302 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



shareholder was allowed to get the timber needed 

 by him for his own use without control. 



This early communal ownership of forest land 

 undoubtedly explains the fact that even to-day 

 over 5 per cent of the forest is owned by com- 

 munities, cities, or villages. Gradually the neces- 

 sity of regulating the cutting of the wood became 

 apparent, as the best timber in the neighborhood 

 of the villages was removed ; and we find quite 

 early mention of officials whose duty it was to 

 superintend the felling, removing, and even the 

 use of the timber. By and by even the firewood 

 was designated by officials. Manufacturers re- 

 ceived their material free of charge, but only as 

 much as was needed to supply the community. 

 Occasionally there were rules that each man had 

 to plant trees in proportion to his consumption. 

 So that by the end of the fourteenth century quite a 

 system of forest management had been developed. 



Meanwhile the Roman doctrine of the regal 

 right to the chase had also begun to assert itself 

 by the declaration of certain districts as ban for- 

 ests, or simply forests, in which the king exclu- 

 sively reserved the right to chase. The kings 

 again invested their trusted followers and nobles 

 with this right to the chase in various districts, 

 thus gradually dividing the control of the same. 



While at first these reservations did not bring 

 with them restrictions in the use of the timber or 

 pasture or other products of the forest, these uses 



