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CHAPTER VIII. 
Eprinac Forest. 
THE next case, in order of date, which came up for deci- 
sion in the Law Courts, and by far the most important, 
as affecting the public interests of London, was that of 
Epping Forest. It may be doubted, indeed, whether in 
the annals of litigation there has ever been a Common 
case of such magnitude, involving so many interests, 
or so wide-reaching in the effect of the issues deter- 
mined. Epping Forest, as it now exists, after the abate- 
ment of the numerous inclosures which were effected in 
the twenty years before the commencement of the suit, 
and which had robbed it for a time of half its area, con- 
sists of a little over 6,000 acres of woodland, open to the 
public at all points, extending for a distance of nearly 
thirteen miles from Wanstead on the confines of 
London to the village of Epping, with an irregular 
breadth at its widest part of about one mile, and in its 
narrower parts of about half a mile. Some small 
portions of it are detached from the main Forest, the 
intervening land having been inclosed more than twenty 
years before the commencement of litigation. Apart 
from these, the Forest constitutes a continuous stretch 
of uncultivated land, very much in the condition in 
which it has been from the earliest times of our history. 
It is densely covered with timber, but here and there, 
