bin accostomed at the time of the first coronation of King H. our graundfather and none other wise Carta de Foresta cap. 5. 6 The inquirie or view forlawing of doggs being within our forest Lawing of dogges View shal be made from henceforth when the Regard is made that is to say euery iii. yere then it shal be done hy the view and testimonie of honest men and not otherwise And he whose dogg is not then found expeditated shal be amerced and shall paie for the same iii. s. And from henceforth no oxe shal be taken for lawin-of dogges A merce Oxe Assise iij. Clawes cut off And such lawing shall be done by the assise commonly vsed that is to say that iii. clawes of the forefoote shal be cut off by the skin But from henceforth such lawings of dogges shall not be done but in places where it hath bin accustomed from the time of the first coronation of the aforesaid king H. our grandfather Carta de Foresta cap 6. Forester 7 No Forester or Bedle from henceforth shal make scotal or gather garbe or otes or any corne or lambe or pige nor shall make no gathering but by the sight and vpon the othe of the xii Regarders wheÌ„ they shal make their regard So many Foresters shal be assigned to the kéeping of the forests as reasonably shal séeme sufficient for the kéeping of the same Car. de Forest ca. 7. 8 No Swanimote from hencefoorth shal be kept within this our Realme but thrice in the yere Swanimot First the xv day afore Michaelmas when that our gistakers of our woods come together to take agistment in our demesne woods Agistment about the feast of s Martin in winter when that our gistakers shall receiue our pawnage And to these ii swanimotes shall come our foresters verderors gistakers Pawnage Foresters none other by distres The iii. swanimote shal be kept in the beginning of xv daies before the feast of S. Iohn Baptist wheÌ„ that our gistakers do méete to hunt our Déere And at this Swanimote shall méete our foresters verderors none other by distres Moreouer euery xl daies thorough the yere View Attachments Greene hugh Hunting our foresters verderors shall méete to sée the attachments of the forest as well for gréene hugh as for hunting by the presentment of our foresters afore them attached And the said swannimotes shall not be kept but within the Counties in which they haue bin vsed to be kept Carta de Foresta cap. 8. 9 Euery fréeman may take agistment in his owne wood within our forest at his pleasure shall take his pawnage Freemen Agistment Pawnage Driue swine Also we do graunt that euery fréeman may driue his swine fréely without impedimeÌ„t thorough our demesne woods for to agist them in their owne wods or els where they will And if their swine tarrie one night lie within our forest there shal be no occasion taken there of whereby he may leese any of his owne Carta de foresta cap. 9 10 No man from henceforh shall lose neither life nor member for killing of our déere but if any man be taken therwith Killing of deere Conuict Fine Impris and conuict for taking of our Venison hée shal make a gréeuous fine if he haue any thing whereof to make fine if he haue nothing to léese he shal be imprisoned a yere and a day and after the yere a day expired if he can find sufficient suerties he shal be deliuered And if not he shall abiure the Realme Carta de foresta cap. â—0 Abiure 11 Whatsoeuer Archbishop Bishop Earle or Baron comming to vs at our commaundement passing by our forest it shal be lawfull for him to take and kil one or two of our déere by the vew of the forester if he be present or else he shal cause one to blow an horne for him that he séeme not to steale our déere And likewise they shall do returning home from vs. Car. de For. ca. 11. 12 Euery freemaÌ„ from henceforth without daunger shal make in his owne woode or in his land or in his water which he hath within our forest milles springs pooles marlepits dikes or errable ground being without the couert into errable ground againe so that it bée not to the annoyance of his neighbors Carta de Foresta cap. 12. 13 Euery fréeman shall haue within his owne woods ayries of haukes sparrow haukes fawcons egles and herons and shal haue also the honie that is found within his woods Carta de Forest cap. 13. 14 No forester froÌ„ henceforth which is not a forester in fée paying to vs farme for his Bailiwike shall take any chiminage within his bailiwike But a forester in fée paying vs farm for his bailiwike shall take chiminage that is to say for carriage by cart the halfe yeare ii.d. and for another halfe yeare ii.d. for a hors that beareth loads for halfe a yeare an halfe-penie and for another halfe yeare a halfepenie And but of those onely that come as Marchants through his bailywike by his licence to buy bushes tymber barke coale and in another place to sell it againe where they will at their pleasure But for none other carriage by cart chiminage or tol shall be taken Nor chiminage shall not be taken but in such places onely where it hath bin vsed to be taken Those which beare vpon their backes brush barke or coale to sell though it be their lyuing shall paie no chiminage to our foresters except they take it within our demesne woodes Carta de Foresta cap. 14. 15 All that be outlawed of trespas within our forest since the time of King H. our graundfather vnto the first yere of our coronation shall come to our peace without let and shall find to vs suerties that from henceforth they shall not trespas vnto vs within our forest Carta de Foresta ca. 15. 16 No Constable Castellaine or bailife shall hold plea of forest neither for gréene hugh nor hunting but euery forester in fée shall make attachments for plea of the forest aswel for gréene hugh as hunting Iustices of the Forest shal determine those plees and shall present them to the Verderors of the prouinces And when they be inrolled and inclosed vnder the seals of the Verderors they shal be presented to our chiefe Iustices of our forest when they shall come thither to hold plea of forest and before them they shall be determined Carta de Forest cap. 16. 17 Concerning trespassers in parkes and pondes it is not yet discussed for the Lords demaunded the proper imprisonment of such as they should take in their parks and ponds which the king denyed Wherefore it was deferred Merton cap. 11. Anno. 20. H. 3. 18 It is prouided also for trespassers in parkes and pondes that if any be thereof attainted at the suit of the partie great and large amendes shal be awarded according to the
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
séeme that one principall cause of the making of this Law was that for as much as K. Henry the Second graund father to King Edward the First had afforested the Lands and Woodes of diuers persons which were not the Kings owne demeasne Woods as it doth appeare by the first Article of this Statute and all those are there appoynted to be dissaforested againe and so to be put cleane out of the Forest Nowe this Seconde branche or Article is as it were an especiall prouision thiefly for them that then were dwellers in those places which some times were within the Forest and yet by this Statute put out of the Forest that they being out of the boundes of the Forest should not be compelled to come before the Iustices of the Forest at their generall Sessions by this generall Summons as they were wont to do vnlesse that they be Pledges for same other person that is an offender or that they be there impleaded for any plee of the Forest or that they be attached by any Minister of the Forest to appeare before the Iustices for the same offence of the Forest And it is to be vnderstood that this branch of the Statute is deuided into two partes that is to saye concerning those that do dwell without the Forest and those that do dwell within the Forest for in some cases those that do dwell out of the Forest ought to appeare before the Iustices of the Forest by reason of the generall Summons notwithstanding the wordes of the Statute aforesaid And againe in some cases they that do dwell within the Forest shall not be compelled to appeare before the Iustices of the Forest by the generall Summons notwithstanding the words of the Statute aforesaid And in some cases they shall appeare by other Proces than by generall or common Summons And as concerning the first deuision which is of those that do dwell out of the Forest and yet they are compellable to come before the Iustice of the Forest by this generall or comon Sommons notwithstandind the words of the Statut aforesaid It is to be vnderstood that if any person which do dwell out of the Forest haue any libertie or franchises within the forest for the which he is to put in a Claime before the Iustices of the Forest then such a Forrener or dweller out of the Forest must of necessitie appeare before the Iustices of the Forest must of necessitie appeare before the Iustices of the Forest by this generall or comon Sommons there to preferre his Claime for the same liberty or priuiledge at the first daie of the Sessions of the Forest notwithstanding the wordes of the saide Statute or otherwise his Claime shal be seysed into the handes of the King for non Clamer of the same Non clamer is cause of seisure And in like manner it is if one that doth dwell out of the Forest haue a profit aprender out of any land within the forest or any office within the Forest or any other Priuiledge or liberty then he must of necessitie appeare before the Iustices of the Forest at the first daie of the Sessions there put in his Claime for the same and so he is bound to take notice of this comon or generall Sommons and thereby to appeare although that he doth dwell out of the Forest not withstanding the wordes of the Statute aforesaide or else the same office priuiledge or libertie shall be seysed into the handes of the King for non Clamer of the same So it is if a man haue two houses the one of them within the Forest and the other of them is out of the Forest and the owner of them is resiant and dwelling some times at the one and some times at the other so that he is peraduenture resiant and dwelling out of the Forest at the time of the Sommons of the Sessions of the Forest yet notwithstanding such an owner ought to appeare before the Iustices of the Forest by this common Sommons Master Heskēt in his reading fo 7. notwithstanding the words of the Statut aforesaid as it appereth by Master Hesket in his learned reading of the Lawes of the Forest And now as to the Second deuision of the saide Statute concerning those that doe dwell within the Forest and yet they shall not be compelled to appeare before the Iustices of the Forest vpon the comon Sommos aforesaid It is to be vnderstood that all manner of persons dwelling within the Forest and being vnder the age of 12. yeares although that they be inheritors of landes within the Forest yet they are not compelled to appeare before the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyer of the Forest at the generall Sessions by reason of this comon Summons aforesaide And in like manner all manner of persons that are dwelling within the Forest being either Lame Sickly or else blinde they are not to be forced to appeare before the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyer of the Forest by this comon Sommons aforesaide Vide the Statute of Marlebridge An. 52. H. 3. ca 24. And all manner of persons that are of the age of 70. yeares and vpwardes they are not to be forced to appeare before the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyer of the Forest by this generall Sommons although that they do dwel within the Forest notwithstanding the wordes of the Statute aforesaide for they are prouided for by the Statute of West the Second Cap. 38. Vide the Statute of 13. E. 1 ca. 37 If any man that is dwelling within the Forest and the same person is imployed in the seruice of the King in some other place so that he could not by reason thereof appeare before the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyer of the Forest he may haue his writ called Warrantia diei for to excuse his apparance before the Iustice of the Forest If any Archebishop or Bishop haue lands within the Forest the said Archebishop or Bishop him selfe in his owne proper persone shal not be forced to appeare before the Lord Iustice in Eyer by reason of the general or comon Sommons Heskēt fo 8 and yet note the wordes of generall Sommons are these Precipio quod Sūmoneas per bonos Sūmonator ' omnes Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores Comites Barones Milites et eorum liberi tenentes qui terram aut tenementa habent infra metas Forestae domine Regis c. But all spirituall persons are exempted to be compelled to be put in Iuries by the Statut of Marlebridge ca. 24. But yet their Frée tennants shal apeare by reason of this general Sommons An. 52. H. 3 ca. 24 if they do dwell within the Forest or else they shal be amerrid Also all Earles and Barrons which haue landes within the forest and they do dwell out of the Forest they themselues shal not be compelled to be before the Lord Iustice in Eyer of the Forest by this generall Summons Treherne in his reading page
c. et que le keepers ont garde le deere et le boys per idem tempus Et que del second iour de Iulii tanque le xiiii iour de mesme le mois 22. sauages fueront tues per persons disconus in negligence le pleintife Et hoc c. Yong Per negligence del officer lannuitie et loffice est extinct Et per Choke Iustice si Seneschall ne tient les courts ou ne eux tient pur le profit del seignior cest forfeiture de son office Newton Iustice Parker nē tenus de gard le parke chescun iour ne demaine iour ne festiuall iours mes serra al deuine seruice ne in le nuit ne degarder ceo contra vi ou viii hōes car vltra posse Et garden de prison que permit wilfull escape cest est forfeiture de son office mes escape in le nuite nest que negligence del officer quere inde Arderne plus est in le plee que ne besoigne s adire que les keepers ont garde le deere le boys in le parke Car ceo est intend en le ley Et tenetur quod neglexit custodire nest bon issue Car neglexit est adinier Yong il non custodiuit parcum per 12 dies vt supra Danby cest est le meliour pleading Et nota que est communiment dit quod quel ley est de Parker mesme le ley est de forester del vn forest Et in Anno quinto Edwardi quarti fol. 5. Anno 5. E 4. fo 5. Br. forfecture 55. Le case fuit aiudge que si Parker ne gard le parke tali die per que le deere sont occise per persons disconus ceo est forfeiture de son office pur ceo fuit le negligence del keeper del parke Et semble mesme le ley del forester del forest car il ad mesme le charge del dames come parker ad in son parke Et in Anno 11. H. 4. fol. 1. fuit tenus per Vauisour An. 11. E 4. fo 1. Br. forfecture 61. non attendance sur office per lofficer est forfeiture Et idem de fesans contrarie a son office Et idem de misfesans de son office que il ne fait droit al parties Et idem sil foit demaund pur vener de faire son office et ne vient et vide tiel matter 20. E 4. fol. 6. 20. E. 4. fo 6. Br. Forfecture 115. que officer que ne voit vener a faire son office forfeitera son office The Lord chiefe Iustice of the Forest hath an absolute authoritie appointed vnto him to determine of offences that are committed and done within the Queene Maiesties Forestes either in Vert or Venison And the same offences are to be determined before him and not before any other Iustices except those that are appointed by her Maiesties Commission vnder the great Seale of England to aide and assist the said Lord chiefe Iustice in that place as it doth appeare by the Statute of Carta de Foresta Cap. 16. in these wordes as followeth Charta de Foresta ca. 16. NVllus Constabularius Castellanus vel balliuus teneat placita de Foresta siue de viridi siue de venatione sed quilibet forestarius de feodo Attachiat placita de foresta tam de viridi quam de venatione et ea presentet viridarijs prouinciarū et cum irotulata fuerint et sub sigillis viridariorum inclusa presententur capitalibus Iusticiarijs nostris de foresta cum in partes illas venerint ad tenendum placita de foresta coram eis terminentur Has autem libertates de forestis concessimus omnibus c. By which words of the statute coram eis terminentur doth exclude any other Iustices to heare and determine the said offences of the Forestes but onely the Lord chiefe Iustice of the Forest and those that are in Commission appointed with him to aid and assist him For the statute is in the negatiue of the common Lawe and doth restraine all other Iustices and saith coram eis terminentur and in that sence the Statute is taken by the learned Iudges of the common Lawe For in Anno. 21. H. 7. fo 22. the case was such Anno. 21. H. 7. fo 22. nota 8. En trespas de malefactoribus in parcis et Count que le defendant intrauit in quandam Forestam et loppinion del court fuit que cest accion ne gist mye si non sit pur mis-fesans in parcis Car le statute de West 1. cap. 20. est cantsolement en Parkes et ceo serra pris stricte Issint le punishment que est done pur male fesans in forestes est punishable per lestatute de Charta de Foresta et nemy en auter maner c. By which case there are two things to be noted that is to saye First that the statute de malefactoribus in parcis doth not extende to a Forest Stat. Westm 1 cap. 20. de malefactor ' in Parcis for that a Forest and a Parke are two distinct things at the common lawe and therefore that statute that was made to reforme iniuries done in the one doth not extend to any hurtes done in the other The second is that by the said case it doth appeare Charta de Foresta ca. 16. that by the construction of the statute of Charta de Foresta made for offenders in the Forests they are to be punished according to the same statute and not in any other manner as it doth there more plainly appeare And in Anno. 21. H. 7. fol. 30. nota 7. 21. H. 7. fo 30. nota 7. the case was as followeth Endictment de occiser de vn Hart proclame troue deuaunt Iustices de peace et lenditement fuit challenge pur ceo que il ne monstre en lendictment en quel lieu le proclamation fuit fait Et auxi il ne monstre en quel lieu il fuit occise car si fuit occise hors del boundes del forest il est loyal a luy de luy occiser fuit dit per seigniour Fineux que il puit pleder cest matter al iurisdiction del court pur ceo que les Iustices del forest determiner cest matter c. By which case there are sixe things especially to be noted 1 First that euery Indictment against any offendor for offences done in the forest must be certaine concerning the thing it selfe for which the offendor is Indited as to shew that it was for killing of a Hart and also to shew where he was proclaimed a Hart. 2 Secondly that it must be certaine concerning the place where the offence was done for that the killing of the Hart within the forest or without the forest doth make the same killing an offence or no offence therefore it must be shewed in the Indictement certaine Et vide le case 12
