Forest. wood forest on the Trent, Dean forest on the Severn, and Windsor forest on the Thames.

A forest in the hands of a subject is properly the same thing with a CHASE; being subject to the common law, and not to the forest laws. But a chase differs from a forest in that it is not enclosed: and likewise, that a man may have a chase in another man's ground as well as his own; being indeed the liberty of keeping beasts of chase, or royal game therein, protected even from the owner of the land, with a power of hunting them thereon. See PARK.

The manner of erecting a forest is thus: Certain commissioners are appointed under the great seal, who view the ground intended for a forest, and fence it round; this commission being returned into chancery, the king causeth it to be proclaimed throughout the country where the land lieth, that it is a forest; and prohibits all persons from hunting there, without his leave. Though the king may erect a forest on his own ground and waste, he may not do it on the ground of other persons without their consent; and agreements with them for that purpose ought to be confirmed by parliament.

A forest, strictly taken, cannot be in the hands of any but the king; for no person but the king has power to grant a commission to be justice in eyre of the forest : yet, if he grants a forest to a subject, and that on request made in the chancery, that subject and his heirs shall have justices of the forest, in which case the subject has a forest in law.

A second property of a forest is, the courts thereof. See FOREST Courts, infra.

A third property is the officers belonging to it, as the justices, warden, verderer, forester, agistor, regarder, keeper, bailiff, beadle, &c. See the articles AGISTOR, BAILIFF, FORESTER, &c.

By the laws of the forest, the receivers of trespasses in hunting, or killing of the deer, if they know them to be the king's property, are principal trespassers. Likewise, if a trespass be committed in a forest, and the trespasser dies, after his death it may be punished in the lifetime of the heir, contrary to common law. Our Norman kings punished such as killed deer in any of their forests with great severity; also in various manners; as by hanging, loss of limbs, gelding, and putting out eyes. By magna charta de foresta, it is ordained, that no person shall lose life or member for killing the king's deer in forests, but shall be fined; and if the offender has nothing to pay the fine, he shall be imprisoned a year and a day, and then be delivered, if he can give security not to offend for the future, &c. 9 Hen. III. c. 1.

Before this statute, it was felony to hunt the king's deer; and by a late act, persons armed and disguised, appearing in any forest, &c. if they hunt, kill, or steal any deer, &c. are guilty of felony. 9 Geo. I. c.

22.

He who has any license to hunt in a forest or chase, &c. is to take care that he does not exceed his authority; otherwise he shall be deemed a trespasser from the beginning, and be punished for that fact, as if he had no license. See further, the articles GAME, and GameLaw.

Beasts of the forest are, the hart, hind, buck, doe, boar, wolf, fox, hare, &c. The seasons for hunting

Forest.

whereof are as follow, viz. that of the bart and buck begins at the feast of St John Baptist, and ends at Holy--reod day; of the hind and doe, begins at Holy rood, and continues till Candlemas; of the boar, from Christmas to Candlemas; of the fox, begins at Christmas, and continues till Lady-day; of the hare at Michaelmas, and lasts till Candlemas.

