ANCIENT AND MODERN FORESTRY 9 



when kings were at last evolved and one ulti- 

 mately obtained the sovereignty, he found him- 

 self the overlord of many forests scattered 

 throughout different parts of England. 



There is a sort of general popular opinion 

 that the introduction of forest laws into Britain 

 only took place with the advent of the Normans, 

 but this is probably due to the fact that the 

 laws only became harshly stringent and cruel 

 under Norman rule. King Ine's laws are said 

 to date back as far as A.D. 690, but the first 

 reputed regular Statute relating to forests in 

 England is the Norman forgery known as the 

 Charta Canuti, or Charter of Canute the Dane, 

 said to have been granted at a Parliament held 

 at Winchester in A.D. 1016. 



Lord Coke's suspicions as to the authenticity 

 of Canute's Statute have been shown by Stubbs 

 and Liebermann to be well founded. It seems to 

 have been a forgery intended to make the harsh 

 and cruel Norman laws seem less of an innovation 

 than they really were. There was, however, this 

 great difference, that previous to the Norman Con- 

 quest in 1066 the forests were never held in such 

 strict veneration, nor governed by such savage laws, 



