were con- 

 firmed and judgments entered regarding minor offences, and decrees were 

 issued for executing them ; while it was the court of original trial for all 



1 Third Report of the Commissioners, etc. op. cit. pp. 8, 9. 



* In Dean Forest the ancient Court of Verderers exists in the old form and holds its Courts of 

 Swainmote and Attachment as of yore. 



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