MANWOOD, John. A treatise of the lavves of the forest: vvherein is declared not onely those lawes, as they are now in force, but also the originall and beginning of forests: and what a forest is in his owne proper nature, and wherein the same doth differ from a chase, a parke, or a warren … Also a treatise of the pourallee … neuer heretofore printed for the publique. London: Printed [by Adam Islip?] for the Societie of Stationers. 1615.
4to. Contemporary full brown calf, triple blind fillet to sides, sometime rebacked, spine with raised bands and red morocco gilt lettering piece, edges stained red, endpaper renewed; ff. [1 (blank)], [15], 258 [i.e. 259], [1 (blank)], text printed in black letter, woodcut head-piece and initials; corners bumped, repaired tear without loss to p. 227, slight age-toning to margins, contemporary signature to title page with occasional manuscript notes in two hands throughout, very good.
Second edition, the most notable edition of Manwood's standard text on forest law, containing material from his privately circulated A Brefe Collection of the Lawes of the Forrest (1592) that was not included in the first edition of 1598.
Cited by Blackstone, this book was considered to be the most authoritative secondary source on forest law well into the twentieth century. Certainly it is a great work of scholarship as Manwood collated sources as disparate as Cnut's Civil Dooms and Henry III's Charter of the Forest.
The law as described by Manwood is very much on the side of the landowner, primarily the Crown but also the gentry. For example, the section on the Pourallee (or purlieu) covers the rights of those who own land on the border of a royal forest and who are legally qualified to hunt within the forest. This is to be expected as Manwood (who died in 1610) was the chief magistrate of the New Forest on behalf of Elizabeth I.
The very neat and erudite marginal notes suggest that this copy has been used for reference by at least two legal scholars.
ESTC S111855
#2123693