ley destre que le prescription esteant proue voyer quel F. denia nient obstant le vnite de possession del Chase et maner de S. in la Roigne et nient obstant le graunt del Roygne mesme et sa confirmation del garren oue les generall parols de prohibition auaundits queux extend tantum a le Subiect Le libertie del Purlieu remeina vnextincted donques le tuer supra nient iustifiable per le statute de Malefactoribus in Parcis Warrennis c. Graunt dol herbage del parke Hillar 6. 7. E. 6. Dier fo 80. nota 59 An. 6. Ed. 6. fo 80. The case was as followeth Item le herbage Agistement et Panage de Stowe Parke est graunt et il surcharge le Parke oue ses auers Issint que les dames nont pasture Quere quel remedie pur le graunter pur ceo que il ne reserue ascun pasture pur le game Item le office del parkership del dit Parke fuit graunt oue vn fee de 3. li. de les rents Anno 6. E. 6. fo 80. nota 90 ibidem issues et profits del mannor de Stowe per les mines del receauer del dit mannor Quere si cest graunt doit charger le mannor c. et semble al seigniour Mountagewe maister Halles Iustice que cy Et postea concord ' et dominus Willowby dedit 600. li. pro omnibus dimissis concessis In Anno. 33. H. 8. Report per mon seigniour Dier It is there holden that if a man do hunt in Forest Parke or Chase 33. H. 8. Dier fo 50 〈◊〉 so that the same is felonie by the Statute yet the partie may make it trespas or felonie at his pleasure whether he will saith he and so these collections notes I haue gathered out of the Reportes of Sir Iames Dier knight late chiefe Iustice of the Court of Comon plees which notes if you list to search the booke for them you may see in the Margent of euery seuerall case the folio and note in the which the same matter is contained and because that they are necessarie matters for the knowledge of Forest Lawes I haue added them vnto this Treatise Concerning the cutting downe of Woods in the Forest M. 9. 10. Elizabeth in les Comentaries fo 332. b. per Wray chiefe Iustice ANno 9. 10. Elizabeth I do finde one verie especial case concerning the felling of woods within the Forest of Waltham and the case is as followeth in these words Wray dit que si Mannor que est deins vn Forest del Roy Come del Waltham Escheat al Roy et le Roy done ceo Mannor a vn auter in Fee il nad in le done del manner done a luy le libertie que il auoit en le maner touchant le Forest Car Ialemains il est deins le Forest et subiect al pasture de dames et feres del forest Note that a man can not fell his wood in his owne ground without licence et il ne poit scier son boyes la deins sans licence del Iustice del Forest Car ceo est chose collaterall al soyle Et issint en le done del soyle chose collateral al soyle come sont choses de Prerogatiue ou libertie ne passeront point By which case you may note that no man can haue any mannors or lands within the Forest but they must be subiect to the Lawes and bondage of the Forest that is that the King in respect of the wilde beastes that are there to be maintained for his princely pleasure and delight which cannot be there kept and preserued without Couert and secrete places for them to rest and abyde in hath such a prerogatiue ouer the woods of euery man within the same Forest that no man may fell or destroye his owne woods without licence of the Iustice of the Forest Consuetudines assisa foresta fo 29. and so it doth also appeare by the statute called Consuetudines assisa Foresta cap. 6. in these wordes Liberatio autem housebote haybote fiat pro vt boscus pati potest in statu quo est non ad exigentiam petentis nec potest aliquid dare nec vendere de bosco sine warranto domini Regis which in English is thus 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 or sell anything of the wood without the kings warrant by which lawe it doth appeare that a man may not take housebote nor haybote but by deliuerie of the Forester or warrant of the King And by the Statute of Anno primo of Edward the third ca. 2 It is plaine that no wan in the Forest may take or cut down any wood without the view of the Foresters Anno. 1 E. 3. cap. 2. Vide Pulron in his Abridgement in titulo Woods 23 or licence of the Iustice of the Forest although it be in his owne ground for the wordes are these Euery man that hath woods within Forests may take the saide wood without being attached by any officer of the Forest so that he do it by the viewe of the Foresters then Ergo without the view of the Foresters he cannot do it And so to conclude it seemeth that no man can cut downe any woods within the Forest without the view of the Foresters or licence of the Iustice of the Forest Et nota icy sont diuers prescriprions que soint bone enconter le Roy et quel prescriptions home poit bien prescriber in Forests del Roy incounter luy come icy ensuit HOme poit prescriber que il et touts ceux que estate il ad en le manner de D. ount ewe parke in mesme le maner come append c. et bon Itinere North. 3. Ed. 3. Itinere North. An. 3. E. 3. Br. Prescription 57 Br. Tit. Prescription 57 et issint note que home poit auer vn Parke per Prescription appendant al son manner Et in An. 5. E. 4. dictum fuit pro lege 5. E. 4. fo 118. Br. Prescriptiō 64 que home poit prescriber destre discharge de Corodie et idem in Leete ou dauer park mes Econtra in bonis cattallis felone ou incognitione placit ' Car le Roy mesme ne poit ceo auer nisi per matter de record et ideo comon person ne poit estre de meliour condicion Et in An. 11. H. 6. En vn accion de Trespas An. 11. H. 6. fo 2. Br. Prescription 95. le defendant prescribe in luy et son auncester et en eux que estate il ad in tiel meas terre in D. desse garden del bois de D. preignant Annuatim de chescun communer la xii d. et le pl. ple de graunt a
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
sit virid ' so that if an offender haue bene taken with the manner offending in Vert in the Forest Verte and haue bene deliuered by two pledges for that offence and likewise for the second time offending by foure pledges and afterwardes for offending againe the third time haue bene deliuered by 8. pledges according to the saide article then if he he taken with the manner doing of a trespasse in the forest in Vert the fourth time his body shal be detained in Prison according to the said assises of the forest Scilt ' postea post tertium Attachiament ' corpus debet attachiare et retinere c. And then he that is so attached by the body imprisoned he shall not be deliuered out af Prison Who may bayle an offeÌ„der Imprisoned in this case or be bayled without the kinges especiall warrant for that purpose or that he be bailed or deliuered out of Prison by the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest or by the chiefe warden of the Forest for otherwise he that is so imprisoned as is aforesaid no officer of the forest may deliuer him out or to mainprise 2. Degree assisa Forestae Articulo 4. THe second degrée of such offenders as are to be attached by the bodie only is specified in the saide assises and customes of the forest Art ' 4. in these words Si quis inuentus fuerit in dominico domini Regis assertando vel purpresturam faciendo corpus debet protinus retinere so that if any man be found or taken with the manner Vert. making of purpresture in the demeasne woodes of the king his bodie shal be foorth with taken and after that he is so attached by the bodie he shall be detained in Prison for the same offence and then he shall not be deliuered out of Prison or bailed without the kings especial warrant Who may baile an offender in this case or by the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the forest or by the chiefe Warden of the forest for in this case no other person can deliuer him by bayle or otherwise 3. Degree THe third degrée of such offenders is also declared in the saide assises of the forest in the fourth article in these wordes Si autem extra dominicum infra rewardum debet poni per sex plegios et si alias inueniatur debet duplicare eius plegios Vette si tertio corpus debet retinere so that if a man he found in the Forest asserting or making of Purpresture out of the kings demeasne Woodes For the first offence be is to be deliuered by sixe pledges And if he be found offeÌ„ding so again the second time Who shall baile an offender in this case then he shall double his pledges But if he be found so offending againe the third time then he shall be attached by his bodie and shal be detained in prison and shall not be deliuered or bailed out of prison but as is beforesaid and not otherwise THe fourth degrée of offenders in the Forest in this case 4 Degree Assisa Forestae Articulo 5. is expressed declared in Assisa Consuetudines Forestae articulo the first in these wordes Si quis attachiabilis fuerit contra vadios et plegios debet distringi per cattalla sua infra metas Forestae inuenta si autem defecerint corpus eius detineatur quosque fecerit quod debuerit In this case Vert. if any person that hath bin an offender in the Forest in Vert and being therefore bound to the good behauiour of the Forest and afterwards the said offender committing the like offenee in the forest againe and being taken with the manner and hauing no Cattell in the Forest that may be attached by for the same offence then his bodie is to be attached and to be detained in prison vntill that he haue done that which by the Lawe he ought to doe Who may baile an offender in this case And such an offender is called contra vad'et plegios because he doth now offend contrary to his pledges suerties such an offender shal not be deliuered out of prison by meanes or by any other person then is aforesaid THe fift degrée of offenders in this case is for Veuison 5. Degree Assisa Forestae Artic. 10. 11 which is declared in Assisa et Consuetudines Forestae Articulo 10. in these wordes Si quis ceperit feram sine Warranto in Foresta corpus suum arestetur vbicunque inueniatur infra metas Forestae et quando captus fuerit non deliberetur sine speciali precepto domini Regis vel capitali Iusticiar ' Forestarum suarum and againe in the same assises in the 11. Venison Article in these wordes Si quis viderit aliquos malefactores infra metas Forestae aliquam feram capere vel asportare debet illos capere secundum posse suum et si non possit debet leuare hutesium Crie c. Note the word is â—â—â—a a wild beast In which cases if any offender be taken with the maner killing of a Déere in the Forest or carying of the same away without a good warrant so to do then such an offender in this case is to be attached by his body and to be imprisoned and there to be detained vntill such time as he bee deliuered out of Prison by the kings especiall commaundement Who may baile an offender in this case or the commaundement of the Lord chife Iustice in Eyre of the Forest or by the chiefe Warden of the Forest for no other person may deliuer him or let him to mainprise 6. Degree Anno. 1. E. 3. cap. 8. THe 6. degrée of such affenders in the Forest as are to be attached by the bodie only without pledges or mainprise is set downe and declared in the Statute of Anno 1. E. 3 cap. 8. and this is either in Vert or Venison in these wordes It is agréed and ordained that from hencefoorth no man shal be taken nor Imprisoned for Vert nor Venison vnlesse he be taken with the manner or else indicted after the forme specified and declared in the same Statute So that it doth apeare plainly by the very words of the same Statute Vert Venison Vide the Statute Anno. 1. E. 3. ca. 8. that if an offender in the Forest either in Vert or Venison be indicted after the same forme and manner mentioned and declared in the said Statute and before such officers as is there appoynted that then if such an offender be attached by the Forester or by the Shirif by his bodie as he by the Lawe ought to be hauing a warrant for that purpose from the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest to attache suche an offender or from the cheife Warden of the Forest or his Lyeutenant then his bodie is to be retained stil in prison and then he shal not be mainprised nor let to bayle by
any person vnlesse it be by the speciall commaundement of the king or by the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest or by the chiefe Warden of the Forest And in the very like manner it is where an offender in the Forest is outlawed for the same offence and his bodie is attached by the Shirife by Capias vtlagatum And this you doe sée that there be sixe degrées of offenders that are to be attached by the body only without pledges or mainprise And note this for a speciall learning that in euery case where the offender is to be attached by the body onely without Pledges or mainprise Where the offender is to be attached by the bodie only without Pledges or Mainprise there the Verderors nor Foresters may not bayle the offender 1. E. 3. cap. 8. as in the foresaide sixe degrées there such an offender is not to be bailed by the Verderors nor by the Foresters nor by any other minister or officer of the Fofest vnlesse the same be by the Kings speciall commaundement or by the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest or by the chiefe Warden of the Forest Sée the wordes of the saide Statute and note them well for they are as followeth vz No man shal be taken nor imprisoned for Vert nor Venison vnlesse he be taken with the maner or else indicted after the forme before specified and then the chiefe Warden of the Forest shall let him to mainprise till the Eyre of the Forest without any thing taking for his deliuerance And if the chief Warden wil not so do he shal haue a writ out of the Chauncery which hath ben in old time ordained for such persons endicted to be at mainprise til the Eyre And if such a chief Warden after that he hath receiued the writ doe not incontently deliuer such persons endicted to mainprise without taking any thing then the plaintife shall haue a writ out of the Chauncery to the Shirif to attache the said Warden to be before the king at a certaine daie to answer wherefore he hath not repleuied him that is so taken and the Shirife the Verderors being called to him 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 aunswere in the Eyre of the Iustices And if the chiefe Warden be thereof attainted the plaintife shall recouer his treble damages and the saide Warden to be committed to prison and raunsomed at the kings will And from hencefoorth it shal be written to them as to the chief Wardens of the Forest Because they may not be Iustices nor haue any record but here in this case the Shirife doth let him to mainprise by the kings commaundement that is to saie by the kings writ for otherwise the Shirife might not so do And the Verderors in this case are but assistantes to the Shirife for they doe not ioyne in authoritie with the Shirife in letting of him to mainprise for they haue no such commission rō authoritie for the writ is directed to the Shirife only and not to the Shirife and Verderors but it is contained in the same writ that the Shirife shall let him to mainprise in presentia viridariorum because that the Verderors being Iudges of record the names of the mainpernors be deliuered vnto them And this much concerning attachments and the repleuing of persons that are attached How men that are baylable shal be baied and by whome Now it is to be séene how this band by Pledges shal be taken and by whome And therefore first of all it is to be noted that in all cases where any offender is to be attached by his goods and cattals which is the first manner of attachements or els to be attached by his bodie by Pledges and mainprise which is the second manner of attachement The most méetest Officers to take bonde of such offenders in the cases aforesaide in the which they are by the Law to be bayled are the Verderors and that for two causes The first is that for as much as the saide Verderors are Iudges of Record and haue the keeping of the rolles for matters of the Forest vntil the comming of