PUR 



that the manner in which thefe woodlands are occupied is 

 exaftly the fame as that of many of the royal forells, vfith 

 the exception of the right of pallurage, and for that reafon 

 much more produAive and beneficial. See Woods and 



Royal Forcjh. r ■ , i_ 



PURLINS, in Building, thofe pieces of timber that 

 lie acrofs the rafters on the infide, to keep them from iTnk.. 

 ing in the middle of their length. 

 ' PURLUE, Purlieu, or Pouraxlee, formed from tlie 

 French pur, pure, and lieu, place, is all that ground near any 

 foreft, which, being added to the ancient forelt by our kings, 

 was, by perambulation, granted by fome of their fucceflbrs, 

 fevered again from the fame, and made purlieu, i. e. pure 

 and free from the laws and obedience of the forell. 



A purlieu, or pourallee, is defined a circuit of ground ad- 

 joining to the foreft, and circumfcribed with immoveable 

 boundaries, known only by matter of record ; which com- 

 pafs of ground was once foreft, and afterwards was dif- 

 afforefted by the perambulations made for fevering the new 

 foreft from the old. 



Purlieus, or pourallces, commenced after the manner fol- 

 lowing. King Henry I. at his acceffion to the crown in 

 1 154, took fo much delight in the forefts of this kingdom, 

 that, not being contented with thofe he found here, though 

 many and large, he began to enlarge divers of them, and to 

 afforeft the lands of his fubjefts nearly .idjoining to the fame. 



His fucceflors, Henry II. and Richard I., far from re- 

 trenchincr or reftoring any thing, made ftill farther encroach- 

 ments : and thus did the lands continue till the 1 7th year of 

 king John ; at which time, the grievance being grown 

 notorious, and generally felt by all degrees of people, divers 

 noblemen and gentlemen befought the king to grant, that 

 they might have all thofe new afforeftations made by his 

 predecefibrs aforefaid, and by himfelf, difafforefted again ; 

 and the king, after much felicitation, was at length pre- 

 vailed on to fubfcribe and feal fuch articles concerning the 

 liberties of the foreft, as they then demanded ; being, for 

 the moft part, fuch as are now contained in the Charter of 

 the Foreft. 



Hereupon choice was made of divers noblemen, &c. to 

 the number of twenty-five, who were fworn, vnxh others 

 their afliftants, to fee the faid liberties, fo granted and con- 

 firmed by the king, to be in every point obferved. 



But, before any thing was done to the purpofe, king 

 John died ; and king Henry III. fucceedmg, frefh foh- 

 citations were made to him ; who, for the better accom- 

 pliftiing of the faid difafForeftation, ordered inquifitions to 

 be taken, by fubftantial juries, for fevering all the new 

 forefts from the old : upon which, two commilTioners were 

 fent to take thofe inquifitions ; in virtue whereof, many 

 great woods and lands were not only difafforefted, but were 

 improved to arable lands by the owners thereof. After 

 this charter was niade and confirmed, fome of thefe new 

 afforeftations were perambulated, and proper inquifitions 

 taken, and the certainty was determined by matter of re- 

 cord, which were the old, and which the new : though it 

 appears, that the greateft part of the new afforeftations 

 were ftill remaining during the life of king Henry III. 



Under Edward I. frefh petitions and folicitations being 

 fet on foot, three biftiops, three earls, and three barons, 

 were at lengtli appointed to fee thofe perambulations per- 

 formed and continued ; who caufed them to be made ac- 

 cordingly, and inquifitions to be taken thereupon, and re- 

 turned into the court of chancery ; and all thofe that were 

 ancient foreft to be meered, and bounded with irremoveable 

 boundaries, to be known by matter of record for ever. 



Tliofe woods and lands, that had been newly afTorefted, 



PUR 



the king likewife caufed to be feparated from the old, and 

 to be returned into the chancery by marks, meres, and 

 bounds, to be known in like manner by matter of record 

 for ever. 



Thus it appears how the purlieus, or pourallees, had 

 their firft beginning ; for all fuch weods and lands as were 

 affbrefted by Henry II. Richard I. or king John, and, by 

 perambulations, fevered from the ancient forefts, were, and 

 yet are, izA\e6. pourallees, q. d. woods and lands fevered from 

 tlie old forefts, and difafforefted by perambulation ; pourallee- 

 being the fame as perambulatio, in Latin. 



But, notwithftanding luch new afforeftations were dif- 

 afforefted by perambulation, whereby the fame became 

 pourallee, or purlieu, yet they were not thereby fo difaf- 

 forefted as to every man, but that they do, in fome fenfe, 

 continue foreft ftill as to others. For, by the words of 

 Charta de Forejla, if the king has afforefted any woods or 

 lands of his fubjedts, to the damage of the proprietors, 

 they fliould forthwith be difafforefted again ; that is, only 

 as to thoie perfons whofe woods and lands they were : who, 

 as the proper owners tliereof, might fell and cut down their 

 woods at their own pleafure, without any licence from the 

 king ; as alfo convert their meadows and paftures into til- 

 lage, or otherwife improve their ground to the beft advan- 

 tage. So alfo they might hunt, and chafe the wild beafts 

 of the foreft towards the fame, &c. But no other perfon 

 ffiould claim fuch benefit of hunting in the pourallee, be- 

 fides the proper owner of the foil thereof, who is left at 

 liberty to fuffer the pourallee to remain foreft ftill, as fome, 

 in effeft, have thought moft expedient, becaufe hereby en. 

 titled to the benefit of the common within the foreft, which 

 otherwife they were excluded from. Hence, if the beafts 

 chance to wander out of the foreft into the pourallee, the 

 king hath a property in them ftill, againft every man, but 

 the owner of the ground wherein they are, who hath a fpe- 

 cial property in them, ratione foli ; yet fo as he may only- 

 take them by hunting, or chafing with his greyhounds or 

 dogs, without any foreftaUing or forefetting them in their 

 courfe again towards the foreft. 



Befide what hitherto has been faid of the difference be- 

 tween foreft and purlieu, or pourallee, there is this farther 

 diverfity, that all the woods and lands vrithin the regard of 

 the foreft are abfolutely within the bondage or charge of the 

 foreft, as well in refpeA to the owners thereof, as of any 

 other perfon ; for no one may cut down his own woods, or 

 improve his own lands, within the regard of the foreft, with- 

 out licence from the king or his chief juftice in e)Te of the 

 foreft. Neither ftiall any perfon hunt, chafe, or moleft the 

 wild beafts of the foreft in his ground, within the regard of 

 the foreft, without licence or warrant from the king, or his 

 chief juftice of the foreft fo to do. 



But thofe, whofe grounds are within the pourallees, are 

 not fubjeft to thefe reftriftions. Yet are not the woods 

 and lands in the pourallees abfolutely freed from the bondage 

 of the foreft, in refpeft of the wild beafts having their 

 haunts therein, when they happen to ftray out of the foreft ; 

 but as they were once abfolutely foreft, fo they are ftill con- 

 ditionally fo. 



PuULUE-^an, or Purlieu-man, or P ourallee-man, is one 

 who has land within the purine ; and is allowed or qualified 

 to hunt or courfe within the fame, though under certain 

 reftriftions. 



By itat. 13 Ric. II. he who may lawfully hunt in any 

 pourallee, ought to have woods or lands of freehold within 

 the pourallee, to the yearly value of ips. ■ By ftat. Jac. i. 

 he ought to have lands of inheritance of the yearly value 

 of 10/. or lands of freehold of the yearly value of 30/. or 



have 