FOREST-Courts, courts instituted for the government of the king's forests in different parts of the kingdom, and for the punishment of all injuries done to the king's deer or venison, to the vert or greenswerd, and to the covert in which such deer are lodged. These are the courts of ATTACHMENTS, of REGARD, of SWEINMOTE, and of JUSTICE-SEAT. 1. The court of attachments, woodmote, or forty days court, is to be held before the verderers of the forest once in every forty days; and is instituted to inquire into all offenders against vert and venison who may be attached by their bodies, if taken with the mainour (or mainœuvre, à manu) that is, in the very act of killing venison, or stealing wood, or in the preparing so to do, or by fresh and immediate pursuit after the act is done; else they must be attached by their goods. And in this forty-days court the foresters or keepers are to bring in their attachments, or presentments de viridi et venatione ; and the verderers are to receive the same, and to enrol them, and to certify them under their seals to the court of justiceseat or sweinmote: for this court can only inquire of, but not convict, offenders. 2. The court of regard, or survey of dogs, is to be holden every third year for the lawing or expeditation of mastiffs; which is done by cutting off the claws of the fore feet, to prevent them from running after deer. No other dogs but mastiffs are to be thus lawed or expeditated, for none other were permitted to be kept within the precincts of the forest; it being supposed that the keeping of these, and these only, was necessary for the defence of a man's house. 3. The court of sweinmote is to be holden before the verderers, as judges, by the steward of the sweinmote, thrice in every year; the sweins or freeholders within the forest composing the jury. The principal jurisdiction of this court is, first, to inquire into the oppressions and grievances committed by the officers of the forest; "de super-oneratione forestariorum, et aliorum ministrorum forestæ; et de eorum oppressionibus populo regis illatis," and, secondly to receive and try presentments certified from the court of attachments against offences in vert and venison. And this court may not only inquire, but convict also; which conviction shall be certified to the court of justice-seat under the seals of the jury, for this court cannot proceed to judgment. But the principal court is, 4. The court of justice-seat, which is held before the chief justice in eyre, or chief itinerant judge,, capitalis justiciarius in itinere, or his deputy; to hear and determine all trespasses within the forest, and all claimes of franchises, liberties, and privileges, and all pleas and causes whatsoever therein arising. It may also proceed to try presentments in the inferior courts of the forests, and to give judgment upon conviction of the sweinmote. the chief justice may therefore, after presentment made or indictment found, but not before, issue his warrant to the officers of the forest to apprehend the offenders. It may be held every third year; and 40 days notice ought to be given of its sitting. This court

And

may

Forest, may fine and imprison for offences within the forest, it Fore-staff. being a court of record: and therefore a writ of error lies from hence to the court of king's bench, to rectify and redress any mal-administrations of justice; or the chief justice in eyre may adjourn any matter of law in to the court of king's bench.

FOREST-Laws, are peculiar laws, different from the common law of England. Before the making of Charta de Foresta, in the time of King John and his son Henry III. confirmed in parliament by 9 Henry III. of fences committed therein were punished at the pleasure of the king in the severest manner. By this charter, many forests were disafforested and stripped of their oppressive privileges, and regulations were made for the government of those that remained; particularly, killing the king's deer was made no longer a capital offence, but only punished by fine, imprisonment, or abjuration of the realm: yet even in the charter there were some grievous articles, which the clemency of later princes has since by statute thought fit to alter per assisas foresta. And to this day, in trespasses relating to the forest, voluntas reputabitur pro facto; so that if a man be taken hunting a deer, he may be arrested as if he had taken a deer.

FOREST Towns, in Geography, certain towns of Suabia in Germany, lying along the Rhine, and the confines of Switzerland, and subject to the house of Austria. Their names are Rhinefield, Seckingen, Laufenburg, and Waldshut.

FORE-STAFF, an instrument used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies. The fore-staff, called also cross-staff, takes its denomination hence, that the observer, in using it, turns his face towards the object; in opposition to the back-staff, where he turns his back to the object.

The fore or cross-staff, consists of a straight square staff, graduated like a line of tangents, and four crosses or vanes, which slide on it. The first and shortest of these vanes, is called the ten cross, or vane, and be longs to that side of the instrument on which the divisions begin at three degrees and end at ten. The next longer vane, is called the thirty cross, belonging to that side of the staff in which the divisions begin at ten degrees and end at thirty, called the thirty scale. The next vane is called the sixty cross, and belongs to the side where the divisions begin at twenty degrees and end at sixty. The last and longest, called the ninety cross, belongs to the side where the divisions begin at thirty degrees and end at ninety.

