[58] Coke viii. 43.
[59] 13 & 14 Car. ii. c. 12.
[60] Selden Society, vol. vi. p. 35.
[61] Secular Dooms, Cap. 81.
[62] All evil customs of forests and warrens, and of foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, waterbanks and their keepers, shall immediately be inquired into by twelve knights of the same county, upon oath, who shall be chosen by the good men of the same county; and within forty days after the inquisition is made, they shall be quite destroyed by them, never to be restored.—Magna Carta.
[63] Spelman's Glossary in verbo "foresta."
[64] Manwood, "Treatise of the Forest Laws," 4th ed., p. 143.
[65] Vert included trees, underwood and turf; venison comprised the hart, the hind, the hare, the boar and the wolf, which were beasts of forest—the buck, the doe, the fox and the marten, which were beasts of chase—the rabbit, pheasant, partridge, quail, mallard, heron, etc., which were beasts or fowls of warren. So sacred was the stag that should one be found dead an inquest had to be held, and a verdict as to the cause of death taken. (See Low and Pulling's "Dictionary of English History," under Forests.)
[66] It was a universal principle of Early English Law that no defence was valid if the culprit was caught red-handed, he was ipso facto convicted. (See Carter's "English Legal History," p. 175.)
[67] Assisa et Consuetudines Forestae, anno 6, Edward I.