64 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
and liable to be put under pledges if it were 
‘found in anie forest ; and he be nocht bound 
in bands,’ while ‘gif ane hairhound be found 
rinnand, to the hurt of the forest; he sould 
be taken, and presented to the forestar, or viri- 
dier: quha sall send him to the King, or to 
the cheif Justiciar of the Forest.’ Offences 
against game were, as under English law, con- 
sidered the most serious; yet even they were, 
by comparison with the Southern laws, very 
mildly dealt with. ‘Gif anie man takes ane 
wilde beast in the forest, without ane warrant,’ 
he was to be arrested, and could not be set at 
liberty * without speciall command of the King, 
or of his Justiciars’ ; while ‘ gif anie hunts within 
the King’s forest, without licence; he sall pay ten 
ponds.’ Successful hunting was therefore a much 
more heinous offence than the mere pleasure of 
the chase. A free tenant who had ‘be vertew of 
his infestment, free power to hunt within his awne 
land, marchand neare to the Kings forest . . . 
may follow his hounds within the Kings forest, 
as farre as he may cast his horne or his dog- 
leisch.’ Otherwise, ‘he sall pay aucht kye: and 
sall tine his hounds, with the beast.’ 
