262 FEATURES OF FRENCH NATIONAL FOREST ADMINISTRATION 



closely, in part word for word, the French Code of 1827. The main 

 difference is that the Algerian Code is more supple and less repressive. 



Corsica. — Since 1840 the Waters and Forest Service was given the 

 right to make sales for periods up to 20 years after suitable public auction. 

 This law provided that the transport improvements should revert to the 

 State when the sale expired; that the State should have an option to 

 purchase sawmills within 1.2 miles of the forest. The object of this law 

 was to develop forests hitherto inaccessible under ordinary sales. The 

 law of 1854 abolished grazing servitudes in Corsica but as a matter of 

 fact even to-day grazing is practically unrestricted. 



Maures and I'Est^rel. — Owing to the excessive fire damage a special 

 fire-protective scheme was legislated in 1870 and revised in 1893. The 

 provisions of this law are discussed in this chapter under "Protection." 



Frontier Forests.^ — Trespass committed on a bordering State can 

 be judged in France under French law if the State in question has passed 

 a reciprocity law to the same effect. 



Fishing and Shooting. — Important and detailed laws have been 

 enacted to govern the administration of fishing and shooting. It is inter- 

 esting to note that the law of 1908 contains a list of the useful and 

 harmful birds. 



Dunes and Landes. — The decree of April 29, 1862, placed the fixation, 

 maintenance, conservation, and exploitation of the dunes under the 

 Ministry of Finance (Director of Forests), but the Ministers of State, 

 Finances, Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works were all charged 

 with the execution of the decree. The decree of December 14, 1810, 

 provided for the fixation and forestation of the dunes. In the first place 

 a map was required showing State, communal and private lands with a 

 plan as to the best methods to follow. Where owners were unable to 

 carry out the measures prescril^ed it was arranged that the work should 

 be undertaken by the State and managed until the cost of the work was 

 completely paid for with interest (since April 7, 1900, calculated at 4 

 per cent). The measures included: Forbidding the removal of weeds 

 or plants from dune areas without special authorization, patrol and 

 police force, and the State was given the right to remove brush from 

 private land. The ordinance of February 5, 1817, provided that the 

 work should be directed by the "Fonts et Chaussees" under the Minis- 

 try of the Interior, with the provision that when the trees reached a 

 certain age, to be determined later, they would be under the Waters 

 and Forests Service. The ordinance of January 31, 1839, sanctioned 

 the auction of resine on 18,632 acres of wooded dunes; both thinnings 

 and final cuttings were mentioned and natural regeneration was to be 



3 The basis for these data and what follows is: Code de la Legislation Forestiere, A. 

 Puton et Ch. Guyot, Paris. 