the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest therefore if the Foresters do take any offender with the maner offending in Vert in the Forest they are to attache him by the body and to bring him before the Verderors and then they may take a Recognizance of the offender and his Pledges to answere the same offence in the Eyre of the Iustice of the Forest because they are Iudges of Recorde and therefore they may take a Recognizance in this case and so may not the Foresters do for they are no Iudges of Recorde but accusers of offenders presenters of offences done by others in the Forest before the saide Verderors The second cause is for that that the saide Verderors are men that of necessitie must be learned and well practised in the knowledge of the Lawes of the Forest and such offenders must be bayled and Mainprised according to the qualitie degree of their offence in some cases by two Pledges and in other some cases by foure sixe or eight Pledges And in some other cases the offender is not to be bayled at all by the said Verderors or Foresters as it hath beene already shewed before nor yet by any other person but onely by the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest or by the chiefe Warden of the Forest And then if the Foresters or other Officers of the Forest that are ignorant of the Lawes of the Forest should take vpon them to bayle such offenders no doubt but great inconueniences would ensewe thereby aswell vnto the King as also to the offenders themselues And therefore such offenders are most meetest to be bayled by the foresaid Verderors to the ende that the saide Verderors may bayle them according to the verie Lawes of the Forest And for that cause the Lawe hath prouided and appointed a Stewarde that must be learned in those Lawes to ioyne with them and to direct them in their proceeding according to the same Law And when such offenders are Bayled before the said Verderors then the same Verderors are to keepe the same Recongnizance for the Kings vse vntill the comming of the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest and also to cause the Forester to present the same offence in the same nature as it was done and then such presentments to be entred in the Rolles of the Verderors accordingly Whereas if the Foresters when they haue arrested such an offender might Bayle such offenders themselues at their owne wil pleasures without the Verderors there might be great parcialitie vsed therein and many grieuous trespasses concealed from the King and neuer any presentment made thereof before the Verderors at the Court of Attachements or at the Swanimoce Court Obligations taken to the
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
holders that ought to apeare before the Iustice in Eyre of the Forest and that they shal be before the same Lord Iustice in Eyre at Windsor on Monday next after the Feast of S. Peter the Apostle or at such day as the Lord Iustice in Eyre shall appoint in the same warrant for to sit and holde plees of the Forest And furthermore to commaund the same Shirife that throughout all the whole libertie of the same Shire aswell in all the auncient Boroughes and other townes as also in all Faires Markets and other publike places that he shall openly proclaime or cause to be proclaimed that al maner of persons whatsoeuer they be which claime to haue by the Charter or Charters of our Soueraigne Lord the King or of any of his auncestours or progeuitours or by any other wayes or meanes any liberties or fraunchises or free customes of the Forest within the saide Forest of Windsor that they shal be before the Lord Iustice in Eyre or his deputie at the day and place mentioned in the same Warrant to shewe what liberties they do claime to haue in the same Forest And that all manner of persons that are attached for Verte and Venison within the Forest aforesaide after the last plee of the Forest holden before the Lord Iustice in Eyre and also that all Pledges and Manucaptors which haue day by their Manucaption before the Iustice of the Forest of our Soueraigne Lord the King at his next comming into the Forest to holde his Iustice Seate that they be before the said Lord Iustice in Eyre at such a day as is mentioned in the said Warrant to the same Shirife readie to fulfil and do those things which by the Lawes of the Forest they ought And that the same Shirife with his Bailifes be there also to certifie the said Lord Iustice in Eyre of the premisses and also to execute the office of a Shirife in these and such like matters concerning the same And it is to be noted that the Lord Iustice in Eyre must alwayes by their precept as aforesaide giue day by the same precept of Sommons so that all men that are to be sommoned by it may haue fourtie dayes warning at the least of the same Iustice Seat by the Shirifes Proclamation And when the Lord Iustice in Eyre is come to the place appointed according to the Proclamation and that he is set in his iudiciall Seate and those that are in commission with him then after the Commission is read and the officers of the Forest called then the Freeholders of the same Forest shal be called also and all others that were warned to appeare there at that day and then out of those freeholders and others there is chosen a most substantiall Iury of xxiiii or xx or xviii of the discreetest men And they shal be sworne that they shall truely inquire and true presentment make of all such matters as shal be giuen them in charge And then to the intent that the Kings most excellent Maiestie may the better be certified what offences haue beene done in the Forest in any degree since the last Seate of the Iustice and also how those offenders haue bin prosecuted fauoured or punished by the officers of the Forest whome the King doth trust in that behalfe and that the King may likewise know what officers of the forest haue wel dutifully discharged their office as they ought to do The Lord Iustice in Eyre or some man learned in the Lawes of the forest by his apointment shal giue vnto the fame Iury a charge which charge in effect doth comprehend briefely he whole scope of the Lawes of the Forest which is as followeth The Charge of the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest that he doth giue at the Iustice Seate FIrst yée shall inquire of all attachementes made since the last Sessions as well of Vert as of Venison and aswell in the Demesne Woodes of our Soueraigne Ladie the Quéene as in any other place within the boundes of the Forest by whome such attachementes were made and how they were made and whether there hath bin any hunting within the boundes aforesaid and if any such hath ben then by what person it hath so â—en and who hath béene consenting or agréeing to the same that is to saye the Foresters or any other and what they haue beene that haue hunted with warrant who without and how often when and where the same was 2 Ye shall also inquire where there hath béene any attachement made by night and who they were that hath béene so attached and by whome they were attached 3 In like manner you shall inquire what attachementes hath bin made in Fence time aswel of those persons that haue offended as of others suspected and of all others found in the Forest serching and going after a suspected maner 4 You shal further inquire if there haue bin any asserts wastes or Purprestures newly made since the last Sessions or before not presented other then such as hath beene made by grauntes or licence of the Quéenes Maiestie or any of her progenitors and within whose Fee the same hath beene or is so made that is to saie in the Kings demesne landes or in the landes of any other and who hath so made them or any of them and who doth nowe holde the same and how they be inclosed and how much the same doth containe by the number of Acres 5 Item you shall inquire if there be any person or persons that hath or haue inclosed any quantitie of ground what soeuer it bâ— adioyning or bordering vpon the Forest and thereby inlargeth his or their own ground in setting out of their hedge or hedges ditche or ditches and so streighteneth the Queenes Forest yee shall present his or their names and the quantitie of the grounde so inlarged 6 Ye shal further inquire if any person or persons hath or haue raised vp or taken away any marke or bounde of the Forest if any hath so done ye shall present his or their name or names and the daie and time when it was done 7 Yee shall further inquire of the bandes and limites of all Bailiwikes within the Forest and how and after what manner they be bounded and how euerie of the saide Bailifes and Fosters haue vsed to keepe and walke and what they and euerie of them do claim to apertaine to his or their office or offices and what they do take by reason thereof and by what warrant the same is done 8 Item if any person or persons hath or haue made any Myne Delphe or Coale stane Claye Marle turfe Iron or any other Myne you shall present his or their name or names and the place where the same is so done 9 Also you shall inquire whether any Tanner or White tawer doth dwell within the precinct of the Forest and do vse their faculties there yea or no. 10 If any persoÌ„ or persoÌ„s haue newly builded or made any
shall do vs to weete 68 And further you shall enquire if there hath any person come into the forest felled and cut downe any great Okes of the Kings and carried them away by night or by day Of the price of the horses and Carte and of the saide trees carried ye shall do vs to weete 69 Also ye shall enquire if any person or persons hath or haue come into the Forest and cut downe any small wood or vnderwood as Sparres Blete Thornes or watling roddes and carried the same away vnattached yee shall do vs to weete of his name and of the price c. 70 Item if the Forester of the Forest his Lieutenant or any Foster browseth any Mast bowes Browsewood or great Okes in Winter time more for his owne aduauntage for to sell than for the sustenance of the Queenes Deare do vs to weete and the name and price 71 Item if takers of wood by the Queenes licence or grant whether they did not exceede their graunt and authoritie you shal do vs to weete And by whose assent and how much and what person hath done so 72 Item if any man haue any warrant to haue certein trees if he hath taken more than his warrant or if he hath taken the saide trees without view of the Verderors or Fosters ye shal do vs to weete c. 73 Item if any warrant were graunted for any Okes to the Queenes vse if any man take them to his owne vse or otherwise bestow them or sell them of the prise yee shall do vs to weete c. 74 If any commissions were directed to any Woodseller for a certaine number of great Wood or vnder-Wood or both if the Woodsellers haue well made their hedges of the coppies for the sauing of the Queenes couert And if they haue concealed any of the profite on their accompt that the Queene ought to haue And if they haue enclosed any Moores great plaines or wastes to the hurt of the commoners or put in cattell to the hurt of the springs yee shall do vs to weete 75 Also what Okes or other wood the said Foresters haue giuen solde or taken or vndermyned or otherwise impaired to which the officers hath consented or otherwise c. Le quantitie et le value de tiel boise c. 76 Ye shall further enquire who hath made any spoyle or waste in the Forest of Vert in the Queenes demesne Woods And also in the woods of other persons within the saide Forest And what and how much euerie of the saide Foresters hath giuen solde or hath suffered to be giuen or hath taken to their own proper vse of the woods within their Bailiwikes And if for the fauour of any maner of person that is to saye of Noble men or meane men the saide officers hath suffered them or any of them to make spoyle or waste of their woods within the saide Forest what and how much spoyle it is And if they or any of them by meanes thereof haue taken anything of them what and howmuch it is c. 77 Further ye shall enquire how much vesture and couering all and singular woods and shadowing of the same now being asserted were worth before they were so asserted Assartes aswel of the Queenes demesnes as of other mens groundes and who hath receiued the profits thereof and how much the Corne is worth of all and singular the saide asserts which be nowe sowen c. 78 If any person or persons doth walke in the Forest out of the Queenes high way with Bowe and Arrowes other than the Reepers or officers appertaining to the Forest contrarie to the Assise of the same yee shall present his or their name or names 79 Further ye shall enquire if the Forester or Foresters of the saide Forest hath and haue early euery morning walked within his walke and limits and so diligently vsed their dueties at other times of the day looking to the Queenes Deare and other beastes of chase in watching and harkening what offenders shall come into the said Forest yea or no. 80 If any man haue stopped or streightned any Church-way Milne-way or other wayes within the Forest and Purlew you shall present his name Acōrnes and Crabbes 81 If any person or persons gather any Acornes Crabbes or any other Mast and maketh sale of them in the Market or else where to the hurte of the Quéenes Deare and commoners there you shall present the same 82 Item Purlew if any person hath made any Copes or Closure in the Purlew estraigntning the Quéenes Deare from the Forest to the hurte of the owners or pounded the beastes of any cōmoners out of the shire and not put them in open poundes whether it be in Pawnage time or not do vs to wéete 83 Item whether all such Rentes seruices and other duties which ought to be paied and done to the Queene or her Foresters haue beene duly and truly aunswered and done yea or no. 84 And finally if there be any person or persons which hath impleded or sued any Plee which dothe appertaine to our Soueraigne Lady the Queene And which is within the iurisdiction of the Iustice of the Forest and before him to be determined Or if there be any persone that hath taken any fine or raunsome for taking or killing any Hares and for hauing and keeping of any vnprofitable dogs in the said Forest contrarie to the assise of the same or for any other trespasse which appertained to the Queenes Maiestie to haue reformation for you shal present the same likewise Thus endeth the Charge of the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest BEfore that I doe begin to speake or write any thing concerning a Forest it is necessarie first of all to sée what thing a Forest is in his owne proper nature I haue read and séene many definitions of a Forest and yet not any that is a perfect definition of the same Definitio Nominis Some do make this definition of a Forest vz Foresta id est Ferarum Statio this is but definitio nominis non rei it is but an exposition of the worde forest and not a perfect definition of the nature of the very thing in deede Othersome do saie that Foresta est tuta mantio Ferarum and this is no more but an exposition of the worde Forest nether Forest as if a man should say An vnperfecte definition of a Forest that a forest is a safe abiding place of the wild beastes to restin Some do make this definition of a forest vz a forest is a teritory of grounde meered and bounded with vnremoueable markes méeres and boundaries ether knowen by matter of recorde or else by prescription This is no perfect definition of a Forest neitheir because it doth not concist Ex genere vera differentia for by this definition Westminster Hall may be a Forest Westminster Hall a Forest for that the same is a Territorie of ground
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