The use of this instrument is to take the height of the sun and stars, or the distance of two stars: and the ten, thirty, sixty, or ninety crosses, are to be used according as the altitude is greater or less; that is, if the altitude be less than ten degrees, the ten cross is to be used; if above ten, but less than thirty, the thirty cross is to be used, &c. Note, For altitudes greater than thirty degrees, this instrument is not so convenient as a quadrant or semicircle.

To observe an Altitude by this instrument.-Apply the flat end of the staff to your eye, and look at the upper end of the cross for the centre of the sun or star, and at the lower end for the horizon. If you see the sky instead of the horizon, slide the cross a little nearer the eye; and if you see the sea instead of the horizon, slide the cross farther from the eye; and thus continue mo

ving till you see exactly the sun or star's centre by the Fore-staff top of the cross, and the horizon by the bottom thereof. Then the degrees and minutes, cut by the inner edge of Forfar. the cross upon the side of the staff peculiar to the cross you use, give the altitude of the sun or star.

If it be the meridian altitude you want, continue your observation as long as you find the altitude increase, still moving the cross nearer to the eye. By substracting the meridian altitude thus found from 90 degrees, you will have the zenith distance. To work accurately, an allowance must be made for the height of the eye above the surface of the sea, viz. for one English foot, I minute; for 5 feet, 24; for 10 feet 3; for 20 feet, 5; for 40 feet, 7, &c. These minutes subtracted from the altitude observed, and added to the zenith distance observed, give the true altitude and ze. nith distance.

To observe the distance of two stars, or the moon's distance from a star, by the fore-staff-Apply the instrument to the eye, and looking to both ends of the cross, move it nearer or farther from the eye till you see the two stars, the one on the one end, and the other on the other end of the cross; then the degrees and minutes cut by the cross on the side proper to the vane in use give the stars distance.

FORESTALLER, a person who is guilty of forestalling. See the next article.

FORESTALLING, in Law, buying or bargaining for any corn, cattle, victuals, or merchandise, in the way as they come to fairs or markets to be sold, before they get thither, with an intent to sell the same again at a higher price.

The punishment for this offence, upon conviction at the quarter sessions by two or more witnesses, is, for the first time, two months imprisonment and the loss of the goods, or the value; for the second offence the offender shall be imprisoned six months, and lose double the value of the goods: for the third offence he shall suffer imprisonment during the king's pleasure, forfeit all his goods and chattels, and stand on the pillory: but the statute does not extend to maltsters buying barley, or to badgers licensed.

FORESTER, a sworn officer of the forest, appointed by the king's letters patent, to walk the forest at all hours, and watch over the vert and venison; also to make attachments and true presentments of all trespasses committed within the forest.

If a man come into a forest in the night, a forester cannot lawfully beat him before he makes some resistance; but in case such a person resists the forester, he may justify a battery. And a forester shall not be questioned for killing a trespasser that, after the peace cried to him, will not surrender himself, if it be not done on any former malice; though, where trespassers in a forest, &c. do kill a person that opposes them, it is murder in all, because they were engaged in an unlawful act, and therefore malice is implied to the person killed.

FORETHOUGHT FELONY, in Scots Law, signifies premeditated murder. See MURDER.

FORFAR, a town of Scotland, and capital of the county of that name, situated in N. Lat. 56. 37. W. Long. 2. 55. This town, with Dundee, Cupar, Perth, and St Andrew's, jointly send one member to the British parliament. It stands in the great

valley,

Forfar. valley of Strathmore that runs from Perth north-east to the sea, almost in a straight line, about 50 miles long and betwixt four and five miles broad, bounded on the south side by gentle hills, and on the north by the Grampian mountains.

Forfar is a very ancient town, and was once a royal residence. Here Malcolm Canmore held his first parliament in 1957. The ruins of his palace are still to be seen on the top of an artificial mount of a circular form, resting upon a base of about three acres of ground, and rising 50 feet high above the plain. The lake of Forfar, stretching two miles in length from east to west, and half a mile in breadth, and covering the palace on the north, afforded not only a plentiful supply of water for every purpose, but also added to the strength of the place. This lake, which abounds with trout, pike, perch, and eel, has been greatly reduced by draining; and fine marl has been found in strata from two to six and eight feet deep, with moss below ten feet deep.

