JN SCOTLAND.

261

SECT. II.

Of THE STATUTE LAW OF SCOTLAND, AS APPLICABLE TO THIiDIVISION AND INCLOSURE OF LAND.

1 he Legislature of Scotland Appears to have contemplatedthe advantages derivable from, inclosure, at an early period,long even before the propriety of dividing common lands intoseveralty seems to have been deemed necessary or advisable.By act 1457, cli. 80, all freeholders, or proprietors of landholding directly from the crown, were ordained to cause theirtenants to inclose and plant in certain places; and by ch. 83.of the same year, dead hedges were interdicted. By act 1500,ch. 74, every landed proprietor was directed to make parksfor deer, fish ponds, warrens, orchards and hedges, and toplant some wood. These acts were enforced, with additions,by posterior statutes, as by 1535, ch. 10, and 1661, ch. 14.And, from the year 1424 down to 1693, the Legislature ofScotland manifested a marked attention to protect inclosuresand plantations, by a number of statutes, in which penaltiesare imposed upon those who injure them. From this it ap-pears, that the protection and extension of inclosures formedan object of legislative care in Scotland , from the reign ofJames I. contemporary with Henry VI. of England, down tothe Revolution. The open and naked state of the countryappears to have dwelt continually on the mind of the Legis-lature ; and, owing to this chiefly, some of the ancient Scotchstatutes ordain the sowing of broom seeds, to form what werecalled broom parks, as a shelter for live-stock, and partly alsoas a supply ot food for sheep in severe weather, for whichthis plant is very useful, although its use, at first, is liable toinduce a species of intoxication.