360 RECENT LEGISLATION IN PRUSSIA. 



devour in the summer months not only their own pasturage, but that of 

 the communes, so that the inhabitants in many communes now say that 

 they have been freed from au insupportable tyranny that had been 

 exercised at their expense by speculators. 



RECENT LEGISLATION IN PRUSSIA IN REFERENCE TO THE MAINTE- 

 NANCE OR PLANTING OF TIMBER FOR PROTECTION, AND TO THE 

 FORMATION OP FOREST-ASSOCIATIONS. 



The Prussian Government, impressed with the serious dangers that 

 may result from the destruction of forests, under circumstances where 

 their presence was necessary for protection, more especially upon moun- 

 tains, upon exposed sea-shores, and upon light, sandy soils liable to 

 movement by the winds, has been seeking for mauj years to lind a 

 remedy, by legislative enactmeut, that should operate with equal justice 

 upon both the owners of the dangerous property, and upon that which 

 might be endangered. There were also many instances in which small 

 adjacent pieces of woodland, belonging to different owners, should be 

 managed under one direction, with the view of securing the greatest 

 benefit to those concerned. These two objects are sought to be secured 

 by a law passed July 6, 1875. 



Before giving the text of this statute, it may be proper to present the 

 motives that led to its passage, and a short account of the diffiMences 

 of the regulations among several of the Prussian states, with reference 

 to the care of forests. The complaints that were made prove that these 

 measures were inadequate to secure the maintenance or planting of 

 forests where their presence was necessary for protection, and where the 

 land belonged to individuals or communes. 



From 1830 to 1848 a law was draughted for the adoption of measures 

 to prevent sand filling, and the fixing of sands in inland places, and 

 directions were issued for the supervision of private forests in these 

 cases, which were designed to apply to the whole country. The events 

 of 1848, however, prevented the government from arriving at any defi- 

 nite result at that time. Various local regulations, suited to particular 

 districts, had, from time to time, been established, yet without satisfac 

 tory result ;^ and the experience from all these trials only tended to show 

 that the objects desired could only be secured by general law. In 1808 

 the question was again raised, and a bill was submitted before the House 

 of Deputies for the compulsory formation of forest associations; but the 

 near approach of the end of the session caused it to be sent to the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture. The Chamber of Deputies, during the discus- 

 sion of the budget of the forest-service in 1873 expressed a desire to 

 have the Government submit a project to secure the desired ends, and a 

 plan which had been prepared with much care in 1868 was submitted Jan- 

 nary 20, 1875. Although approved by both Houses, the principal discus- 

 sions upon its provisions was had only in the House of Lords. It was 

 finally passed on the Gth of July, 1875, with some amendments. It may 

 be proper, for the purpose ' f explanation of the general points of the 

 new law, to present a brief notice of existing legislation in regard to 

 the right of the state to the supervision of the forests. 



The recent law recognizes the right of the Government to exercise its 

 inspection and management in the communal forests of the whole em- 

 Tor the district of Olpe, May 27, lf21 ; lor that of Siegen, December 6, 1«34 ; and 

 fortheBailwicksof Frensburgaud Friedenwald, in the district of Altenkirchen, Novem- 

 ber 6, 1^36. After the first attempt at general legislation failed a special law was ap- 

 plied June 1, 1854, to the district of Wittgenstein. 



