FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 29 1 



RIGHTS OF USER. 



The principal rights of user are those relating to timber, firewood, and grazing ; but there 

 is also a small number of others, such as those which permit the cutting of turf, the collection of 

 dead leaves, and the like injurious practices. In the state forests the right-holders are, almost 

 without exception, village communities; the instances in which private persons possess rights 

 in them being extremely rare. The communal forests are, comparatively speaking, free from 

 such burdens. 



The law of 1827 provided for the investigation and disposal of all claims to exercise rights 

 in the state forests, and barred the acquisition in them of any fresh ones. Hence those only 

 have now to be dealt with which have been formally admitted and recorded in favor of the 

 communities or persons who possess them. 



The aim of the department has always been to free the forests from such claims as far as 

 possible, and the law provides for this being done in the following manner, viz., all rights of 

 wood may be commuted by surrenderipg a portion of the forest itself in lieu of them, the 

 terms being arranged by mutual consent, or, in case of disagreement, by the courts ; but the 

 state alone can demand such a commutation, the right-holder cannot do so. Other rights, in- 

 cluding those of pasture, cannot be got rid of in the above manner, but the state can buy them 

 out by the payment of a sum of money, the amount of which is either settled by mutual 

 agreement or by the courts. The sale of pasture rights cannot, however, be enforced in places 

 where their exercise is absolutely necessary for the inhabitants, the question of such necessity 

 being, is case of dispute, referred to the conseil de prefecture* subject to an appeal to the 

 conseil tfitat.j The law also provi'des that the exercise of all rights, which have not been 

 got rid of in either of the above ways, may be reduced by the forest department with reference 

 to the condition of the forests, and the mean annual production of the material in respect 

 of which they exist ; and none can be exercised otherwise than in accordance with the pro- 

 visions of the law and the rules based on it. 



The principal features of the legislation regarding the exercise of wood-rights are the fol- 

 lowing, viz. : No wood can be taken which has not been formally made over by the fores' 

 department ; persons who possess a right to dead-fallen wood cannot employ hooks or iron in- 

 struments of any sort in its collection ; when firewood is made over standing in the forest, it 

 is felled, cut up, and taken out by a contractor, selected and paid by the right-holders, but pre- 

 viously approved by the forest department ; the partition of the wood among the inhabitants 

 cannot be made until the work is entirely completed ; the contractor is responsible in all 

 respects as if he had been the purchaser of the produce, but he acts under the pecuniary guar- 

 antee of the body of right-holders, who cannot barter nor sell the wood made over to them, 

 nor put it to any use other than that for which it is given to them; timber made over in satis- 

 faction of a right, but not used in a period of two years, may be reclaimed by the forest 

 department. 



No right can exist to take goats into either the state or the communal forests, as the grazing 

 of these animals is considered incompatible with the maintenance of the ground under wood. 

 The old law suppressed without compensation to the right-holders, the practice of grazing sheep 

 in the forests of the ancient royal domain of France, and the law of 1827 suppressed it also, 

 on payment of compensation, in those state forests which are of more recent origin ; but the 

 government has the power to permit sheep-grazing in certain locahties as an exceptional and 

 temporary measure. No right to pasture any kind of animals can be exercised in any part of 

 a forest not declared out of danger by the forest department, which has also the power to limit 

 the number of animals to be admitted, and the period during which they may graze, with 

 reference to the condition of the forest and the quantity of grass in it. Right-holders can only, 

 pasture animals which they keep for their own use, not those which they keep for sale. 



■^Vii administrative tribunal, established in each department of France. 



t'J'he central administrative tribunal, established .at Paris for hearing appeals from the decisions of tha 

 coHseiU dc prefecture, 