the Kinges most honorable priuie Counsell The authoritie of the Lord Iustice in Eyre And then when that any such noble person is made Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest by the Kinges especiall Commission hee hath by that as great authoritie as any other Iustice in Oyer hath and more For then he may punish all trespasses of the Forestes according to the Lawes of the Forest A man may prescribe to haue waife straye but not felons goods And he may heare and determine all the Clames of the liberties and franchises which be within the Forest as to haue Parkes Warrens and Viuaries And also of them which do Clame to be quite of assartes and Purprestures of them which do Clame Leetes hundreds felons goods waifes and fugitiues and other liberties within the Forest and likewise of them which do Clame to keepe Hares and other beastes of the Chase within the Forest For by lawfull and good Clames men may iustifie the doing of many things within the forest which otherwise were vnlawfull But those Clames must be such Clames as I haue shewed before that haue beene allowed before the Iustice in Eyre within the time of Prescription The diuersitie betweene the Iustice of the Forest and Iustices in Oyer at large and other Iustices is that the Iustice of the Forest shall punish those that be indicted at the Swanimote and presented before them in their Sessions by fine and imprisonment at their discretion and the partie indicted shall not trauerse it because he is presented by more persons than by twelue and that is a condemnation against him But the Iustices in Oyer and other Iustices of the peace if they do determine such Trespasses done in Forestes which by the Lawe they cannot do which is presented before them by waye of indictment then the parties so indicted shall haue their trauerse allowed them which they shall not haue of the Enditement taken in the Swanimote and tryed before the Iustice of the Forest Those which be Iustices of the Forest when they haue their Commission from the King The warrant of the Lorde Iustice in Eyre to warne the Sessions of the Forest for the keeping and holding of the Iustice Seate there they shall make their warrant and Precept to the Shirife of the Shire within the which the same Forest is where the Iustice Seate shal be holden which saide Precept is in these wordes Thomas Louell nobilis ordinis garterij Miles Iusticiarius Itinerans omnium Forestarum Domini Regis in Anglia tam citra Trent quam vltra Vic' Essex salutem ex parte dicti Domini Regis tibi precipio quod summoneas per bonos summonator ' omnes Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates De qualibet villa villata quatuor homines propositus duodecem probos legales homines Priores Comites Barones Milites eorū liberi tenentes qui terr' aut tenementa habent infra metas Forestae domini Regis de Waltham in Com' Essex de qualibet villa villata infra easdē metas quatuor homines propositus de quolibet Burgo infra metas eiusdem forestae duodecem probos legales homines omnes alios qui coram Iusticiar ' placita Forestae ten ' venire solent debent quod sint apud Waltham die Lunae prox ' post festum Sancti Petri apostoli prox ' futur ' coram me praefato Iusticiario Itineranto vel meo in hac parte deputato audituri factur ' ea quae ad placit ' Forestae ibidem pertenent Et vlterius tibi precipio quod totam balliuam tuam videlicet tam in Burgis alijs villis quam in Ferijs The generall Sessions of the Forest proclaimed Mercatis alijs locis publicis publice proclamare facias Quod omnes illi quicunque qui per Cartas dicti Domini Regis antecessoris seu progenitor ' aut alio modo aliquas libertates Franchesias aut liberas Consuetud Forestae infra dictum forestam habere clament sint coram me praefat Iusticiar aut meo in hac parte deputato die loco praedictis ostensuri quas libertates habere clament Et omnes attachiati pro virid venatione infra forestam praedictam post vltimam placit forestae tenent ac eorum pleg manucaptor habuerent diem per manucaptionem coram Iusticiar Domini Regis Itinerant proxim illic venient quod adtunc sint ibi coram me praefat Iusticiar ad stand recto ad faciendum ea quae secundum legem forestae facere debent quod tu ipse fis ibidem cum Balliuis tuis ad exequend cerciorand me super his alijs negotijs illis tangentibus habeas ibi summonator hoc breue Teste c. Also when that the Iustices of the Forest haue obtained their Commission at the handes of the King to holde their generall Sessions for the Forest It is to be vnderstood that when they doe make out their Write of generall Summons for to Summon and commaunde all manner of persons to appeare there where the same is to bee appoynted by the saide writ in such maner and forme as is before declared they must by the order and course of the Lawe of very necessitie giue vnto these officers and others that are to appeare there a daie of resonable warning by the space of forty daies at the least to hold their Sessions in in the same manner as the Iustices in Eyer at large doe make Fourtie dayes warning and they shall hold Plées of quo warranto as the other Iustices do and that is the generall Summons that the Statute of Carta de Foresta doth speake of And there is also another kind of generall Summons which the Iustices of the Forest shall cause to be made by directing of their warrant to the chiefe Warden of the Forest which warrant is in the forme as followeth Thomas Louell nobilis Ordinis Garterij miles Iusticiaries itinerans omnium Forestarum domini Regis in Anglia tam citra Trent quam vltra Iohanni de Vere comiti Oxon. The writ to the chife warden custod'Forestae domini Regis vel eius locum tenent ' in eodem salutem ex parte dicti domini Regis vobis mando ac firmiter iniungentes quod venire facias corā me prefat ' Iusticiar ' apud Waltham die Lunae proximum post festum Sancti Petri Apostoli prox futur omnes Forestarios Veridarios Regardatores Woodwardos ac alios ministros eiusdem Forestae qui nunc sunt et qui post vltimam placit ' Forestae predict tent ' fuerunt et eorum quemlibet cum omnibus rotulis scriptis minumentis et attachiamentis Forestae tam de viride quam de venatione quae post vltimam placitam illa emersa et non determinat extiterunt facias Regardatores Forestae qui sunt et qui post vltimam placitam predict tent ' ibidem
8. but it shall suffice if their Frée tenentes do appeare there although the wordes of the writ be to Sommon the Earles themselues et eorum liberi tenentes as it doth appeare by Master Hesket in his reading fo 8. but Knights and â—l â—ther Free tenantes which do dwell within the Forest they shal be forced to appeare before the Lorde Iustice in Eyer of the Forest by this comon Sommons Master Hesket in his reading fo 8. or they shal be put in inquests there so shal not Earles Barons nor other Lords of high estate for they shall not bee compelled to bee sworne vpon enquâ—stes them selues for any maner of triall there And the lâ—ke Law is for wâ—men that are francke tenantes within the Forest for they them selues shall not be compelled to be put vpon any enquestes Furthermore the Seruantes of any man dwelling within the Forest shall not be compelled to appeare before the Iustices of the Forest by this general Sommons mentioned in this Statut for it shal be sufficient for the Master of such a Seruaunt him selfe to appeare and not his Seruaunt quia illi sunt sub manu pastu alterius coram Iusticiarijs nostris de Foresta But all Archebishopes Bishoppes Abbotes â—riors Earles and Barons and all other of what estate or degrée soeuer they be which doe claime any liberties freedomes preuilidges or other Free customes within the Forest they must appeare before the Iustice of the Forest by this generall Sommons to make their Claimes for the same or otherwise the same liberties freedomes and customes shal be seyâ—ed into the handes of the King for non Clamer of the same but they need not to appeare in properperson but by their Attorney All Râ—ghtes and those that be Free-holers which do dwell within the bounds of the Forest Vide ante fo 76 assisa Lancast and also all those that be franckâ—tenantes of any landes within the Forest and although they be Spirituall persons and do dwell out of the Forest yet they shal be compelled to appeare before the Iustice of the Forest at the generall Sessions of the Forest by â—hâ—s generall Sommons notwithstanding the wordes of the Statute are qui manent extra Forestam for although that they do dwell out of the Forest yet because that they haue landes within the Forest the lawe doth acompt them resiant where their lande is in that respect for otherwise the Sessions could not be holden What persons shal appeare in proper person and what persons by Atturney nor Iustice done in the tryall of liberties and other things there concerning the Forest And it is to be vnderstood that all maner of persons that do dwell either within the Forest or out of the forest if they are to appeare at the Iustice Seate or generall Sessions by any such Sommons in respect of their Landes that they haue within the Forest to serue there vpon inquestes then those persons are to appeare in proper person onely and not otherwise And all manner of persons which do appeare before the Iustice of the Forest to make any Claime there for any manner of liberties or priuilidges those persons may appeare there either in proper persone Those that do make any clame may appeare by Atturney or by their Atturny whether they will at their election I do finde by the assises and Iters of the Forestes of Lancaster and Pickering that men that are impleaded for trespasses which are done in the Forestes may make their apparance in foure sortes which are as followeth Somtimes In proper person By Attorney By Garden By Prochein amy IT séemeth by Maister Hesket in his reading of the Lawes of the Forest that vpon any Bill presentment or Indictment for trespasses done in the Forest the defendant may appeare by an Attorney or in proper person at his election to aunswer the same trespasse But I do thinke that he doth meane by that apparance by an Attorney to be at the Court of Attachementes or at the Swanimote Courte and not at the Iustice Seate before the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre For as I do take it euery offender that is bounde to appeare there to aunswer any trespasse of the Forest he must appeare in proper person and not by any Attorney For although the same be but a trespasse yet in this trespasse the King is a partie 20. E. 3. and it is holden for Lawe in 20. E. 3. fo that in trespasse where the King is a partie the defendand must appeare in proper person and not by Attorney and so a difference is there taken And also all offenders that are bounde to appeare at the Iustice Seate which haue been presented at the Swanimote Courte before as they ought to be they do stand conuicted in Lawe so that they are then past aunswering of their offence in that place But if any trespasser in the Forest after the Courte of Swanimote was holden and before the Iustice Seat be kept haue done a trespasse in the Forest in Vert or Venison In proper person and the same being presented at the Iustice Seat before the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest the same offeÌ„der hearing of it doth repaire to the same Iustice Seate and there doth appeare in proper person gratis he may then trauerse the same presentment if he will For as yet this shall not be saide to be presentatumper Forestarios et conuictum per viridarios By an Atturney vnlesse the same were done at a Swammot according to the ordinance of the Forest made in Anno 34. E. primi But in this case the defendant may appeare by an Attorney if he wil so by his Attorney he may be allowed his trauerse to the presentment against him If an Infant be impleaded for any trespasse of the forest before the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest the same Infant may appeare in proper person at the same Iustice Seate Per Garden there declare vnto the court that he is an infant within age and pray the said Lord Iustice in Eyre that I. P. may be allowed his Garden to plead for him in this case which the courte wil allow him so to do or else in this case if the infant do not appeare himselfe in proper person but doth send the said I. P. which declareth vnto the court that William Blunt which is here impleded is an Infant within age and prayeth that he may bee receiued as his Garden to plead for him Then the Court will admit him therevnto And in like manner it is where an Infant hauing chosen his Garden Per procheine amy which Garden is sicke or otherwise will not or cannot appeare at the Iustice Seate before the Lorde Iustice in Eyer of the Forest to answer for such an Infant that is there impleaded before the Lord Iustice in Eyer of the Forest Then if the saide Infant doe appeare before the Lorde Iustice at the saide Court and there
lying within the great Couertes of the Forest where the wilde beastes haue their continuall haunte rest if he do conuert the same to tillage then the same is assartes also and shal be called land asserted But if the same Medow or pasture dolye within the Forest of the King and yet out of the great couertes of the Forest and the owner of the same doth plowe it and conuert the same Meddow or pasture into tillage A Wast of the Forest Now this is not assartes or land assarted but this is lande wasted and shall be called a wast of the Forest But a waste of the Forest is most properly where any man doth cutt downe his owne woodes within the Forest without licence of the King or of the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyer of the Forest And if afterdwardes the same owner of the ground hauing so wasted the same as is aforesaide do digg and plucke vp the rootes of the same Wood Trees out of the ground and so make the same Couerte a plaine then that is assartes and shal be called land assarted And so you may sée that a man may make both assartes and wast vpon one and the selfe same peece of ground And note that the punishment of such offenders for assarting and wasting of their landes within the Forest is that they that are conuicted of those offences shall paye to the King gréeuous amercement for the same Some men doe holde an opinion that the difference betwéene Purpresture and assartes is that Purpresture is made vpon the Kings ground onely and assartes vpon the lande of another man But that is not so for a man may commyt Purpresture assartes also aswel in the landes and Woodes of the King as in the lands and Woodes of other men Carta de Foresta Artic. 4 And Econtraria Purpresture and assartes may be made aswell in the landes and Woodes of other men as in the landes and Woodes of the King And that is proued by the words of Carta de Foresta Articulo 4. where the king doth graunt that all the Subiects of the Realme shall haue their Woodes within the Forest as they had them before the making of the same Charter And also doth there graunt further vnto them a pardon for all Purprestures wastes and assartes made and done before the making of the saide Charter in their owne Woode For the wordes are there habeant boscos suos that is they shall haue their owne Woodes And afterwardes the wordes of the pardon are quod quieti sint imperpetuum de omnibus purpresturis vastis et assartis factis in illis boscis Then Ergo both Purpresture assartes also may be made in the Woodes and landes of other men aswell as in the lands of the King which is contrary to the opinion of Master Treherne in his reading And also of Maister Archer in his reading of the Lawes of the Forest Assisa Consuetudines Forestae Vide this Statute ante Pa. 23 in Latin and in English Pag. 36. which I do greatly maruell at For it doth also most plainly appeare by the assises and customes of the Forest made in Anno 6. E. 1. Articulo 4. in these wordes Si quis inuentus fuerit in dominico domini regis assertando vel purpresturam faciend'corpus debet reteneri si antem extra dominicum infra rewardum debet poni per 6. pledg c. By which wordes of the Statute it doth appeare First that assartes and purpresture also may be made and done in the demeasne landes and woods of the King and therefore the Statute hath an especiall manner of proceding and punishment appoynted for the same onely differing from assartes and purprestures that are done in the landes and Woodes of other men And Secondly that assartes and purprestures may be made and done in the landes and woods of other men also and therefore the same branch hath there set down a maner of proceding and punishment differing from the proceding punishing of those that haue made assartes and purpresture in the demesne woodes and landes of the King Then Ergo it is not the land of the king that doth make the difference betwéene assartes and purprestures seing that both assartes and purpresture are aswell in the landes of other men as in the landes of the King and so to conclude in both But surely the trewe difference betwéene purpresture and assartes in déede is this that purpresture is a wrongfull incroching of a new thing vpon the King only or vpon the King and a common person that was not before The difference betweene purpresture and assartes And assartes is the conuerting of any couert in the forest into earable land as if a man do destroy his woodes and digg them vp by the rootes and so conuert the same into tillage this is assartes as hath already beene shewed before The wordes of Carta de Foresta Articulo 4 are further Et de vastis purpresturis et assartis nobis respondeant NOw it is to be séene how the King shall be answered of such wastes assertes and purprestures and by whome And therefore first of al it is to be vnderstood that the king must be answered of such offences in this manner that is to saie when a man is indicted or presented in the Swanimote Coure of any such wastes purprestures or assartes and that the same is presentatum per Forestarios et duodecem iuratores et conuictum per viridarios and afterwardes when such indictmentes or presentmentes be certified before the Iustices of the Forest then they shall make out proces against such as be indicted as is aforesaide And when they doe come before the saide Iustices of the Forest by reason of such proces then they shall make their fine for the same offences that they doe stand so indicted of and attainted at the discretion of the Iustices of the Forest without any answer or trauers to such indictmentes because the same is a conuiction against them by the Law in that befalfe and is done by more then twelue men And when that the Iustice of the Forest hath assessid their fines for such offences then the same shal be estraighted into the Exchequer and therevpon the Barons of the Exchequer shall make our proces against them directed to the Shirife of the same Countie where they do dwell Libro Rubro Scaccarij and then the same Shirife shall aunswer the same fine vpon his acompt as it doth appeare in libro rubro Scaccatij and in this manner they shall aunswer vnto the King for such wastes purprestures assartes which are finable But some times it is otherwise of purpresture for that the same may be tollorated to stand still at the discretion of the Lorde Iustice in Eyer Vide ante Pa. 49. the case of my Lord Dier and so to be arrented and to paie yearely a certaine rent to the Quéenes Maiestie for the same And such a
