per alios probos et legales homines c. And thus you may see it is in the election of the Iustices whether the ministers with others may bee impanelled qd'nota to enquire if there be any president that the Countrie hath tried any title of claime without the Ministers of the Forest c. Woodwardes may not walke with Bowe and Shaftes Woodwards Pickering f. â—â— but with Forest billes quod nota The Courtes of the Forest FIrst it is to be vnderstood that there be thrée principall and chiefe Courtes vsually kept for matters of the Forest that is to saie the Court of Attachementes the Courte of Swanimote and the highe Courte of the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest commonly called the Iustice seate And these thrée seuerall Courtes are of thrée seueral natures as at large hereafter it shal appeare wherefore to the entent that the saide Courtes may the better be known euerie one in his own proper nature I haue here set them downe placed each one of them in his owne place and degrée as they are together with their seuerall authorities and procedings as you may sée hereafter And because the said court of Attachmentes is the meanest and lowest Court of them all For that that in the said Court of Attachments the officers there do nothing but receiue the Attachments of the Foresters and inroll them in the rolles of the verderors to haue them in a readines against the time of the kéeping of the Court of Swanimote And for that the saide Courte of Attachmentes cannot determine any offence or trespasses of the Forest The Court of Attachmentes first If the value of the same trespasse be aboue the value of iiii pence but that the same offence trespasse if the vaue be more then foure pence must be by the saide Verderors inrolled in their roll so to be sent from thence to the Swanimote to haue an orderly tryall of the same there according to the Lawes of the Forest Therefore I haue placed the same Court first of all because that the greatest part of all the presentmeÌ„ts do first begin there also because that when offences and trespasses of the Forest are presented by the Foresters in the saide Courte of Attachmentes before the verderors of the Forest and that they haue entred them in the rolles and recordes of the Forest then the same Court cannot there procede any further therein neither is that proceding by them as yet any conuiction against the offender in those offences but that he that is such a trespasser may yet trauerse the same presentment that is against him vntill that the same haue passed the Swanimote Court of the Forest so that such trespasses as are presented at the Court of Attachmentes must of necessitie procede from thence to the Court of Swanimote before that the offendors and trespassers may be punished or stand conuicted as guilty in law of theire offences The Court of Swanimote next vnto it Therefore I haue placed the Court of Swanimote next vnto the saide Courte of Attachmentes as a Court that is higher then the Court of Attachmentes and yet more lower or inferior then the high Court of the seate of the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest For when the presentmentes of the Courts of Attachmentes as afore saide and also all other presentmentes of the Swanimote Courte haue had theire procedings in the same Courte according to the assises ordinances of the forest that all the trespasses of the forest are there presentat ' per Forestarios et duodecem Iuratores et conuict ' per viridarios as they must be of necessitie by the law yet cannot the same Court of Swanimote then determine the same trespasses or assesse any fine for any such offence or giue iudgement thereof any other then that the saide offendors are conuicted thereof as is aforesaid But the same presentmentes Indictmentes and conuictions must be deliuered to the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest at the Iustice seate the first day of the same seate when they are called for according to the ordinance of the Forest made in Anno Tricessimo quarto Edwardi primi orticulo 1. And according to the assises customes of the Forest made in Anno 6. Ordinatio Foresta articulo 1 Assisa consuetudines Forestae artic 19. Charta de Foresta artic 16. Edwardi primi articulo 19. And according to the forme of Carta de Foresta articulo 16. In these words Et ea presentet viridarijs prouinciarum et cum irrotulata fuerint et sub siggillis viridarior ' inclusa presententur capitalibus Iusticiar ' nostris de Foresta cum in partes illas venerint ad tenend'placita de Foresta et coram eis terminentur so that it doth appertaine only vnto the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest at the high Courte of Iustice seate or generall Sessions of the Forest to giue iudgement of all offences and to assesse the fines and to punishe the offendors And because that all the procedings of the two other Courtes are as nothing before that they doe come to the Iustice seat of the Forest to receiue their Iudgement The seat of the Lord Iustice in oyer of the Forest is the highest Court The Courts of Attachements and Swanimote are but hands to the same Therefore I haue placed that Court last of all as the principall head and the most highest Court of the Forest vnto the which Court the Courtes of Attachmentes and Swanimotes are but as it were two hands to deliuer matters vnto it to receiue Iudgment thereof