CHAPTER II. 



FOREST LEGISLATION ANTERIOR TO THE 

 "OHARTA PORESTA." 



On Canute obtaining the throne, he, in the first year of 

 his reign, formally claimed certain hunting-grounds, forests, 

 and chases, with prescribed lands,- and from Winchester 

 he issued laws for the preservation of his forests. 



An anonymous writer, who has been repeatedly cited, 

 says :— 



" Under the code of forest law, coolly made by Canute 

 at Winchester, and which continued in force until the reign 

 of Henry III., the king, without leave asked or recom- 

 pense given, could take possession of any tract of country, 

 and use it for his, purposes of recreation as he might think 

 proper. In those days the timber of the forests was little 

 regarded ; the chief objects of care were the wild animals 

 by which they were inhabited, and for the preservation of 

 whose lives no precautions could be too strict. In each 

 forest there were usually verderers appointed to its charge ; 

 and so sacred were their persons held, as being in charge 

 of the king's deer, that if any man offered force to one of 

 them, he was, if a freeman, to lose his freedom and all his 

 property ; and if a villein, his right hand was to be struck 

 off; and for the second offence, the penalty was loss of life. 

 It was death to kill a deer in a royal forest, — sometimes 

 the offender had his eyes destroyed ; and even if any one, 

 through sport or malice, should chase a deer until the deer 

 panted, the lowest penalty was a fine of ten shillings — an 

 enormous sum, comparatively, in those days." 