Within this lake were formerly two islands raised by art, with buildings on each; to which Margaret, Malcolm Canmore's queen, retired after the decease of her husband. Part of the ruins of these edifices are still to be seen.

Little is known of Forfar till the middle of the 17th century, except an act passed in the 13th parliament of James VI. 21st July, 1593, in the following words, which affords a specimen of the manners and language of the times: "Our soveraine Lorde, understanding that be acte and ordinance maid anent observation of the Sabbath daie within this realme, the mercattedaie of the burgh of Forfare, being the head burgh of the schire, quhilk was Sundaie, is taken from them; and his bienesse not willing that they in onie waies suld be prejudged hereby, therefore his hienesse, with advise of the estaites of this present parliament, alteris and changis their said mercatte-daie from Sundaie to Fridaie, and willis the samen Fridaie oukly to be their mercatte-daie to them in all times hereafter; and the samin to stande with the like priveleges and freedomes as the Sundaie did of before." The market day has been long held on Saturday.

During the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell, a detachment of his forces, after sacking Dundee, came to Forfar and burnt all the public records of the place ; and the only charter the town now has is one granted by Charles II. after his restoration, confirming all its ancient rights and privileges.

As an evidence of the ignorance and barbarity of the times, it appears from the records of the trials kept in the charter-chest of Forfar, that nine persons were condemned and burnt here for witchcraft betwixt the years 1650 and 1662. These innocent people were all tried by a special commission from the lords of the privy council at Edinburgh; and although the commission expressly discharged torturing them on purpose to extort a confession of their guilt, yet, as it was then thought meritorious to obtain confession of guilt by whatever means, many inhuman cruelties were exercised upon the unfortunate objects; particularly, an iron boot was drawn upon one of their legs, and a wedge driven with great force between it and the leg. Another instrument, still carefully preserved here, was likewise used, and is called the witch bridle. It is made of iron in the shape of a dog's collar, with two pikes

on the inside, about four inches distant and two and a half long. These pikes were put into the mouth, and the collar afterwards buckled strait on the back of the head, to which was affixed an iron chain, whereby the condemned persons were led to the place of execution called the Play field, about a quarter of a mile to the northward of the town.

The streets of Forfar are rather irregular; but many of the houses are neat and well built. Osnaburgs and coarse linens are manufactured here; and many of the inhabitants are employed in making a coarse kind of shoes. Population 5652 in 1811.

FORFAR-Shire, a county of Scotland, of which Forfar is the capital. Including Angus, Glenisla, Glenesk, and Glenprossin, it extends between 40 and 50 miles from east to west, and 16 where broadest, though in some places the breadth does not exceed five miles. On the north it is divided from the Brae of Mar by a ridge of the Binchinnan mountains; it is bounded on the south by the frith of Tay and the British ocean, on the east by Mearns, and on the west by Perthshire. Part of the Grampian mountains runs through this county, which is agreeably diversified with hill and dale. It produces some lead and iron, together with freestone, slate, and limestone. Coarse linens and sail cloth are the chief manufactures of the county. It is well watered with lakes, rivers, rivulets, and fountains, shaded with large forests, roughened with brown mountains, and waved with green hills interspersed with fields and meadows, and adorned with fine seats and plantations. Their heaths and woods abound with hart, hind, roebuck, and moor game; their streams are stocked with trout and salmon. Their hills are covered with flocks of sheep, and their fields afford plentiful harvests of wheat and all sorts of grain. The mountains to the weet and north are inhabited by Highlanders: but the Lowlanders possess the towns and champaign country, and are remarkable for their politeness and hospitality.