from thence The Court of Attachements of the Forest IT séemeth that in times past before the making of the great Charter of the Forest the Courtes of Swanimotes were holden and kept more oftener then they be nowe And also oftener then thrée times in the yeare at the will and pleasure of the chiefe officers of the Forest Carta de Foresta cap. 8. and not at any certaine time knowen And therfore the Statuit of Carta de foresta caput 8. in these words Nullum Swanimotum de cetero teneatur in regno nostro nisi ter in Anno doth prohibit that no Swanimote Court shall be holden or kept after that time any oftener then thrice in the yeare And that Statuit doth there set downe farther what officers shal be compelled of necessitie to be there at euerie one of the saide Swanimotes and also at what daies and times of the yeare the same shal be kept In what place the Swanimot shal be kept and in what place viz. predicta autem Swanimota non teneantur nisi in com' in quibus teneri consueuerunt And then last of al after that the same statuit hath so prohibited that the said Court of Swanimot shal not after that time be kept any oftener then thrée times in the yeare as is a fore saide and hath there set down the daies when
if he haue none his body shal be detayned vntil he haue don that which he ought and if his abode be without the boundes of the forest his name and the name of the towne whence he is shal be inrolled But deliuerie of housebote and haybote shal be made as the wood may suffer the same to remaine in the state in which it is and not at the request of the demaundant neither may he giue nor fell any thing of the wood without the kinges warrant This is ment of those Deere that are not sweete nor meete to be eaten of the best sort of the people for if a principall beast be foūd dead newly killed that is not meant by this statute to be giuen to the Lazar house And if such Deare be found dead there is no doubt but the same Deere is the kings for he was the kings beast being aliue and the killing of him hath not altered the propertie and then the fame being the kings his Iustice of the Forest may dispose of it at his pleasure and that disposition good in Law by plee of iustification If any Déere be found dead or wounded there shal be an inquisition made by foure of the next villages to the forest which shal be written in the roll the finder shal be put by vi pledges and the flesh shal be sent to a Spittle house if by testimony of the verderors and the Countrey there be any nigh But if there be noe such house neere the flesh shal be giuen to the poore and lame the head skinne shal be giuen to the poore of the next Towne the Arrow if there be any found shal be presented to the Verderors and inrolled in his roll If there be any Greyhoundes found running to do any hurt the forester shall retaine them and present them in the presence of the Verderors and send them to the king of chiefe Iustice of the Forest If any Mastiue be found vpon any Deere and shal be expeditated he whose Mastiue he is shal be quite of the déede but if he be not expeditated the owner of such Mastiue shal be giltie as if he had giuen it with his owne hand and he shal be put by vi pledges whose names shal be written and also what kind of dogge it was If any man take a Déere in the forest without warrent his bodie shal be arrested where soeuer he be found within the boundes of the forest and when he is taken he shall not be deliuered without special commaundement of the king or of th chiefe Iustice of the forest If any sée any misdoers within the bounds of the forest to take or carie away any Deere he shall do what he may to take them and if he cannot he shall leuie hue and crie and if he do not so he shall remaine in the kings mercie If any woodward shall sée misdoers within his wardship or shall sée a dead wild beast he shall shew him to the chiefe forester or verderor and if he do not and the forester of our Lord the king find such a fault in his wood within the precinct of the regard that wood shal be taken into the kings handes by the kings commaundement or of his chiefe Iustice and the woodward is to be attached by iiii pledges If any man shall haue a wood neere vnto the demesne wood of our Lord the king it is lawfull for him after that the demesne hedges are agisted to haue in the time of pawnage so many swine as the wood may suffer by the view of the foresters verderors regardors Agistors other lawful men and this shal be done of the profit of Swine Knowe ye that in time of pawnage when the agistment ought to be made the foresters verderors and agistors ought to craue the assent of the Iustices of our Lord the kinges forest and séeke their good will and the agistiment shal be made as well within the demesne hedges and woodes as without and the agistment shal be made according to their commaundement and tenor of their letters which letters he shall haue before the Iustices of the forest in the next circuite And it is commaunded that hereafter be taken for euery hogge as much as may be to the vse of our Lord the king for pawnage that is to say one penie or ii.d. but of little pigges there shal be no more paied then was before If any man of another Countie put or willingly suffer his cattel to goe within the boundes of the forest the forester may retaine the cattel by suerties and safe pledges which if he cannot doe by the