60 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
faithfullie collected furth of the Register and other 
Auld authentick bukes (1609), gives the full text 
of ‘The Forest Laws, whereof the Author is 
alleaged to be King William, in ane auld Buke 
pertaining to Sr David Lindesay of Edzell, 
Knicht, and ane of the Senatours of the College 
of Justice.’ Subsequent investigations have shown 
so early an authorship to be incorrect ; but Skene 
was himself conscious of working under certain 
disadvantages, when he said in his preface, 
“Quhat I have done, I remit it to thy judge- 
ment and censure: I have travelled meikill, ane 
lang time; bot how profitable, I can not declare. 
I am the first that ever travelled in this mater, 
and therefore am subject to the reprehension of 
many, quha sall follow after me; quhom I re- 
quest maist friendlie to take in gude parte, all 
my doings.’ 
The laws themselves are, even for a much 
later date than King William (1165-1214), 
characterised by extreme leniency. They are 
comprised within twenty-two short sections. 
The herding or straying of cattle was for- 
bidden in ‘the close or hanite parts of the 
wood’ (silva prohibita), ‘except they have 
