LEGISLATION ANTERIOR TO "CHARTA FOEESTA." 225 



" Thougli many of these ancient regulations appear to 

 be well calculated for the preservation of the forest, yet 

 even as early as the reign of Henry VIII., some other 

 regulations were deemed necessary. In the S3rd year of 

 that reign an Act was passed establishing a court called 

 the Court of General Surveyors of the king's lands, which 

 was to consist of the king's surveyor, a treasurer, an 

 attorney, the master of the woods, auditors, general 

 receivers, a clerk of the court, an usher, and messenger. 

 This court had a general superintendence of the lands 

 belonging to the Crown. The master of the woods was 

 empowered, with the assent of the court, to make sales of 

 wood, &c., in the forest, and none could be cut without his 

 warrant andt.he assent of the said court. But in the 38th 

 year of the same reign that court was dissolved, and a new 

 one called the Court of Augmentations was created, and 

 invested with all the powers of the former court. One 

 master and one surveyor for the month, and one of each 

 for the north of the Trent, were members of it, and in 

 each district wood sales were ordained to be made 

 by the certificate of the surveyor, and by the commission 

 of the master of the woods, with the consent of the Justice 

 in Eyre. Both these courts seem to have been very well 

 constituted for the remedy of what was defective as to 

 the preservation of timber, and in the administration and 

 management of the forests under the forest laws. From 

 the account which has been given of the Courts of Attach- 

 ment and Swainmote, of the duty of the different officers 

 within each forest, and of the power of the Justice in Ejrre, 

 it appears that ample means were provided for the care 

 and preservation of the forest, for guarding against intru- 

 sions, and for the punishment of offences, so long as the 

 functions of those officers were properly executed. But 

 the power vested in the Chief Justice in Eyre himself was 

 often abused, and that officer irregularly disposed of tim- 

 ber in the forest for his own advantage. This abuse the 

 authority given to those courts was well calculated to pre- 

 vent. By uniting the different officers, the surveyors- 



Q 