at their pleasure without all order and so to destroye the Princes game And it is to be vnderstood that al such persons as were put out of the Forest by the Purlieu they are excluded thereby of hauing any common within the Forest by reason of the Statute of the Puralsey aforesaide vnlesse that they will relinquish the benifit of the Purlieu Ordinatio Forestae anno 34. Ed. 1. in fine become Subiects to the bondage of the Forest againe as they were before And it doth appeare by the Statute of Ordinatio Forestae that the Puralty did first begin by the dissaforesting of such landes as were once aforested for the wordes are these Volumus insuper quod illi qui cōmunem pasturam in Foresta ante perambulationem factam habeant Et qui sunt postea repositi in Foresta quinque de dicta cōmunia per perambulationem predictam impediti fuerunt habeant comuniam pasturam de cetero in Foresta adeo large et libere ficut ante perambulationem predictam habere folebant saluis arent ' nostris in forma predicta and so you may see that such landes of the Forest as be disaforested afterwardes they are Purlieus And it doth also appeare by the same wordes that the Purlieus are made by perambulation and viewe The repositiō of the Forest retourned into the Chauncery And in like manner the reposition to the Forest of such landes as were disaforested by the Statute and afterwardes made Forest againe the same is to be done by perambulation and viewe which must be retorned into the Chauncery or Treasurie because that the King can haue nothing but by matter of recorde nor in such cases departe from any thing but by matter of record also And all such lands as are put againe to the Forest they are called Purlieus after the same reposicion for then they shal be Forest as they were before But such landes as were disaforested by the Puraley and so remaine dissaforested without any reposition The difference betweene the Purlieu reposition those are called Puralleyes in the which the owners may chase the wild beastes and also cut downe their woods and make their aprouementes to their best aduantage But of those landes that are put againe to the Forest by reposition they cannot doe so there without licence of the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyer And if it do fortune that a Deare goe out of the Forest into the Purlieu then the owner of the grounde there may chase and kill him if he can The same Law is if a Harte a Hinde a Buck The Purlieus a Dooe or a Hare or any other wilde beasts of the Forest or of the Chase which be clearly wilde of nature that haue not animam reuertendi so that such an owner of the lands haue landes of frée holde to the valewe of fortie shillings in the Purlieus And if a Puraley man which hath landes in the Puraley to the valew of ten shillings by the yeare and one other man which hath landes within the Puraley adioyning to him to the yearely valew of xxx shillings wild beasts of the Forest do come vpon their lands in the Purlieus those two Puraley men cannot chase together But he that hath landes of Frée-holde to the valew of fortie shillings by the yeare of his owne landes he may chase and kill his Deare and carrie it away vpon his own Purlieus and iustifie the same by the Lawes of this Realme For all wilde beastes are theirs that can take them As it appeareth by Bracton But if such wilde beastes being within any Forest Chase Parke or Warren or other Priuileged place then they are the Kings or the owners of those Priuiledged places where they are remayning as it hath been shewed before for of such wilde beasts men haue propertie in them but ratione soli And if the Forest be in one Countie the Puraley in another Countie adioyning to it he that hath fortie shillings by the yeare of Frée-holde lande in the Countie where the Puraley is he may Chase and hunte the wilde beastes in his owne Purlieu But if he haue fortie shillinges by the yeare of Frée-hold in the Countie where the Forest is but hath not any lande in the Countie where the Puraley is then he is not any Puraley man neither may he take the benefit of a Puraley hunter And if a man hauing landes to the valew of fortie shillings by the yeare within the Purlieus doe chase a Deare there and doth let his Greyhound runne after the wilde beasts and the Greyhounde doth followe the wilde beast into the Forest and there doth fasten vpon him and flea 〈◊〉 Nowe in this case the owner of the dogg shall not haue the wilde beast so slayne but the king or the owner of the Forest and such a Puraley man that doth so chase the wilde beastes into the Forest he may not followe his dogg into the Forest but he must stand at the outermost boundes of the Forest there blowe his horne for his dogg so call him barke againe for in this case when the wilde beaste hath recouered himself into the Forest againe then he is in Statu quo prius and then the King or the owner of the Forest hath propertie in him againe ratione soli and then the killing of him in the Forest is not lawfull neither doth the same gaine the owner of the Greyhounde any propertie therein And in like maner it is if a man do let his Fawcon Goshauke or any other Hauke flye at a Fesant or Partridge being out of the Forest Chase or Parke and they two do flye together and the same Hauke doth kill the Fesaunt or Partridge within the Forest Chase or Parke nowe the owner of the same Forest Chase or park where the same is so killed shal haue the game that is in such sort killed causa qua supra for the owner of such Greyhound or Hauk cannot claim any interest or propertie in any such game before that the same be taken before the taking of it the said game was retorned into the Forest Chase Parke or Warren wheras then the owner had propertie in it againe ratione soli A man may haue the possession of a wilde beast by his dogg And if a Greyhounde being let runne in the Purlieus after a wilde beaste of the Forest and in chasing after him the Greyhound doth fasten and seise vpon the Deare neare vnto the Forest and the wild beaste by his force draweth the Greyhounde byting vpon him within the bounds of the Forest and there is slayne the owner of the same Greyhound may very wel take the wilde beaste so slayne although that he were slayn within the Forest for by the seising of the dogg the owner of the same dogg was in possession of the wilde beast and the like lawe is if a Hauke be seised of his game without the Forest Chase or Parke and so seised they
accompt the Sonday to be any day in any Court at Westminster 3 Thirdly No man may hunt in the Purlieus in the fence-moneth or as it is called in the defence moneth which moneth is alwayes fifteene dayes before Midsommer and fifteene dayes after Midsommer which Moneth is the time of fawning for then the Fawnes are verie young and not able to runne or to make any shift Or els the Does are then great bellyed so that they are not able to runne And if a Purlieu hunter should then chase in the Purlieus and his Greyhound should followe the Deare into the Forest no doubt but that the same Greyhound would either destroy the Does being great with young or the Fawnes being then very young And neither of them both able to runne or else the coursing amongst them then would be ad magnum terrorem ferarum and for that cause the same is forbidden for that Moneth by the Lawes of the Forest 4 Fourthly It is not lawfull for any Purlieu hunter to hunt in his owne Purlieu euerie day nor any oftener than three daies in one weeke whereof the Sunday must not be any And the reason is because that the wilde beastes in the Forest may not be disquieted or put from their foode and wonted layer where they do vse to lye at rest with the noyse and feare of their often hunting in the Purlieus For the forest Lawes do prohibite things that are ad terrorem ferarum onely and for that cause a man may not buyld a Mill in the Forest because the same is ad terrorem ferarum 5 Fiftly It is not lawfull for any Purlieu hunter to hunt in the Purlieus with any more company than with his owne seruaunts because that the Lawes of the forest doe not allowe of multitudes of people to assemble themselues togeâ—ther to hunt for that is ad terrorem ferarum quae sunt infra met as Forestae But euery Parlieu man that may by the Lawe iustifye to hunt in his owne Purlieu for him self he may also iustifie for his seruants to hunte with him for to hunte and kill his Deare there is a thing of profit and of pleasure all And it is helde for a learning in our Lawe that he that hath a licence or an interest of profit Vide le case in 13. H. 7. s 13. ante pag. 54 he may iustifie for himselfe and for his Seruantes also But he that hath but an interest or a licence of pleasure onely he cannot iustifie for his Seruantes but for himselfe onely Note the difference But he that may Iustifie for to hunte which his Seruantes he cannot Iustifie to hunte with euerie other person 6 Sixtâ—y no maner of person may hunt within the Pulieus of any Forest within the time of fortie dayes next after that the king hath made any generall hunting in any Forest adioyning to such Purlieus because in this case the wilde beastes of the Forest doe not come into Purlies of their owne fréewill but they are forced with strong hand and with the noyse of blowing of hornes with a multitude of people So that for feare of being slayne they are driuen to flye into the Purlieus for succor and refuge And therefore the Lawes of the Forest doth giue vnto all those wild beasts which are in such sorte forced to flye into the Purlieus for refuge a firme peace frée protection to remain there during the space of xl daies without any hunting chasing or other harme In which time the law is intended they wil returne to the Forest againe therfore they haue that lybertie And in euerie Charter or graunt of the Purlieus that the King doth graunt vnto any shire of such â—andes as were disaforested in that graunt the King doth alwaies reserue vnto himselfe fortie daies of Frée libertie for his wilde beastes of the Forest that are in the Purlieus to returne backe againe to the Forest as you may perceaâ—ue by the perusing of the Charter graunted for the Purlieus of the Forest of Windsor 7 Seuenthly it is not lawful for any Purlieu man to hunt in the Purlieus bordering vpon any Forest that the Kinge doth minde to make any generall hunting in after open proclimation thereof made For then no person shal hunte within seuen miles of the borders of the Forest nor within the Purlieus during the time of fortie daies next before such generall hunting because that all that time the wilde beastes of the Forest must not by any meanes be disquieted of their rest to the intent that the King may take the vewe of them where they doe lie and make their secret abode 8 The eight is that no Purlieuman may hunt in the Purlieus during the time that any kéeper or Forester is seruing of any warrant in any walke within the Forest adioyning vpon the Purlieus nor during the time that any Noble man is hunting there because that such hunters in the Purlieus may not disturbe the game in the Forest at such times as they are hunting there if they haue notice or knowledge of any such hunting or seruing of any such warrant 9 The nynth It is to be vnderstood that as a Purlieu man may hunt chase the wilde beastes of the Forest being in the Purlieu yet may he not forestall or foreset those wilde beasts with doggs bowes or any manner of ingyne to kill them or stop them from their free passage to the Forest again Neither may any man make any salteries or leaping places out of the Forest into the Purlieus where any Deare may easely leape in but cannot returne backe againe but they shal be killed there for want of passage 10 And last of all it is not lawful for any Purlieu man to kil or hunt any vnseasonable Deare in the Purlieus as a Buck in Winter or a Dooe in Summer for such wilde beastes when they are out of Season they are not méete for any man to eate for their flesh is not good nor holsom and then they are so poore that they cannot runne nor make any course to escape from a dogg therefore the Lawe of the Forest doth prohibit the killing or hunting of them in the Purlieus or else where during the time of their vnseasonablenes The punishment for vnlawfull hunters in the Purlieus But now let vs sée by the Lawes of the Forest how such Purlieu hunters as do hunte in the Purlieu contrary to the Laws are to be punished And therefore it is to be vnderstood that all such offences in the Purlieus are to be presented at the next Swanimote and to procéede from the Swanimote to the next Iustice seate of the Forest as other trespasses of the Forest do And then there such hunters in the Purlieus are to be fined at the discretion of the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyer of the Forest and imprisoned and bounde to the good behauior of the Forest Which band doth extend to all manner of vnlawfull hunting in the Purlieus For vnlawfull
eos ducere vel aliquod foâ—stact ' voluerint Concelare ipsi milites non omittentur propter illos qâ—in foris factum illud videant imbreuiari facias Et hoc pro nullare dimittant Et quod regarduÌ„ illud fiat cantra tale festum Teste c. And it is to be vnderstood that in times past when the Forest Lawes were carefully put in execution then the generall Sessions of the Forest called the Seate of the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest was holden and kept euery thirde yeare And also euery third yeare the Regarders of the Forest did make their regard of the Forest And now at this daye alwaies before that the Lord Iustice in Eyre of the Forest do holde his general Sessions of the Forest he doth cause the write aforesaid to be made and sent to the Shirife of the same shire where the Forest is in the which the Iustice Seat for the Forest shal be kept together with a briefe remembrance or abstract of all such matters as the Regarders of the Forest shall enquire of By vertue of which write the same Shirife doth cause all the Foresters of the same Forest and also all the Regarders to meete together at a certain day and place which the Shirife shall vnto them assigne for that purpose at which day and place so appointed by the same Shirif vpon the apparance of the said Foresters and Regarders the shirife doth declare vnto them the Tenor of his write and also doth giue vnto them a charge to inquire of al such matters as are contained in the said Abstract At which time of apparance if any of the said Regarders be dead or sicke so that there be not the full number of twelue Regarders to make the regard of the Forest Then the said Shirife shall according to his said write in his full Countie of the shire choose other Regarders and cause them to serue in their places and so make vp the number of twelue Regarders and in such sort Regarders are made And also it appeareth by the Statute of Ordinatio Forestae made in Anno. 34 E. 1. hic ante fol. 26. 39. That if any of the Foresters Regarders or any other minister or officer of the forest be dead or by sicknes or any other meanes they be let or hindered so that they cannot be at the court of Swanimote And because that the absence of such officers or ministers should not be any hinderance of the proceeding of the court of Swanimote then the Lorde chiefe Iustice of the Forest or his Lieutenant incontinently shal choose and appoint other Regarders in their places so that all the Inditements in the Swanimote may be made and done by all the officers of the Forest according to the order set downe apointed by the saide Statute called Ordinatio Forestae And such electing and appointing of Regarders at the Swanimote is done but as it were of necessitie to make vp the full number of twelue Regarders to serue for the place at that time And such Regarders as be dead and others chosen in such manner by the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest or his Lieutenant in their places then they shall remaine Regarders still But the Regarders that are chosen and appointed as aforesaid to serue in the places of others that then were sick or absent vpoÌ„ some especial busines such Regarders are not Regarders Nisi pro hac vice tantum as it doth appeare by M. Hesket fo 24 b. For saith he they are officers but to serue the Court for that time onely Hesket fo 24. I do finde by the Lawes and customes of the Forest that there may be three sorts of Regarders of the Forest which are as followeth 1 First there is one sort of Regarders made by the King him selfe by his letters Patents to whome the King doth graunt the said office sometimes for terme of life sometimes to him and to his heires to be one of the Kings Regarders of such a Forest 2 Secondly there is another sort of Regarders that are made by the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the Forest or by the Kings writt to the Shirife as hath beene shewed alreadie before And such Regarders are officers of the Forest but durante bene placito that is to say during the Kings pleasure 3 Thirdly there is another sort of Regarders that are made Regarders for the present seruice of the Court of Swanimote or to serue at some other time in the absence of some of the Regarders that are sicke or otherwise not able to serue at that time and such Regarders are officers Nisi pro hac vice tantum And thus much concerning Regarders and how he is made a Regarder of the Forest And now forasmuch as it appeareth by the writt aforesaid directed to the Shirife to choose new Regarders in the place of such as are dead And that the same Shirife according to his writt must giue vnto such Regarders as he shall choose in their places A Regarder must be sworne an othe for the wordes of the writt are these Et dicti milites Iurent quod facient regardum sicut solet debet fieri Now therfore it is necessarie to see what the oath of a Regarder is And to the end that euery such officer may the better knowe his oath also his office I haue set downe the same here which is as followeth The Othe of a Regarder of the Forest The oath of a Regarder YOu shall truely serue our Soueraigne Lady the Queene in the office of a Regarder of the Forest of Waltham You shal make the regard of the same Forest in such manner as the same hath beene accustomed to be made You shall range through the whole Forest and through euery Bailâ—wike of the same as the Foresters there shall lead you to view the same Forest And if the Foresters will not or do not know how to lead you to make the regarde or range of the Forest or that they will conceale froÌ„ you any thing that is forfeited to the King you your selues shall not let for any thing but you shall see the same forfeiture cause the same to be inrolled in your roll You shal inquire of al wastes Purprestures and Assertes of the Forest and also of concealements of any offence or trespas in the Forest either in Vert or Venison by any officer of the same Forest And all these things you shall to the vttermost of your power do So help you God It seemeth by the Lawes of Canutus the Dane King Canon the 2. that in his time there were certaine persons that did execute the verie same office that the Regarders do nowe at this daye and then there were 16. of them Canutus Canon 2. they were called Mediocres homines But the Danes did call them Yong men Hâ— Curam onus tum viridis tum veneris suscipiant But of like such officers were cleane