testimonie of the Verderors he shal shew the Shirife of the Countie thereof that he may make distres vntil he finde pledges If the Shirife do it not the forester shall shew the same to the Iustices No Mower shall bring with him a great Mastiue to driue away the déere of our Lord the king but little doggs to looke to things without the couert Of these which claime to haue priuiledges as doggs without clawes and greyhoundes within the boundes of the forest they shal haue nothing to do with them without our Lord the king his warrant or his Iustices A wood remayning in the hands of our Lord the king by one yeare and one day it is in the kings pleasure except it be recouered by the iudgment of the Iustices All the bounds of the forest are wholy the kings It is lawfull to the Abbot of the Borough of S. Peter to hunt to take hares Foxes Martrons within the bounds of the forest and to haue vnlawed dogs because he hath sufficient warrant thereunto When Verderors haue taken an Enquest one shall set to his seale and the other shall keepe the roll and so from time to time vntill the comming of the Iustice then the first day he and all his ministers shall present the roll or els they shal be amerced mainpernors that day shal be profered for the forest or els they shall incur a seisure A man attached for cutting of boughes that plée appertayneth to the Swanimot before the Steward And a man attached for selling an Oke in the demesne of the king or of any other mans it belongeth to be tried before the Iustice and if he do it to any man in the night time he shal be imprisoned A man attached to the Swanimote for gréene hugh and not presented at the next Swanimote at an other time the presentment shall not hurt him but shal be taken as a fault in the forester for the concealement and he that is attached shall goe quite by Assise If a forester do agrée vnto an offence in the demesne woods of the king the king shall take from him his chiefe office if the kéeper be liuing and because the kings wood is wasted at euery Iter of the Iustice of the Forest they shall pay to the king half a Marke Ordinatio Forestae 22 First we haue decréede
writ out of the Chancery which hath ben in old time ordained for such persons indicted to be at mainprise vntill the Eyre And if such Warden after he hath receiued the writ do not incontinently deliuer such persons indicted without taking any thing Then the plaintife shall haue a writ out of the Chauncerie to the Shirife to attach the saide Warden to bee before the King at a certaine day to answere wherefore he hath not repleuied him that is so taken and the Shirife the Verderors being called to him The Recitall of the Statute of 1. E. 3. ca. 8. shall deliuer him that is so taken by good mainprise in the presence of the Verderors and shall deliuer the names of the mainpernors to the same Verderors to answer in the Eyre of the Iustices and if the chiefe Warden be thereof attainted the plaintife shall recouer his treble damages the said Warden to be committed to Prison and ransomed at the Kinges will And from hence foorth it shal be written to them as to the chief Wardens of the Forest because they may not be Iustices nor to haue any recorde And so note by that Statute that the writ aforesaide is directed to them as if it were to the Shirife to execute the same writ and such a writ is not directed to a iudiciall officer Also the same Statute doth saie that the names of the mainpernors shal be deliuered to the Verderors as if he should saie because they be as Iustices And that from hence foorth it shall be written to the saide Wardens as to the chiefe Wardens of the Forest because sayeth the Statute they meaning the same Wardens may not be Iustices nor haue any record Then Ergo the chiefe Warden of the Forest nor his Lieutenant are no iudiciall officers and then I sée not by what authoritie they should sit at the Swanimote And note that there are two Lieutenants most commonly in euery Forest vz 2. Lieutenants in the Forest the Lieutenant of the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest and the Lieutenant of the chief Warden of the Forest Ordinatio Forestae And it appeareth very plainly by the Statute of Ordinatio Forestae caput 1. that the Foresters Verderors Regardors and all other ministers of the Forest These officers are bound to artend at the Swanimote are bounde to attend at euery Swanimote or else the indictmentes and presentmentes there taken are vtterly voide It is here to be noted what is ment by these words in the said Statute of Ordinatio Forestae cap. 1. ac alijs earundem forestar ' ministris for other ministers of the forest are Stewardes of the Swanimote who ought to be men very well learned and especially in the Lawes of the Forest Assisa consuetudines Forestae ca 20. And to proue that there ought to be a Steward at euery Swanimote it appeareth by the assises and customes of the forest wher it is said quod homo attachiatus pro ramis cesis placitū illud pertinet ad Swanimotum coram Senescallo c. There are also other officers of the Forest mentioned in the great Charter of the Forest Cap. 16. and Cap. 17. that is to saie Constabularij Castellani et Balliui et Bedelli c. if it do chaunce any of the said officers or ministers to be sicke so that he or they cānot be at the Swanimote then the Iustice of the forest or his deputie shal incontinētly place others