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278

A DISCOURSE

book in. house, should be indulged: And the prohibitions are good against Afsartsv—•• mac j e j n f ores t Sj &c. without licence: The penalties are indeed great,but how seldom inffidted? And what is now more easy than compound-ing for such a licence ?

In some parts of Germany , where a single tree is observed to be extra-ordinary fertile, a constant and plentiful mast-bearer, there are laws toprohibit their felling it without special leave : And it was well enactedamongst us, that even the owners of woods within chases should not cutdown the timber without view of officers; this act being in affirmance ofthe common law, and not to be violated without Prescription: See thecase cited by my Lord Coke in his Comment on Littleton. Tenure Bur-gage, lib. ii. sect. 170 . Or if not within chases, yet where a commonperson had liberty of chase, &c.; and this would be of much benefit, hadthe Regarders performed their duty, as it is at large described in the writof the twelve articles , and that the surcharge of the forests bad beenhonestly inspected with the due perambulations, and antient metes.Thus should the Justices of Eyre dispose of no wood without exprefscommifsion, and in convenient places \

Care is likewise by our laws to be taken that no unnecefsary embezzle-ment be made by pretences of repair of paling, lodges, browse for deer,&c. wind-falls, root-falls, dead and sear trees, all which are subject to theinspection of the Wardens, Justices Itinerants, &c. and even trespafsesdone de viridi on boughs of trees, thickets, and the like, which (as hasbeen ffiowed) are very great impediments to their growth and prosperity,

k A Justice in Eyre cannot grant licence to sell any timber, unlefs it be sedente curia orafter a writ of Ad quod damnum ; and it hath been resolved by all the judges, that thoughjustices in Eyre, and the King’s officers within his Forests, have charge of venison, and ofvert or o-reen hue, for the maintenance of the King’s game, and all manner of trees forcove'rt, browse, and pannage; yet when timber of the Forest is sold, it must be cut andtaken by power under the Great Seal, or the Exchequer Seal, by view of the foresters,that it may not be had in places inconvenient for the game: And the justices in Eyre, orany of the King’s officers in the Forest , cannot sell or dispose of any wood within theForest without commiffion; so that the Exchequer and officers of the Forest have divisuntimfierium, the one for the profit of the King, the other for his pleasure. Also no officers ofthe Forest can claim Wind-falls, or Dotard trees, for their perquisites, because they wereonce parcel of the King’s inheritance, but they ought to be sold by commifsion for theKing’s best benefit. Read; on the Stat. vol. iii. p, 304, 305.