be noted that the Regarders of the Forest ought not to certifie any thing but vpon their view as it shall appeare hereafter in the foâ—rth point which is to certifie 2 The second is ad Inquirendum to enquire So that the Regarders ought to range throughout all the Forest not onely to see and view all the trespasses and defaults of the Forest but they ought also to inquire out the certaintie of euery such trespas and to learne the trueth of all such matters as shal be deliuered them in charge as is aforesaid 3 The third point is Imbreuiare which is to inroll their view and inquisition that they haue made So that after they haue gone throughout all the Forest and haue viewed the trespasses and defaults of the forest and that they haue learned and inquired out the trueth of them in euery thing according to their charge giuen them as is aforesaide Then they must inroll the same that is they must cause all those defaultes that they do so fynde in their range thorough the forest to be faire written in a Parchment Roll in which inrolling they must obserue these four things that is to saye 1 What the offence is 2 When the same was done 3 Where the same was done 4 Who did the offence The fourth point is ad Certificandum which is to certifie that which they haue done So that when they haue gone thorough out all the forest and haue made their viewe and inquirie of all the defaults of the forest and that they haue also inrolled them in their roll yet thâ—ee can be no execution nor punishment done to the offenders or doers of those trespasses vntill such time that the same Regarders haue made certificat thereof vnto the Lord chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the forest at the Iustice Seat And yet before that they do make such Certificate to the Lorde chiefe Iustice in Eyre of the forest of their inquisition they must present the same inquisition at the Swanimote before the other officers of the forest Ordinatio Forestae 34. Ed. 1 to the intent that the offenders thereof may be there indicted of the same offences according to the ordinance of the forest made in 34. E. 1. For otherwise if the same be certified to the lord Iustice in Eyre before that the offenders be thereof indicted at the next Swanimote then the offenders may trauers the same presentment or Certificat because that the same is not Presentatum per Forestarios duodecim Iuratores conuictum per Viridarios c. But now it is necessarie here in this place to speake somthing concerning the manner of the same Certificat And therefore first of all it is to be vnderstood that in this Certificat there are two things most especially to be obserued that is to saye The number of the Regarders that must certifie the same And that they do Certifie the same vpon their view and not otherwise It hath beene shewed alreadie before that by the Lawes and Assises of the Forest Assisa Forestae H. 2. made in the time of King H. 2. that of necessitie there must be twelue Regarders in euery forest And it doth also appeare by the writ aforesaid that if any of those twelue Regarders be dead or sick there must be others chosen in their places to serue So that of necessitie there must be the whole number of twelue Regarders in euery Forest or else they cannot make the Regard of the forest nor make any certificat therof For if the certificat of their inquisition bee made by 11. of the Regarders of the forest then that certificat is not a sufficient certificat to charge any offender to answer therevnto Vide master Hesket in his reading fo 25. for as much as it doth appeare by matter of recorde that the same certificat was not made by all the Regarders of the forest for it must be intended that there be alwaies 12. Regarders and the certificat of their inquisition must be made by all the Regarders that is to saie by 12. Regarders And this much concerning the number of the Regarders that must certifie Nowe concerning the certifying of their inquisition vpon their owne view It is to be vnderstood that if it do not appeare in their certificat before the Lord chiefe Iustice of the Forest that the Regardors did raunge and goe thorow all the Forest Master Heskeâ— fo 25. to sée and vewe the Forest and the offences and trespasses of the Forest which they do certifie Then that certificat or presentment although that they as Regarders of the Forest doe certifie their presentment of an offence of the Forest within their charge Vide the case 34. H. 6. yet that certificat is not good neither shall the offender or dooer of such a trespasse bee impeched vpon that presentment but the Regarders shall be amerced for their insufficient certificat For in this case their certificat is like to the return of the Shirife in an Action of wast where the Shirife doth leaue out of his retorne these wordes Accessi ad locum vastatum vt patet in An. 34. H. 6. And also it is like to the presentment of the Coroner that doth not make mention that the inquisition of the Coroner was taken super visum corporis But if in the Certificat of the Regarders mention be made of their Perambulation through the Forest and vew of the trespasses that they do present or certifie wheras in the verie truth they did not Perambulat nor vew the same yet that presentment and Certificat of any such offences as they shall so certifie is good and sufficient in law For a man cannot by the law trauers the retorne or Certificat of an officer that is sworn But here it doth appeare that the office and dutie of a Regarder is to goe and vewe the offences and trespasses of the Forest and they must also certifie their vewe and it is not sufficient for one or two of them to vewe the same but they must all vewe the Forest and the offences or trespasses that are done in the forest euen so they must all certifie the same as their verdict or presentment For as a Iurie at the common lawe if 11. of them be agréed of their verdict and they doe giue a verdict and one of them will not agrée to it then their verdict is no verdict at all in Lawe So it is if 11. of the Regarders do certifie and the twelfth wil not certifie the Certificat of the other 11. is voide and no certificat at all for as much as it doth appeare by matter of Record that their certificat was not made by all the Regarders as by law it ought to be And thus much concerning the Seconde poynt that the Regarders must make mention in their Certificat that the same was made and done vpon their owne vew that is vpon all their vewes So that nowe you see that by the letter of the Statute in these
tree in the Kings Woods is Vert. Vert in an other manns Wood. 29 Si quis vero I licem aut arborem aliquam qui victum feris suppeditat sciderit preter fractioneÌ„ Regalis chaceae emendet Regi viginti solidis If any man do cutt downe a Holly Tree of any other Tree in the Forest which doth beare Frute for foode for the wild Beastes besides the breach of the free chase Roiall he shall paie twenty shillinges to to the King for a recompence 30 Volo vt omnis liber homo pro libito suo habeat venerem siue viridem in planis suis super terras suas By this Lawe it doth appeare that before that time all wild beasts were the Kinges wheresoeuer they were out of the Forest And therefore the King made this Lawe that euery man might take his Venery in his owne ground so that they did refraine from the Venery of the King in his Forest sine chacea tameÌ„ Et devitent omnes meam vbicunque eam habere voluero 31 Nullus mediocris habebit nec custodiet Canes quos Angli Grey-hunds appellant Greyhound Liberali vero dum genuiscissio eorum facta fuerit coram primario Forestae licebit No mean person or Regarder may keep any grehouÌ„ds but freemen may keepe Greyhounds so that their knees be cut before the Verderors of the Forest and without cutting of their knees also if they doe abide ten miles from the boundes of the Forest But if they doe come any nearer to the Forest they shall paie twelâ—e pence for euery mile but if the Greyhounds be found within the Forest the maister or owner of the Dogg shall forfeit the Dogg and the same dog ten shillings shall be forfeited to the King aut sine genuiscissione dum remoti sunt a limitibus Forestae per decem Milliaria quando vero proprius venerint emendet quodlibet Miliare vno solido Si vero infra septa Forestae reperiatur dominus canis forisfaciet et canemet decem solidos Regi 32 Velteres vero quos langeran appellant quia manifeste constat in ijs nihil este periculi Velter langeran cuilibet licebit sine genuiscissione eos custodire Idem de canibus quos Ramhundt vocant Ramhundt What Doggs a man may keepe in the Forest These little Doggs called Velteres and such as are called Ram-hundt all which Dogges are to sit in ones lap they may be kept in the Forest because in them there is no daunger and therfore they shal not behoxed or haue their knees cutt but althought they be lawfull Doggs they must be lawfully vsed and kept as it doth appeare by the next Canon 33 Quod si casu inauspicato huiusmodi canes rabidi fiant et vbique vagantur negligentia dominorum redduntur illiciti The price of a meane man If by misfortune such a kinde of Dogs doe become so madd sauag and do runne vp and downe euery where by the negligence of their maister and so do become vnlawful then the owner must yeeld a recompeÌ„ce to the King for their vnlawfulnes If they be found within the circuit of the Forest then the maister of such Doggs must be sought out and he shall yeeld recompence according to the estimation of a meane man which according to the auncient Lawe is ten poundes et emendetur Regi pro illicitis c. Quod si intra septa Forestae reperiantur talis exquiratur herus et emendet secundum precium hominis mediocris quod secundum legem merimorum est ducentorum solidorum 34 Si Canis rabidus momorderit feram The price of a freeman tunc emendet secundum precium hominis liberalis quod est Duodecies solidis Centum Si vero fera regalis moi sa fuerit If a greedy rauening Dogg doe bite a wild beaste in the Forest then the owner shall yeeld recompence for the same according to the price of a freeman which is twelue-times a hundred shillings But if he doe byte a Royall beast then he shall be guilty of the greatest offence reus sit maximi criminis And these are the Constitutions of Canutus concerning the Forest very barbarously translated out of the Danish tong into Lattin by those that tooke the same in hande Howbeit as I finde it so I set it downe without any alteration of my Copie in any iote or title which for the more ease pleasure and better vnderstanding of them that shall reade these auncient Lawes of King Canutus I haue heere translated them out of Latin into English verbatim as neere as in sence the same may be made to agree together as heareafter followeth Here beginneth the Lawes of the Forest of King Canutus THese are the Lawes of the Forest which I King Canutus with the Counsell of my cheefe men do make and establish to that end that Peace Iustice might be ministred to all congregations of our Realme of England and that euery man that doth offend may be punished according to the manner of the offence and of him that doth offend 1 Nowe from hence foorth let there be foure men of the best account which haue their frée customes duties serued which Englishmen do call Pegened appointed throughout the Prouince of my realme to administer Iustice to al my people throughout all my Realme of England as well to Englishmen as to Danes together with condigne punishment for the offences of the Forest which foure men of the Forest we haue determined to call them Primarios that is to saie the cheife men 2 Let there be vnder euerie one of those foure cheife men of the Forest foure meane men placed which Englishmen call Lespegend but Danes do call them yong men which shall take vpon them the charge and burthen both of Vert and Venison 3 But in the execution of Iustice I will that in no wise such foure cheife men doe let in or suffer such meane men to ioyne with them therin For after that they haue taken vpon them the charge of the wilde beastes they shal alwaies be accounted for freemen which the Danes doe call Eldermen 4 Againe vnder euery one of these meane men let there bee two of the least men of account of the Forest which EnglishmeÌ„ do call Tyne-men these persons shall vndertake the seruile labour and also the night charge of Vert and Venison 5 If such a seruile officer shall fortune to be a bondman so soone as he shall be placed in our Forest let him be made Frée of his bondage all these persons we will maintaine of our owne costes 6 And also euery one of the saide foure cheefemen shall haue for euery yéere of our allowance which the Danes doe call Michni two Horses one of them with a Saddell an other of them without a Saddell One Sworde .5 Iauelins one speare one shilde and x. li in money 7 And euery one of our said meane men
inforesta adeo large libere sicut ante perambulat ' praedictam habere solebant Saluis arent ' nostris in forma praedicta In cuius rei testimonium c. Teste c. apud Westmonasterium xxviii die Maij. Anno xxxiiij Edwardi primi Ordinatio foresta 23 Le graund chrater des franchises et le charter de la Forest soient gardes en touts points Purley et que la ponerel que estoit chiuach en temps le roy Edw. ayel le roy qui ore est se reigne en la fourme que estoit chiuache bonde que sur ceo soit charter-fait a chescun count ou fait mye chiuache le roy voet que en chiuacha per bondes et lieux et charter sur ceo fait cōe de fuis est dit An. 1. E. 3. cap. 1. 24 Pur ceo que plusours gents sont disherits rettes distruits per les souereignes gardeines des forestes de sa trent de la per les auters ministers encounter lestatute de la graunde chartre de la Forest et encounter la declaration que le Roy E. fits le Roy Hen. iii. fist en la fourme que ensuit s. Nous volons grantons pur nous pur nous heirs que le trespas fait en Forest de vert de venison que les Foresters des queux baylifes tiels trespasses sertōt faits presentēt mesmes les trespasses au procheins swanimots deuāt foresters verdors regarders agistours et autres ministers de mesme le forest que sur tyel presentment deuaunt las forestes verdors regardours agistours et auters ministers suisdits per surement sibien des charters come dauters prodes homes et loyalx et nemy suspiciouses de partie vesinables plus procheine en tielx trespasses serront issint presents et en la veritie plus mielur et plus pleinment purra estre enquis et tiel veritie ensy enquis soient tielx presentments per commen assent accord de touts les ministres auantdits solemnement enforces et de touts seale cuscales et si en auter maner soit fait nul enditements soit desore pur nul tenus Et pur ceo que les chiefe gardeines des forests nont my la did fourme tenus iesque en ceo accord est et ordeigne que desore nul ne soit pris nemprison pur vert ne pur veneson sil ne vsoit ou sil ne soit troue oue may nor en le fourme auantdit endite adonques luy lesse le soueraigne gard'del forest a mainprise iesque al heire del forest sans riens prendre pur le deliuerance et si le gard faire ne voloit eit briefe en le Chauncery que auncientment fuit ordeigne pur ceux endites destre a mainprise sans rien prendre adonques eit le pl. briefe en le Chauncerie al viscount dattach le dit gard destr deuaunt le Roy au certaine iour a responder pur quoy il nad repleuy celuy quest ensy pris per bon mainpris en presence des verdours nouns des mainpernours face deliuerer as mesmes verdours a respond en eyre deuaunt les Iustices Et si le chiefe gardeine de ceo soit attaint soyent agardes as pleintifes lour dammages al treble et les gard'a la prison et reints al volunte le roy Et desormes soyt escript as eux cōe as les chiefe gard del Forest pur ceo que iustices ne deiuent ils estre en record forsque en eire Anno. 1. E. 3. cap. 8. 