in their places for them et hoc est secundum ordinationem Forestae Anno 34. An. 7. R 2. c. 3 E. 1. caput 2. And it is ordained in the assises of the Forest Anno 7. R. 2. caput 3. that the inquest shal not be compelled to trauel to any other place to giue their verdict but where they receiued their charge and note that the court of Swanimote hath power to inquire of all those matters that doe hereafter appeare in the charge of the Swanimote The power of the Swanimot and to take presentmentes of all such matters but no iudgement shal be giuen there nor execution awarded for that is reserued to the Iustices of the Forest only At this Court of the Swanimote all the presentmentes of the Foresters for any offence in the forest either in Vert or Venison are there deliuered to the Iurie which are sworne for that purpose to inquire the trueth of those matters and if the Iurie do find that those presentmentes that the Foresters haue presented be trewe then the offender against whome they were presented doth stand conuicted thereof in Law and then the entrée thereof is presentatum est per Forestarios et duodecem Iuratores et conuictum per viridarios Ordinatio Forestae ca. 1. All the freeholders that dwell within the Forest do owe sute to this court Asserts Purprestures are to be enquired of Consuetudines ca. 4. Purprestures that be arented Vide ante the case of my Lord Dyer fo And this much concerning the Courte of Swanimote and hereafter doth followe the charge of the same The charge of the Courte of Swanimote for the Forest INprimis you shall inquire if all those that owe sute to this Courte of Swanimote be there or no and those which be not shall you present their names 2 Item if there be any assertes or purprestures within the Forest newly made more then hath ben made by the kings graunt or any of his Progenitors in what place the same is and by what authoritie by whome and what harme it is to the King except it be arrented 3 Item if there be any that maketh any great closes or small closes which are annexed to the borders of the Forest This is Purpresture and inlargeth his owne ground with setting out of his hedges and ditches and so straytneth the Forest 4 Item if any man haue raised digged vp or carried away This is a Trespas Purpresture For Omnes metae Forestae sunt integro domino Regi any land Stone or stake that was set or laid for any marke or bound of the Forest ye shal doe vs to wete of their names the daie and place when the same was done 5 Item if any man maketh any Mines Clay-pittes or turueth for Iron without licence in any place within the Forest 6 Item if any man leuieth any Mille within the Forest without the Kinges licence you shall inquire what hurt the same is to the Forest and who it is that doth so and present the same 7 Item if any haue made any Swine-house or Shéepe-house or any other house or Cote within the landes of the Forest without licence you shall present it 8 Item if there be moe Foresters or Walkers within the Forest then haue bene of old time accustomed in oppressing of the Kings people or ouer charging of the Forest who hath made them and by what authoritie he hath done it 9 Item if there be any minister of the
breach of the kings frée chase and therefore you shall do vs to weet 34 Item if there are any manner of rentes or seruices wax or hony due to the king or any of his officers of this Forest that are now behind or withdrawen by whome how long what it is what dammage it is to the King You shall also do vs to wite 35 Item if there be any man that dwelleth about the borders of the Forest which keepeth any strange Greyhound and wayteth when the Kings Deare are out of the Forest and foresetteth the same Deare so that they may not returne home againe and so by that meanes are slayne or hurt ye shal present who he is and who oweth the Greyhoundes that he may be punished for the same accordingly 36 Item if there be any person within the iurisdiction of this Court that keepeth any hounds or Greyhoundes that may not dispend xl s. by the yeare of freehold ouer and aboue all charges according to the Statute which hunteth in the Purleuy as of his owne authoritie you shall present his name the tyme and what dammage he did to the King in diminishing the game at such hunting 37 Item if any Purrely hunter Puraley hunt oftener than thryse in a wéeke or before the Sunne rysing or after the Sunne setting or with other than his owne menyall seruaunts The defence moneth is xv dayes before Midsummer and xv after Puraley or otherwise on Sundayes or in the fence Moneth which is the time of Fawuing and that is accounted xv dayes before Midsommer and xv dayes after Midsommer 38 Item if any Purluy hunter at any time forestall the kings Deare whether it be with dead Hay or with quicke for they ought to let runne at the tayle of the Deare otherwise it is finable as if he did hunt in the forest 39 Item Puraley if any person haue made any Coppies or closure of Purluy in estrayteng of the kings Deere from the Forest to the hurte of the owners or do pinne the beasts of any commoner out of the shire and not put them in open pounde in the Country whether it be in Pawnage time or not you shall do vs to wéete 40 Item if any man gather any Acornes or Crabbes in the Forest and do make sale of them at marketes or else where to the hurte of the commoners and the kings beastes of the Forest ye