Property Conditions. 187 



1. Development of Forest Property. 



In ancieut Gaul the Eomans f oxmd the forest as com- 

 munal property, except the holy groves. After the con- 

 quest all the unseated lands, especially the extensive 

 mountain forests, were declared either State or imperial 

 property. 



The iuvasions of the Kormans in the 9th century must 

 also have influenced the progress of forest policies. This 

 latter influence was probably strongest ia the northern 

 part, v^hile in the southern portions Eoman laws re- 

 mained in force, although the Roman policy which 

 treated the forests as a res publica under the manage- 

 ment of the admtaistrators of public affairs feU to the 

 ground. Here the forests became property of the com- 

 munities without the socialistic limitations of the Mark 

 and being left without restriction or control they were 

 rapidly devastated. 



The 5th century after Christ saw the Teutonic tribes, 

 Visigoths and Burgundians, overwhelm the Eomans who 

 had for 500 years kept the GaUo-Celtic population under 

 its rule. The conquerors subjugated and enslaved the 

 Gauls and introduced the same economic and social in- 

 stitutions which had developed in Germany, somewhat 

 modified by the existing Eoman conditions. As in Ger- 

 many the socialistic Mark was followed by the feudal 

 system and the ban forests, the dukes becoming great 

 landed proprietors or lords, and kings. Communal 

 ownership was at first developed to sueli an extent that 

 the SaUc laws declared all trees which were not r.eserved 

 by special sign as subject to the use of all and any of the 

 Markers. 



When Clovis, the king of the Pranks, in the first 