34. E. 1. 25 Nul forester ne gardeine de foreste ou de chase ne nul auter minister ne face ne coille puter nauter coillet des vitailes ne nul autre chose per colour de lour office countre nulluy volunte dedeins lour baile ne de hors forsque ceo que est due dauncien droit Anno. 25. Ed. 3. cap. 7. 26 Nul maner de Iure soit desore arte per ascun minister de la Forest nautre person quicunque de trauailer de lieu en lieu hors des lieux ou lour charge lour est done enconter lour grée ne per malice ou per manace ou auter duresse constreint de dyre lour verdit de trespas fait en foreste auterment que lour conscience ne lour ent vorra clerement enformer eins dient ils lour verdyts sur lour charges lieux ou celle charge lour est don come desuis est dit Anno. 7. R. 2. cap. 3. 27 Nul home soit pris nemprison per ministre de foreste sans due enditement ou per mainoeuere ou trespassant en la forest ou aillours ne soit constreint de faire obligation ou redemption a ascun ministre de forest per quicūque manner encounter-lour grée et assise de forest et si ascun face enconter cest ordinaunce en ascun point et de ceo soit attaint paie as parties endammage lour double dammage fine et raunceon au roy pur son mal fait Anno 7. R. 2. cap. 4. The Lawes of the Forest AL Forestes which King Henry our graundfather afforested and made shal be viewed by good and lawfull men and if he haue made forest of any other wood more then of his owne demesne whereby the owner of the wood hath hurt Wee will that foorthwith it be disaforested And if he haue made forest of no mens wood but of his owne then we will that it remaine forest still Sauing the common of herbage and of other things in the same forest to them which before were accustomed to haue the same Carta de Foresta cap. 1. Common summons Suertie 2 Men that dwell out of the Forest from hence forth shal not come before the Iusticers of our forest by no common summons vnlesse they be impleded there or be suerties for some other that were attached for the forest Carta de Foresta cap. 1. Disaforest Demesne Wood. 3 All woods which haue been made forests by K. Richarde our vncle or by King Iohn our father vnto our first coronation shall be foorthwith disaforested vnlesse it be our demesne wood Charta de foresta cap. 3. Archbishop Bishop Freeholder Woodes 4 All Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earles Barons Knights and other our frée holders which haue their woods in forestes shall haue their woods as they had them at the time of the first coronation of King H. our graundfather so that they shall be quite for euermore of all purprestures Purpresture Wastes wastes and assert es made in those woods after that time vntill the beginning of the second yeare of our Coronation And those that from henceforth doe make purpresture without our speciall licence or wast or assert in the same Licences Wast shall aunswere vnto vs for the same wastes purprestures and asserts Carta de Foresta cap. 4. Regarders 5 Our Regarders shall goe through the Forest to make their Regard as it hath
incontinently deliuer such persons indicted to mainprise without taking any thing then the plaintife shall haue a writ out of the Chauncery to the shirife to attach the said warden to be before the king at a certaine day to aunswerer wherefore he hath not repleuied him that is so taken And the Shirife the verderors being claled to him 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 answere in the eire of the Iustices And if the chiefe warden be therof attainted the plaintife shall recouer his treble dammages and the said Warden to be committed to prison and raunsomed at the kings will And from hencefoorth it shal be written to them as to the chiefe Wardens of the forest because they may not be Iustices nor to haue any Record Anno 1. E. 3. cap. 8. Stat. 1. 25 No forester nor kéeper of forest or chase nor none other minister shall make or gather sustenance nor none other gathering of vitailes nor other thing by colour of their office against any mans will within their bailiwike nor without but that that is due of auncient right Anno. 25. E. 3. cap. 7. Stat. 5. 26 No maner of Iurie shall be from henceforth compelled by any minister of the forest to trauell from place to place out of the places where their charge is giuen to them against their grée nor by malyce nor by manace The verdict to be giuen vp where the charge is giuen them or other duresse constrained to say their verdict of a trespas done in the Forest otherwise than their conscience will cleerely informe them but they shall say their verdicts vpon their charge in the places where the charge is giuen them as aboue is saide Anno. 7. R. 2. cap. 3. 27 That no man be taken nor prisoned by any minister of the forest without due indictment or by manouerie or trespassing in the forest or els wher nor shal not be constrained to make any obligation or raunsome to any minister of the forest by any maner against their grée and the assise of the forest And if any do against this ordinance in any point and thereof be attainted he shall pay to the partie damnified their double dammages and fine and raunsome to the king for his offence Anno. 7. R. 2. cap. 4. 28 From henceforth all and euery the Iustice and Iustices of the kings forestes parkes chases within this realme Note that by the common law the Iustice of the forest is a Iudicial office and therefore he could not make a deputie to execute the same office before this statute which now be or hereafter shall be by their writing sealed with the seale of their office shall make assigne depute and appoint as many deputie or deputies for the exercising of the same office of the Iustice or Iustices of the forests as to such Iustice or Iustices from time to time shal be thought conuenient which deputie and deputies so appointed shall haue like power and authoritie to do and execute all things concerning the kings forestes parkes and chases and all other things concerning the office and offices of the Iustice of the forests to all intents and purposes But it seemeth that the office of the chiefe warden of the forest is no Iudiciall office because the writt of Homine replegiando is by the Statute of An. 1. E. 3. ca. 8. before here 24. to be directed to him And further if his office were a Iudicial place he could not make deputies as he doth to execute the same and in as large and ample manner and forme as the same Iustice or Iustices might or may lawfully doe or execute by the lawes of this realm and as though the same Iustice or Iustices were there personally present in his or their owne person or persons Anno. 32. H. 8. cap. 35. 27 Euery man that hath wood within the Forest may take the same wood without being attached by any officer of the Forest Anno. 1. E. cap. 2. so that he do it by the view of the Foresters Anno. 1. Ed. 3. cap. 2. Statut. 2. A man may hedge in or fence his wood and maintaine keepe the same in the Forest by this statute Nota per cest statute que vn auter person que le royne poit auer vn Forest per la comon ley Nota que cest statute fuit in le negatiue del comen ley ergo le comen ley fuit contrarie deuant ceo If any of the Quéenes Subiects hauing woods of his owne growing in his owne ground within any Forest Chase or Purliew of the same within this Realme of Englande shall cut or cause to be cut the same wood or part thereof by licence of the Queene or of her heires in her Forestes Chases or Purlewes or without licence in the Forest Chase or Purliewes of any other person or make any sale of the same wood it shal be lawfull to the same Subiect owner of the same ground whereupon the wood so cut did growe and to other such persons to whome such wood shall be solde Imediately after the wood so cut to coppie inclose the same ground with sufficient hedges able to kéepe out all maner beastes and cattell out of the same ground for the preseruing of their yong springs and the said hedges so made the said Subiects may kéepe them continually by the space of seuen yeares next after the same inclosing and repaire and sustaine the same as often as it shall néed within the same seuen yeares without sewing of any other licence of the Quéene or of her heires or other persons or any of their officers of the same Forestes Chases and Purliewes Anno. 22. E. 4. cap. 7. The Statute for the drift of the Forestes and what beastes are not to be suffered to common in the wast soyle of the Forest NO commons or commoners within any forest chase more marish hethe common or wast ground nor any officer or officers of or within any of the said forestes or chases nor any other person or persons whatsoeuer he or they be at any time after the last day of March which shal be in the yeare of our Lord God a thousond fiue hundred thrée fourty shall haue or put to pasture into or vpō any such ground forest chase more marish heth common or wast ground any stoned horse or horses being aboue the age of two yeare and not being of the altitude and height of fiftene handfulles to be measured from the lowest part of the houe of the forefoote vnto the highest part of the wither and euery handfull to containe iiii inches of the standerd to pasture feede or be in or vpon any of the said forestes chases commons moores marishes hethes or wast groundes within any of the shiers and territories of Norff. Suff. Cambridge Buck. Huntington Essex Rent Southampshyre Northwilshyre
of them and also propertie ratione soli and so hee that doth chase them out of my land and doth kill them in his owne proper lande he shall lose his labour therein and not gaine any propertie And I shall haue the thing killed if I do freshly persue it for that it may be knowen by the skin hornes and such like If the same do goe out of my land of his owne will then is it lawfull for euerie man to kill him for capienti conceditur and so note a diuersitie where a man of his owne wrong doth constraine him to goe out and then kill him and where contrarie and it is holden there by Brooke a Iustice that if a man suffer his Faucon to flie at a Fesant and kill him in an nother mans land he may pursew his Fawcon and take the Fesant and he shall not be punished but for his entrie into his ground for the taking of the Fesant by my Faulcon is a possession in me and so where my hound doth take a wild beast contrary of the taking of an Otter Fox or Graye for those are vermin and against the comon wealth they are carrin because they are enimies to the common welth men may iustifie the entrie into other mens land to destroy them But Déere Fesants and such like are pleasures and good meate men haue propertie in them nisi ratione soli And in An. 12. H. 8. fo 4. it is there holden 12. H. 8. fo 4. Br. Propertie 44. that a man may haue propertie in hounds hawkes thrusshes popiniayes and such like which are wild beasts of nature if they be made tame and then the owner shall recouer dammages in an accion of trespasse for the taking of theÌ„ And yet if he do giue omnia bona et caâ—talla sua those do not passe by that gift and by Eliot a Iustice no Repleuin doth lye of them And Iustice Brudnel doth shew the reason therof for saith he the propertie is not properly knowen and yet an accion of trespas doth lye of the taking of them and likewise for a Mastiffe and it is there saide that there is no Tythes paide for such wilde Beastes Certaine cases collected and gathered out of the bookes of the yeares and Termes of the Common Lawe Graunt concerning Forestes Parkes and Chases as followeth IN Termino Michaelis Anno. 1. 2. Elizabeth Regina M. 1. 2. Reginae Elizabethe Dier fo 169. nota ibidem 1. The case was as followeth Rex Henricus 8. per litteras patentes datas Anno regni sui 33. ex certa scientia et mero motu suis dedit concessit et ad firmam tradidit Richardo Crumwell militi Forestas suas de Waybridge Sapley in comÌ„ Hunt habend sibi cum suis partibus membris porcellis pertinentijs vniuersis ad terminum lxxx Annorum reddend vi li.xiii s. iiii d. per Annum c. oue cest clause scilicet praedictus R C. executores assignati custodient habebunt manutenebunt in forestis de tempore in tempus durante termino praedicto centum damas eosdem seu alios consimiles in numero in praedictis Forestis in fine termini praedicti dimittent praefato Regi haeredibus successoribus suis Le parol Forest include le game touts auters choses in le forest sans ascun auter reseruation del game Et ore le seignior North que ad le fee simple voil prender de la game ou donor garrant la. Et come semble a plus part de les Iustices Sariants dambidenx measons et al Atturney la Roigne que il ne poit car tout le game fuit include en le parol et nosme de Forest et les 100. dames ne sont reserues destre occide ne ascun de eux Car donques nest possible pur le lesse a performer son couenant supra mes il est reserue tantum pur la maintenance del game forest Purpresture Anno. 7. Elizabeth Dier fo 240. b. nota 45. Anno septimo Elizabeth the case was as followeth Fuit resolue per le plus parte de les Iustices et le Counsell del Roigne cest terme a Sariants Inne In presentia Comitis Sussex Iustic ' Forestar ' citra trentam que le building de vn nouel mease in le seueral soyle ou in west dascun home deins vn Forest est vn Purpresture et noyance al forest et game finable ou rentable pur le tolleration ou permission de ceo destoyer al arbitrement et discretion del Iustice Grannt de herbage del Forost Anno. 11. Reginae Elizabeth Dier fo 285. nota 40 Per graunt de herbagio Forestae The Patentee may inclose the Forest Malefactoribus in parcis Anno. 15. 16 Elizabeth Dier fo 326. nota 3. Purlieu del Chase ou raceable et desire deserue al pleasure c. Anno. 11. Elizabeth the case was as followeth Le grauntee ou Patentee del Roy de herbagio forestiae auera trespas vers ascun que consume ou descroy les herbes mes nemy larbres ne del fruit de ceo et auxi prendra beastes la dammage fesant et le brief de Trespas quare clausum fregit sibien il fuit de terre et per le oppinion de iii. Iustices in Banco Regis Termino Trinitatis 2. H. 8. Le patente poic incloser le Forest per tiel graunt In Anno 15. 16 Elizabeth the case was as followeth Le Chase de Whaddon est le inheritance del Corone et le seignior Gxey lieutenant de ceo in fee et il et ses auncestours lour keepers per prescription on t vse de hunter in auxi bien per nute come per iour les dames vagrants in le maner dun Fortescue de S. adioignant al dit Chase come in le purlieu del Chase mes deuided oue vn hay dych Et Fortescue ad per le grant del Roigne auxibien le dit Maner come le franke warren in les demesne terres de ceo Auxi bien per sa graunt demesne come per confirmation dauncient former Charters oue les parols Ita quod nullus intret in Warrennam illam ad fugand'sine licentia voluntate F. Les keepers del Seignior Greye in August darreine fueront disturbe et nauffrees pur vsant cest libertie in hunting en les dits demeanes oue graund violence et daÌ„mage fait per les seruants de F. de guels ils estoyent indicted et per mandatum de lour master puis quel temps vn seruant del seigniour Gray esteant in le companie del keeper naufre al dit affray est mort des strokes c. cest matter esteant primes oye deuaunt le Counsell fuit commit al examination pur les ley matters a les deux chiefe Iustices et latturney generall queux ayant oyes les parties lour Counsailours pensent le