shall doe vs to weete 41 Item if any man haue stopped or strayted any Church-way Puraley mylle-way or other waies in the Forest or Purleu to the common nusance of the kinges free people and to the hurt of his Deere you shall doe vs to weete thereof 42 Item if any man haue any Milles within the forest which are not repaired as they ought to be you shall do vs to weete Puraley 43 Item you shall present all the Waifes and Straies which hath bene and happened since the last Courte within the forest 44 Item if any man take any agistment in the forest or purleu to the hurt of the kings Deare and the Commoners there you shall do vs to weete 45 Item if there be any man that doth surcharge the common with any manner of Cattell or otherwise more then the law doth suffer acording to the quantitie of his tenure or graunt you shal do vs to wete and of these and al other that you do know to be any offence either in Vert or Venison or against the Lawes of the forest you shall inquire thereof and present the same And there are also many other things to be inquired of which cannot be done without inquest which must be by the suters to the courte and when they are there presented they shal be sealed with the seales of the ministers aforesaid and sent before the Iustices of the forest to the Sessiones And if the presentments be not certified in this order they are void as is aforesaid And thus endeth the Charge The high Court of the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forestes commonly called the Iustice Seat of the Forest FOr as much as the Court of Attachements called the fourtie day Court or Wood-mote and also the Court of Swanimote haue alreadie béene spoken of briefely and also the procéeding in those two Courts against such as are offenders in the Forest in Vert or Venison And for that it appeareth that by the Lawes of the Forest all the procéedings of those Courts for the greatest offences done in the Forest are as nothing vntill such time as they are presented to the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest at the Iustice Seate because that although the offences and trespasses of offenders be presented in the said Court of Attachements And that afterwardes vpon the same presentments the offenders be indicted at the Court of Swanimote according to the Statute of An. 1. E. 3. cap. 8. and according to the Statute called Ordinatio forestae Yet cannot either of the saide Courts of Attachements or Swanimote giue any iudgement of those offences or assesse any fines for the same for that doth appertaine onely vnto the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest to doe at his will and pleasure at the said Court of Iustices Seate And therefore all those Rolles of all such offences as haue passed the court of Swanimote and the Court of Attachements are to be sealed vp with the Seales of the said Verderors and they are to keepe the same Rolles vntill the Iustice Seate and then they are to present the same vnto the Lorde Iustice in Eyre of the Forest And if the said Verderors do not there appeare to bring in their Rolles the first day of the same Iustice Seate then there shall foorthwith go out a write to the Shirife to sease the lands of the said Verderors into the Kings hands vntil such time as they shal come before the Lord Iustice in Eyre and bring in their Rolles as it shall appeare hereafter by sundrie auncient Presidents of the Assises of the Forest And it is to be noted that before the lorde Iustice in Eyre of the Forest do keepe this high Court of Iustice Seate when he hath receiued the Kings Commission for that purpose then the Lord Iustice in Eyre doeth make out his warrant or precept to the Shirife of the same Shire within the which the Forest is where the Iustice Seate shal be holden The Tenor of which write shal be shewed hereafter thereby commaunding the same Shirife to sommon by sufficient sommons all the Archbishops Bishops Earles Barons and Knights and their free tenants which haue any lands or tenements within the bounds of the Forest of our Soueraigne Lorde the King called the Forest of Windsor and also of euery towne and village within the bounds of the same Forest to sommon foure men and the Reue and also to sommon of euery ancient Borough within the bounds of the same Forest xii good and lawful men and also all other free
man that may dispend fortie shillings by the yeare of frée hold and therefore the same doth take the name of Parlew that is to saie Purlui Word Purlui that is for him and no other person but he that may dispend fortie shillings by the yeare at the least of free holde The King may disaforest any parte of the Forest by his letters Patens Also the King may dissaforest any landes that are aforested by his letters patents as he did to the Abbot of Stratforde for Wale-Wood in Essex within the Forest of Waltham which although the same be nowe at this time Forest yet the same was once no Forest And here note that all such land as is so dissaforested after the dissaforesting of the same then that land or Wood is Purlew Walewood id est Purlui for the same is a Forest still as vnto him that is no Purlew man and the same is Frée Purlui only for him that is a Purlew man What is ment by Purlui Purlieu Puraler there is Purlui Purlieu and Puraler Purlui for him that is to saie only for him to hunt that may dispend fortie shillings by the yeare