r 22 ) 



not the fame intcreft in it's protedlion, or the fame reafon 

 to forbear invading it, as they have with refpedl to the 

 property of their fellow citizens ; fo that the property of 

 the crown has been deemed almoft a fair objedl of plun- 

 der. 



During the reign of Henry the fecond, a milder fyftem 

 feems to have prevailed ; and from the ordinances of 

 Richard the firft it is to be colleded that the fevere punifh- 

 mcnts for offences againft the foreft law were ufually re- 

 deemed by a fine. Richard rcftored the rigour of the law 

 as it rtood in the time of his great grandfather, by a ftatute 

 profefTed to be made with the advice and confent of the 

 archbifliops, bifhops, abbots, earls, barons, and knights of 

 the whole kingdom. But it feems to have been, princi- 

 pally, rather a declaration of what the law was, tho re- 

 laxed in pra6lice, than the enadlion of a new law. 



John, among his other extravagances, had ftretched the 

 foreft law to the utmoft ; and was compelled to fubmit to 

 an explicit declaration of the rights of the crown and the 

 fubjedl in this refped, as well as in others. The provifions 

 of Canute extended to every county in the kingdom ; but 

 this had probably never been reduced to pradlice. The 

 crown, however, claimed a right to afcertain what parts 

 of it's woods and Avaftes were to be under the protedion 

 of the foreft law. For this purpofe a commiflion iifued 

 under the great feal to perfons named by the crown to 

 view the diftrid intended to be afforefted, to mark it's 

 boundaries, and return the whole into the chancery, where 

 the proceeding remained of record. A writ then iflfued 

 to the fheriff of the county to proclaim the fa£l, fo that 

 all the king's fubjefts might know the bounds of fuch 

 new foreft ; and officers of the foreft were appointed 

 according to the fubfifting laws on the fubje6l. Under 

 pretence of this prerogative, the preceding princes had 



greatly 



