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of Canute therefore eftablifhed in each county four chief 

 forcilers, who were gentlemen or thanes ; ex liberalioribus 

 homlnibus : under each of whom were four yeomen or lefs 

 thanes, ex mediocribus homin'ibus. The four inferior officers 

 had the care of the vert and venifon ; but were in no fort 

 to interfere in the adminiftration of juiftce, altho in con- 

 fequence of their appointment they were thenceforth 

 deemed thanes or gentlemen. Under each of thefe again 

 were two officers, taken from men of ftill lower rank, 

 «vho had the care of the vert or venifon in the night, and 

 did the more fervile works. But if any of thefe were 

 before a flave, he became free by his appointment. All 

 thefe officers had eftablifhed falaries and perquifites, and 

 enjoyed a variety of privileges and immunities ; fo that 

 their appointments might be deemed very liberal. The 

 two lower ranks were under the corredlion of the four 

 chief forefters, who were fubje^l to the immediate autho- 

 rity of the king ; or rather, it is to be prefumed, of his 

 fuperior court. For in the common language of the law 

 of England the authority of the king in matters of jufticc 

 means, not the perfonal authority of the prince on the 

 throne, but the authority of his fuperior courts of juitice, 

 repoiifible for their a6ls to the people. 



The chief foreflers had the royal jurifdidion within the 

 foreft, fubjeft to the controul of the king, and held their 

 courts four times in the year. The trials before them 

 feem lo have refembledthc modes of trial of thofe times in 

 other criminal cafes. The offisnces againll the vert, 

 merely, were lightly treated ; thofe againft the venifon 

 more ftverely ; and diflindtion a\ as made according to the 

 rank and condition of the offender, between civil and cri- 

 minal trefpalTcs, and between beads of the foreft in ge- 

 neral, and thofe termed royal, which feem to have been 

 only the ftag. Chacing a beait of the foreft expofed all 



offenders 