Purlieu that is to saie The wilde beastes of the Purliew must haue Free returning to the Forest if they can escape for the place so that he must be a Purlew man in the place where he doth hunte or else he is no Purlew man there Puraler that is to say to goe and come so that if a man be a sufficient Purlewman in the same place wher he doth hunt yet he may not forestall or foreset the Deare but he must hunt the wilde beastes so that if they haue a mind of returning to the Forest again they may as the worde is Puraler A case goe home to the Forest againe if they can escape and ouer runne the Grey-houndes being put on after the game The grauntee of the King may haue a Forest with Foresters c. And if the King which hath a Forest with all the incidentes do graunt the same to another man then the grauntée shall haue the same Forest with all the officers and incidentes belōging to the same which connot be seuered as kéepers Foresters Agistors and Woodmen as it appeareth by Maister Treherne in his reading of the Lawes of the Forest fo 4. But quere of Verderors and Regardors A Iustice of the Forest must be made by the King vnder the great Seale of England for they are chosen by the Kings writ But such a grauntée shall not haue Iustices in his Forest saieth Master Treherne for no man can haue a Iustice in his Forest but the King only for such a Iustice must be made by the Kings commission vnder the great Seale of England Before the making of the Statute of Carta de Foresta there was no Lawe certaine for offences committed in Forests for at the beginning the same was at the pleasure and arbitrement of the King to punish the offenders in Forestes The beginning of the Forest Lawes vntill that King Canutus and others did make certaine Canons and Constitutions for the maintenance of Vert and Venison which afterwardes by continuance of time such Constitutions were taken for a lawe and such lawes were not certaine neither The beginning of Forest Lawes before the making of this Statute lawe of Carta de Foresta But the Lawes of the Forest were alwayes differing from the Lawes of this Realme as it dothe appeare in the booke of the Exchequere aforesaid where it is written as followeth Sane Forestarum Lex ratio Libro Rubro Scaccarii pena quoque vel absolutio delinquentium siue pecuniaria fuerit siue corporalis scorsum ab alijs regni iudicijs secernuntur Here you may note that offenders in Forests before the Statute of Carta de Foresta wer punishable at the wil pleasure of the King onely Et solius regis arbitrio seu cuiuslibet familiaris ad haec specialiter deputati subiecitur legibus quidem proprijs subsistit quas non Iure communi sed voluntaria principum Institutione subnixas esse debent adeo vt quod per legem eius factum fuerit non Iustum absolute sed Iustum secundum legem Forestae dicatur quia in Forestis penetralia regum sunt eorum maxime deliciae ad has quidem venandi causa curis quandoque depositis accedunt vt modica quiete recreentur illic Serijs simul multis Curiae tumultibus omissis in naturalis libertatis gratiam paulisper respirant vnde sit vt delinquentes in ea soli regie subiaciant animaduersioni which in English is this Truely saith the said Booke the Lawes of the Forest the reason and punishment the Pardon or absolution of the offenders whether the same be pecuniarie or corporall it shal be differing from other Iudgements of the Lawes of the Realme By this it appeareth that the Lord chief Iustice of the Forest hath alwaies bin one of the noble men of this Realme and shal be subiect vnto the Iudgement of the King only to determine at his will and pleasure or of some of dis Nobles thereunto especially appointed for that purpose which foresaid Lawe reason punishment and pardon shall not be tyed to the order of the Common Lawe of this Realme but vnto the voluntarie appointment of the Prince so that the same which by his Lawe in that behalfe shal be appointed or determined shal not be accounted or called absolute Iustice or Lawe but Iustice or Lawe according to the Lawes of the Forestes Because that in the Forestes there are the secrete pleasures and Princely delights of the Kings For Kings and Princes do resort to the Forest for their pleasure of hunting hauing for that time layde asyde all cares to the ende that they might there be refreshed with some quiet being wearyed with the continuall busines of the Court they might as it were breath a whyle for the refreshing of their free libertie And thereupon it commeth to passe that such offenders in Forestes for their offences are subiect vnto the onely Iudgement and determination of the King And so before the making of the Statute of Carta de Foresta and alwayes since vnto this daye the Lawe of the Forest did differ from the Common Lawes of the Realme And by this Statute the Lawes of the Forest which were not certaine before are nowe by the same made certaine in most things And whereas this Statute was defectiue the same hath beene since supplyed by other necessarie Statutes as you may see here before And whereas the wordes before rehearsed are Et solius Regis arbitrio seu cuiuslibet familiaris ad haec specialiter deputati It doeth appeare that the Office of the Lorde chiefe Iustice of the Forest is a place both of great honour and of high authoritie and that the same place is to be executed by some great Peere of the Realme that is alwayes one of