ANCIENT AND MODERN FORESTRY 27 



time. There seems to be no record as to the 

 place where, or date when, the first park was 

 formed ; but Domesday Book mentions sixteen 

 subjects who then held parks. From the time of 

 Edward I. onwards most great men had parks 

 and chases, while licenses to impark are frequently 

 recorded in the Patent Rolls. Portions of royal 

 forests could be granted to subjects by letters- 

 patent, but only the king could hold a forest, as 

 he alone could appoint a ' Chief Justice in Eyre/ 

 an officer essential to the definition of the land 

 as Forest. When portions of forest were thus 

 granted, all the officers remained except the 

 Justice in Eyre. In ancient law books the Chief 

 Justices in Eyre were called Justiciarii Itinerantes, 

 or judges holding a sort of roving commission, 

 the English name being derived from the old 

 French Erre, or 7r, * to go.* This high function- 

 ary can be traced back to the time of Henry II. 

 It was considered an office of such great trust and 

 dignity, and of such high honour and authority, 

 that it was always filled by a peer of the realm, 

 who was also a Privy Councillor. Originally there 

 were three such justices for different parts of the 

 kingdom, who had to make tours through their 



