REGULATIONS REGARDING THE CLEARING OF TIMBER 267 



5. And the appellate judge cannot admit the proof of the enclosure of the timber 

 when the lack of enclosure has not been established by a court which has had authority 

 to deal with the subject. — Same decree. 



6. The Par. 3 of Art. 224 (Forestry Code) freeing from the interdiction of clearing, 

 timber not fenced, of less than 10 hectares (24.7 acres) area, provided it is not part of 

 another forest which would make up an area of 10 hectares, does not establish any dis- 

 tinction between timber belonging to the same owners or to different owners. Riom, 

 June 11, 1883, D. P., 84.5.282. 



7. The accused party has to prove that the timber cleared was of an area less than 

 10 hectares, and that it was not part of a body of timber of more than 10 hectares area. 

 — Same decree. 



8. And this proof cannot be accepted when the contrary is formally stated by a 

 "proces-verbal" which must be trusted until shown false. — Same decree. 



9. The exemption from all taxes during 30 years, established by Art. 226 (Forestry 

 Code) in favor of sowings and plantings of timber on the tops or slopes of mountains 

 is only apphcable to the "land-tax" and not to the registration taxes, especially to 

 taxes for transfers due to death. — Req. July 7, 1885. D. P., 85.1.453.^ 



Certain features of land control (or acquisition) for combating drift- 

 ing sand or erosion deserve emphasis if only to illustrate how demo- 

 cratic the governmental methods are in France when the interests of 

 the local inhabitants are concerned: 



(1) Where private owners are unwilling to repair damage injurious 

 to the public interests the use of the land can be taken over by the 

 State, the work done and the land only returned to the original owners 

 when they pay the bill with legal interest, or when the costs are earned 

 by the land itself; or in the mountains the land may be condemned, 

 the necessary work done by the State when the owner could secure his 



6 Speaking of French forest taxation, W. B. Greeley concludes: 

 ". . . When land is planted which has lain fallow for a considerable time, the 

 law provides that there shall be no increase in the assessed value, or rated income, 

 of the ground for a like period. Aside from these exemptions, private forests in France 

 are taxed on their current income, a method which dates back to the Revolutionary 

 period. Under the law of 1907 a valuation commission periodically classifies the lands 

 in all forms of culture, commune by commune, in accordance with their relative pro- 

 ductivity. There may thus be three or four types of forest, as determined by their soil 

 and timber species and the value of their products. A net yearly income is then ob- 

 tained for average areas wthin each type. All forest properties shown on the official 

 survey and plats of the commune are thus classified and a net income based upon the 

 sample tracts studied is assigned to each. The periodic revenues customary in French 

 forests, where nearly all properties harvest some products every few years, are, under 

 this system, reduced to an annual basis which represents the net returns for stumpage 

 after deducting costs of upkeep, fire protection, forest guards, thinnings, planting 

 blanks, and other cultural measures. The tax is levied upon this net income and 

 usually amounts to 8 or 10 per cent, about half of which goes to the central government. 

 The rest comprises the departmental and communal taxes and levies for local roads. 

 It is of interest to note that French forest owners are demanding a straight-out yield 

 tax levied upon forest products when actually cut, the same principle which is generally 

 regarded as the basis for forest tax reforms in the United States. . . . 