holde and enioy their said Bailiwikes And which of them do giue or render to our soueraigne Lady the Queenes Maiestie any yerely ferme or annuitie for their said Bailiwikes And how much they render for the same And who do not And what of right they or any of them ought to haue and take of the saide Forest to pay the saide ferme or Annuitie And by what metes and bondes they do and of right ought to hold their said Bailiwikes And what demesne lands the Quéene hath in euery of the saide Bailiwikes and by what meates and boundes they be inuironned and set about with c. 29 Item you shal enquir if any Forester of fée or any other hath taken any reward of any Forester that he ought to be put deemed taken within the liberty of the Forest after the receipte of such rewarde doth remoue and displace the saide Forester put a newe in his place for a newe reward to the great detriment and hurte of the Forest and griefe of the Countrie 30 If any person or persons within the limittes and bounds of the Forest or without to the hurte or preiudice of the Forest haue newly inclosed his seueral grounde Woods or Warren or hath afforested any Wood of his owne without warrant of the Queenes Maiestie you shall do vs to weete of his name 31 Item Deare found dead or wounded you shall inquire whether any Deare founde newly dead or otherwise wounded in such sort that the same cannot recouer his hurte and so found and taken by the Foresters whether the flesh and bodies of such dead or hurt Deare hath beene giuen and bestowed to the Lazer-house or Spitell-house next adioyning if any such there be and if there be no such Lazer-house nere adioyning then whether the flesh and bones of such Deare aforesaide hath béene bestowed giuen and imparted among the poore people next inhabiting the Forest and if they haue béene so well bestowed then whether the Verderors or Countrie can testifie the samd yea or no c. 32 Also of all such Deare as hath béene found and taken as last before whether the head and skinne of the same haue béene deliuered to the frée-men of the next towne adioyning c. 33 Item if any Arrowe or Arrowes hath beene founde within the Forest whether due presentment hath béene made to the Verderors thereof to the intent that the saide Verderor in his Roll might enter the same c. 34 Item Greyhounds if there be any Grey-houndes founde running within the said forest to the disturbance of the Quéenes game whether the same hath béen presented in the presentmēts of the verderors to the intent that the same should be sent to the Quéene or to the chiefe Iustice of the Forest 35 Item you shall inquire if all the deggs which be within the bounds of the Forest and ought to be lawed be wel orderly lawed and made profitable for the saide Forest yea or no. 36 Item if any man in time of Haruest haue taken in any Massiue or great dogge within the saide Forest c. to the hurt of the Deare or not 37 Also if any person or persons to whome the Quéenes Maiestie or any of her progenitors hath of late or old time graunted libertie of frée chasing within the Forest if they or any of them by meanes and coloure thereof haue done any preiudice to the Queenes Maiestie in the saide Forest yea or not 38 Also if the Queenes Maiestie or any of her progenitors hath graunted libertie to hunte Vermen of chase that is to saie Foxes Marternes Wild Cartes Pole-Cattes and Squiriles within the said forest whether they or any of them by colour therof hath killed any of the Queenes Deare yea or not 39 Item if any person haue at any time seene any trespasser in the Forest take any Deare there and hath not leuied hue and crie to take him ye shall present his name c. 40 Item you shall inquire what persons there be within the boundes of the Forest or without that doth keepe any Doggs that wil runn kil the Deare or kil Hares or any other beasts of chase or doth keepe any maner of engine to take the said Deare or other beasts or who doth by any maner of engin take a Deare or such beastes and who are receiuors ayding and concenting to the same you shall present the same 41 Item whether any Deare were or hath beene taken by what manner of persones the same hath beene so taken and whether it were by warrant or without warrant Item you shall inquire if any haue bene offenders in warrens or fish-pooles within the liberties of the Forest 42 Ye shall moreouer inquite what person or persons within the boundes limittes of the Forest hath any Bowes Shaftes hounds or any other engins to the end to preiudice the Queenes Maiestie of her beastes of chase and who is accustomed to enter into the said Forest with Bowe and Shaftes you shall present the same 43 Item you shall inquire whether any person to whom the Queenes Maiestie or any other person by reason of his office hath giuen any Deare hath taken any other kind or more Deare then hath beene so giuen him And what Foresters officers or other persons haue beene ayding and assisting to the same and whether the same were taken without sight of the Foresters and Verderors yea or no. Also ye shall inquire who hath taken any kinde of Hawks Fesants Partridge or other Fowle of Warren within the said Forest contrarie to the Lawes of the same Purlieu borders 44 Item ye shal inquire if there be any man that hath hunted the Queenes Deare within vii miles about the forest at any time within xl daies next before the Queenes hunting or xl daies next after it was done for these causes for that the King afore his hunting or his commissioners ordained to take the view of the game his grace should haue the sight of his Deare where they lie at rest in their haunt and after the hunting because when they be driuen out with strength of hounds and noise of men and hornes may after resorte againe to their haunte in the Forest 45 If any Purlew hunter hunt disorderly to the distruction of the Queenes game in the Forest or kill Deare Purlieu or hunt before the Sonne or after or with any other then with his meniall seruants or hunteth vpon the Sondaies 46 Item if any Purlew hunter at any time forestall the kings Deare whether it be by dead haie or quicke heye Purlieu for they may not forstall but let flip at the taile and whether any Purley hunter hath hunted in the fence Moneth or not 47 Item Purlieu if any man commeth into the Purlew and findeth a Deare in his feading and goeth against the winde and so slayeth him with bow or Gray-hounde or other Engin or forseth him at any gap or pitch as the Deare is woont to
tunc non expeditatus det pro misericordia tres solidos By these wordes of the Charter aforesaid here are two things especially to be noted The first is that it must be found by the inquisition and view of the Regarders what maner of Dogg it is that is vnexpeditated And who is the owner of the same Dogg that is by Law to be charged with the fyne or amercement for the same The second is that he whose Dogg the same is shall paye for his amercement 3. s. which is certaine Master Hesket fo 27. So that now the certaintie of the fyne or amercement is here specified and declared and who shal be charged with the same But saith Master Hesket it is to be vnderstood that the same 3. s. shal be taken or leuyed vpon the determination of the view and inquirie which shal be done so soone as the regard is made as is aforesaide and their view and inquirie certified of recorde Then if in case that the Regarders by their view and presentment do finde and present one Mastiffe within the forest which is not hameled or expeditated according to the Lawes of the forest And they say further in their presentment quod ignorant ' cuius Canis ille est that is a voide presentment If that there be no other wordes afterwardes to helpe the same but yet neuerthelesse the same dogg shal be taken and kept by the officers of the forest or else auoided away cleane from the forest if no person will claime the same dogg And if that any person do claime the same dogg by Accion of trespasse or repleui or otherwise by matter of recorde as a man may verie well as it séemeth and the same Accion is tryed and thereby proued to be his Dogg that so did claime him Then vpon that tryall and vpon the first presentment the same owner shal be amerced to the King thrée shillings according to the saide Charter of the forest And if the Regarders doe finde and present one dogg vt supra which is the dogg of one Iohn Astile that is a good indictment and the saide Iohn Astile cannot disclaime nor saie that the same is not his dogg generally and the cause is as Maister Hesket Maister Treherne do think by reason of the letter of the Statut which is quod ille cuius tunc inuentus fuerit c. So that if it be there so found by matter of record for the king then Iohn Astyle shall paye his amercement for he cannot counterplede that poynt generally against the presentment or returne of the officers of the king that are sworne And if a man be indited that he did kéepe one Dogg of one Iohn Astyle within the Forest not hameled contrary to the lawes of the Forest If before the Iustices of the Forest he doe plede that the dogg is not his that is no plee without saying to whome the propertie of the dogg is as to Iohn Astyle c. And if the Iurie do finde that the propertie of the dogg is not to the said Iohn Astyle nor yet vnto Iohn Adowne that is no sufficient verdict without finding to what other person the propertie of the dogg was For in that case it is like to a man that is indicted by the Coroner super visum corporis and he doth plede not guiltie and so it is found by the Iury that he is not guiltie yet that is no sufficient verdict without presenting one other person that did the murder which presentment shal be in the nature of an enditement against him so that if he plede not guiltie that is no plee nor yet to finde him not guiltie is not any verdict against such a presentment vt supra If the Regarders doe finde and present such a Dogg at the house or in the house of Iohn A downe within the Forest yet that Iohn Adowne shall not bee amerced by reason of such a presentment But if the Regarders doe find that Iohn Astyle did keeâ—â— such a Dogg within the Forest that is a good presentment for to charge Iohn Astyle with the amercement of that Statute But if the Regarders doe finde and present that Iohn Astyle did deliuer one Dogg to Iohn Adowne to keepe within the Forest and that he kept that dogg there In that case the deliuerer or bayler shal be charged vpon that presentment and amercement according to the saide Charter and not the baylee or he to whome the dogg was deliuered But if the Regarders doe finde and present that Iohn Astyle did deliuer the saide dogg for a certaine time to keepe vnto Iohn Adowne which Iohn Adowne did keepe the same dogg within the Forest not hameled There both the bayler and the baylee shal be amerced But if it be found that the dogg that was so deliuered was a pledge or a morgage for money vt supra there he to whom the dogg was delyuered onely shal be charged of the amercement and not the baylor And if it bee found and presented that Iohn Astyle as a trespasser vi et armis did take the dogg of one Iohn Adowne and did keepe him within the Forest not expeditated Iohn Adowne the owner shal be charged of the amercement not Iohn Astyle the trespasser So it is if it be presented that Iohn Astyle vi et armis doe take the dogg of one Iohn Adowne from him And he vpon that brought a repleuie and that Iohn Astyle so kept that dogg within the forest not expeditated There Iohn Adowne the verie owner of the dogg onely shall be charged of the amercement and not Iohn Astyle that kept his dogg Nowe the letter of the Statute is Det pro misericordia tres solidos So that if it be presented and founde that one Iohn Astyle hath 2. doggs within the Forest not expeditated he shall not be amerced for euerie dogg thrée shillings but onely thrée shillings for all the offence But if two men haue ioyntly or in common one dogg within the Forest not expeditated There euery one of them shal be amerced to three shillings seuerally But otherwise it is if it be founde and presented that the husband and wife haue one dogg by reason that the wife is executrix to him to whome the dog was belonging There the husband only shal be amerced but to three shillings And if it be found by the Regarders of the forest in their inquisition that a Duke an Earle a Baron or any other person of the Realme Spirituall or Temporall doe keepe such a dogg within the Forest vnexpeditated he shall pay but onely the amercement of three shillings according to the letter of the Charter of the liberties of the Forest and not any amercement according to his dignitie and degree as they doe at the common lawe But if such a great person of dignitie or honor be presented and indicted for the keeping of such doggs before the Iustices of the Forest there they shal be out of the remedy and Priuiledge
are sundrie very good presidentes to warrant either of these thre waies aforesaid And cōcerning distresses as I do take it those that doe make defaultes at the saide Courtes of Swanimote and the same defaultes being recorded then the defaulters may bee distrayned to appeare at the next Swanimote of common right Like as vppon an originall where a man is Sommoned and doth not appeare afterwardes a distresse shal goe out immediatly against him and then as it seemeth those that doe make default there shall be bound to a double distresse by reason of that default that is to saie one distresse for the amercement by reason of his non apparance pro secta sua non facta The nature of a distresse and another for a new apparance at the next Swanimote be it sute reall or sute Seruice or else by direct proces of common right like vnto a distresse against a Iuror to distraine him to come to the next Swanimote But now for the better vnderstanding of the word distresse I wil here speake somthing concerning the nature of the same And where distresses may be lawfully made taken in such cases which doe concerne Swanimotes and what things may lawfully be had or taken in execution for distresses And for that it is to be vnderstood that if an officer of the Forest do make default at any Court of Swanimote then the chief Warden of the Forest or his Lieutenant or the Bedell of the Forest may destraine him for that amercement of three shillings or more or lesse in any land that hee hath or doth hold by reason of his office if he do hold any land so And in the like maner he may distrayne any other land that he hath within the Forest although that the same doe not appertaine vnto his office but he cannot distraine him out of the Forest in his landes but he may distraine the goodes or Cattels of that officer How distresses ought to be taken although that they be in the landes of any other man within the Forest And the same lawe is of euery other man that ought to appeare at the said Courtes of Swanimote as the foure men and the Reue Baylife Constable Tithingman Free-holder of Iuror which is Sommoned to appeare at the said Court of Swanimot to be of any Iury for the Queenes Maiestie or any other seruice there as in the case is afore said And if the said chief Warden of the Forest or his Lieutenant or the saide Bedell of the Forest which ought to distraine cannot find any distresse of his within the Forest then he ought to certifie the same before the Iustices of the Forests and vpon a Testatum there that such a person which ought to appeare at the Court of Swanimote in such a forest did make default and for the same he was amerced and that he hath not any lands nor goods within the Forest that he may be distrayned by but that he hath sufficient landes within such a County which is out of the Forest then vpon that Testatum there shall goe a write or precept to the Shirife of the said foren Countie which is out of the Forest where he hath sufficient of landes ad distringendum terras et tenementa cuiusmodi A. B. comitat ' illo c. And then by vertue of that write or precept the Shirife may lawfully distraine him there for that amercement and so you may see that the Iustices of the Forest vpon such a Testatum as is afore saide may cause a write or precept to bee made to the Shirife of a foren Countie that is out of the Forest to leuie such a mercement by distresse and yet they are not properly Iustices within the saide Counties but Iustices of the Forestes within those Counties this is affirmed by the opinion of Maister Hesket Master Hesket Fo 37. And if the Bedell of the Forest or other officer do come to distraine for such an amercement in the Forest and the owner of the same goods which are to be distrained knowing thereof by couine doth come before that the said Bedell or other officer hath distrained them and doth conuey them away out of the forest in this case although that such an officer do freshly pursue them yet he cānot lawfully take those goods nor distraine them being out of the bounds of the forest But if such an officer had taken and once seised the beastes of the defaulter for such an amercement lawfully as a distresse and then the owner by force had taken them from him and so driue them out of the Forest then the said Bedell or officer may make hue and crye freshly pursue after him and so take those beastes from the said rescusor in any place wheresoeuer out of the Forest And the same law is if a straunger do take those beastes from the Bedell or officer after that he hath distrained them and then doth deliuer them to the first owner againe which doth driue them out of the Forest then the saide Bedell or officer may lawfully pursue them and take then againe But if that the beastes distrained vt supra do come backe to the owner againe into his land that is out of the bounds of the Forest by the negligence of the Bedell or officer that ought to haue impounded them then the officer cannot take them againe Master Mesket Fo. 38. For now the first distresse is determined by the comming backe againe of those beastes to the first owner which is done without his act for in this case it is not like to a rescous where the owner of those beastes doeth come to the possession of them againe by his owne wrong But if the Bedell or other officer do distraine for any amercecement vt supra and then doth deliuer the same beastes which he hath taken by distresse to a straunger to keepe to his owne vse whereby the straunger to whome they were deliuered so to keepe doth driue them to his owne land being within the Forest and afterwards the owner of those beastes doth take them out of his land that hath the keeping of them and driue them out of the Forest in this case the Bedell nor other officer can not take them againe now being out of the Forest But otherwise it is if that the Bedell or other officer had taken the distresse and deliuered the beastes vnto a straunger to keepe as a distresse In this case if the owner take them do driue them out of the Forest yet the Bedell or other officer may freshly pursue them take them againe from him although that they be without the Forest in a forreine Countie Note the difference where such beasts were deliuered to be kept as a distresse and where to be kept to his owne vse If an officer of the Forest or other person that ought to appeare at the Swanimote Court haue land within the Forest and the beastes of a straunger do escape into his land