The population of this county in 1811 amounted to 107,264. But in the following table is exhibited a view of its population, at two different periods.

estate for life or years, may forfeit it many ways, as Forfeiture. well as by reason of felony; such as alienation, claiming a greater estate than he hath, or affirming the reversion to be in a stranger, &c. When a tenant in tail makes leases not warranted by the statute; a copyholder commits waste, refuses to pay his rent, or do suit of court; and where an estate is granted upon condition, or non-performance thereof, &c. they will make a forfeiture.

571 929 1747

1100 600

900

Parishes.

Population in 1755.

1790-1798.

Glenisla Guthrie

1852

1018

584

830

Lentrathen

1165

FORFEITURE, originally signifies a transgression or offence against some penal law. The word is formed of the base Latin forisfactura; whence forfaitura and forfaictura, and the French forfait. Forisfactura comes of forisfacere; which, according to Isidore, signifies to "hurt or offend," facere contra rationem; and which is not improbably derived of foris, 66 out, " and facere, "to do," g. d. an action out of rule or contrary to the rules. Borel will have forfuit derived from the using of force or violence: Lobineau, in his glossary, will have forisfacta properly to signify a mulct or amend, not a forfeit; which latter he derives from the Bas-Breton forfed, " a penalty."

But, with us, it is now more frequently used for the effect of such transgression; or the losing some right, privilege, estate, honour, office, or effects, in conse quence thereof; than for the transgression itself.

Forfeiture differs from confiscation, in that the former is more general; while confiscation is particularly applied to such things as become forfeited to the king's exchequer; and goods confiscated are said to be such as nobody claims.

Forfeitures may be either in civil or criminal cases. I. With respect to the first, a man that hath an

2

Entry for a forfeiture ought to be by him who is next in reversion, or remainder, after the estate forfeited. As if a tenant for life or years commits a forfeiture, he who has the immediate reversion or remainder ought to enter, though he has the fee, or only an estate-tail.

II. Forfeiture in criminal cases is twofold; of real, and personal estates.

1. As to real estates by ATTAINDER in high treason, a man forfeits to the king all his lands and tenements of inheritance, whether fee-simple or fee-tail; and all his rights of entry on lands and tenements, which he had at the time of the offence committed, or at any time afterwards, to be for ever vested in the crown; and also the profits of all lands and tenements, which he had in his own right for life or years, so long as such interest shall subsist. This forfeiture relates Blackst. backwards to the time of the treason committed; so as Comment. to avoid all intermediate sales and encumbrances, but not those before the fact: and therefore a wife's jointure is not forfeitable for the treason of her husband; because settled upon her previous to the treason committed. But her dower is forfeited, by the express provision of statute 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 11. And yet the husband shall be tenant by courtesy of the wife's lands, if the wife be attainted of treason; for that is not prohibited by the statute. But, though after attainder the forfeiture relates back to the time of the treason committed, yet it does not take effect unless an attainder be had, of which it is one of the fruits; and therefore, if a traitor dies before judgment pronounced, or is killed in open rebellion, or is hanged by martial law, it works no forfeiture of his lands: for he never was attainted of treason. But if the chief justice of the king's bench (the supreme coroner of all England) in person upon the view of the body of him killed in open rebellion, records it and returns the record into his own court, both lands and goods shall be forfeited.

The natural justice of the forfeiture or confiscation of property, for treason, is founded on this consideration : That he who hath thus violated the fundamental principles of government, and broken his part of the original contract between king and people, hath abandoned his connexions with society, and hath no longer any right to those advantages which before belonged to him purely as a member of the community; among which social advantages, the right of transferring or transmitting property to others is one of the chief. Such forfeitures, moreover, whereby his posterity must suffer as well as himself, will help to restrain a man, not only by the sense of his duty, and dread of personal punishment, but also by his passions and natural affections; and will interest every dependent and relation he has to keep him from offending: according to that beautiful sentiment of Cicero, nec vero me fugit quam sit acerbum, parentum scelera filiorum pœnis lui; sed hoc præclare