FORESTARIUS

4 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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FORESTARIUSAuthored
The Law Mind • 893 words
Definition
A Latin term from medieval English and Scots law designating a forester — an officer appointed to oversee and protect a forest or woodland. The forestarius was a custodial office, responsible for preventing waste, preserving timber, and maintaining the integrity of forest resources under the authority of the lord or crown. The term carries slightly different contours depending on jurisdiction: 1. English law. The forestarius was a forest officer charged with the care and protection of woods and forests. The office had sufficient legal standing that a specific writ — de forestario apponendo — existed to compel the appointment of a forestarius when a tenant in dower had committed waste in a woodland. The writ directed that a forester be placed in charge to prevent continuation of the waste. 2. Scots law. The forestarius or keeper of woods held an office to which certain perquisites attached by reason of the office itself — specifically, the bark of felled trees and the hewn branches. This proprietary incident of the office distinguishes the Scots usage from its English counterpart, where the role was more purely custodial. ---
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES The broader forest administration system within which the forestarius operated encompassed multiple officers and courts. English forest law distinguished between the chief forester (a high-ranking officer, sometimes a hereditary appointment) and subordinate foresters responsible for particular walks or divisions of a forest. The forestarius in general usage typically referred to the subordinate officer, though context in a given document may indicate rank. ---
Why It Matters in Research
This is a term almost exclusively encountered in medieval legal records, early common law treatises, and Scots legal texts. Researchers are unlikely to encounter it in post-seventeenth-century materials except as a historical reference. Several navigational points are worth noting: First, the writ de forestario apponendo is the primary procedural context in which forestarius appears in English legal sources. Researchers tracing waste doctrine or dower law in early common law materials should note that this writ reflects a distinct remedial mechanism — not simply an action for waste, but an anticipatory appointment of an officer to prevent ongoing harm. Second, the Scots usage has a different emphasis. In Scots records, the term appears in contexts involving the perquisites and emoluments of office, not merely in waste or forest-protection proceedings. A researcher analyzing Scottish land or tenure records should be alert to this distinction. Third, forest law generally is a highly specialized field of medieval English law with its own court structure — the Court of Attachments (Woodmote), the Court of Sweinmote, and the Justice-seat — and its own body of officers (verderers, regarders, agisters, and foresters). The forestarius cannot be fully understood in isolation from this system. Documents involving the forestarius will often implicate that broader administrative framework. Fourth, the Carta de Foresta (Charter of the Forest, 1217) and Bracton's De Legibus are the primary treatise sources cited in the historical dictionaries. Researchers should go to those sources directly when the office or its duties are at issue, as the dictionary entries are compressed summaries. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition: the forestarius is a forest officer charged with the care of woods, and the writ de forestario apponendo is its principal procedural association. Black's (both editions), Bouvier's, and Burrill's all cite Bracton at folio 316 and Du Cange, with Burrill also referencing the Carta de Foresta (chapters 7, 8, and 14) — a more precise citation that is useful for primary source research. Burrill provides the most substantive treatment, noting the specific function of the de forestario apponendo writ with care: it was available where a tenant in dower had committed waste, and the forester was appointed not punitively but preventively, to ensure no further damage occurred. This is a procedurally distinct posture worth preserving in any research analysis. Rapalje & Lawrence offers little independent value here, folding the entry into a cross-reference to FOREST LAW without developing the forestarius specifically. None of the historical dictionaries address the hereditary dimensions of certain chief foresterships in England, the stratified ranks of forest officers, or the court jurisdiction within which foresters operated. Researchers needing that depth must look beyond the dictionaries to forest law treatises and primary records. ---
Jurisdictional Note
The English and Scots usages are distinct. English law emphasized the custodial and preventive functions of the office; Scots law attached specific material perquisites to the forestarius by reason of the office itself. A document from Scots records using this term may therefore raise questions of office-holder entitlement that would not arise in an equivalent English context. ---
Related Terms
FORESTER — Modern English equivalent; functionally synonymous in most historical contexts FOREST LAW — The governing legal framework within which the forestarius operated WASTE — The wrong the de forestario apponendo writ was designed to prevent or halt DE FORESTARIO APPONENDO — The associated writ; distinct from general waste remedies VERDERER — Fellow forest officer in the English forest court system DOWER — The tenancy context most commonly triggering the appointment writ SWEINMOTE — One of the English forest courts with jurisdiction over forest officers and offenses REGARDER — Another officer in the forest court systemresponsible for periodic inspections
FORESTARIUSmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
In English law. A forester. An officer who takes care of the woods and forests. De forestario apponen- do, a writ which lay to appoint a forester to prevent further commission of waste when a tenant in dower had committed waste. Bract. 316; Du Cange. In Scotch law. A forester or keeper of woods, to whom, by reason of his office, per- tains the bark and the hewn branches. And, when he rides through the forest, he may take a tree as high as his own head. Skene de Verb. Sign. G
FORESTARIUSmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
-A forester. FORESTER.--See FOREST LAW. FORETHOUGHT FELCNY.-In the consisted of the Courts of Attachments, Regard, Scotch law, murder committed in consequence Sweinmote and Justice-seat. The Court of Atof a previous design.-Beli Dict. tachments, Woodmote, or Forty Days' Court, was (N. J.) 262, 266; 2 Pres. Est. 65. (in a statute). 5 Iowa 1. held before the verderors of the forest once in FOREVER, (in a deed). 4 Mass. 266; 6 Halst. every forty days, to inquire into all offences against vert and venison. The Court of Reward, or survey of dogs, held every third year, for the (in a will). 4 Halst. (N. J.) 10;3 expeditation of mastiffs. The Court of SweinBinn. (Pa.) 374, 390; 4 Wheel. Am. C. L. 382, mote was held before the verderors thrice in 401; 12 Ves. 215, 233; 1 Bro. Ch. 147; 1 Chit. every year, the sweins or freeholders within the Gen. Pr. 248; Co. Litt. 9b; Love. Wills 154, forest composing the jury. It inquired into the 262; 2 Pres. Est. 3, 74, 78; 8 Vin. Abr. 206, oppressions and grievances committed by the offipl. 6. cers of the forest, and tried presentments certified from the Court of Attachments against ts against offences in vert and venison. The Court of Justice-seat was held before the chief justice in eyre, or chief itinerant judge, or his deputy, to hear and determine all trespasses within the forest, and all claims of franchise, liberties and privileges, and all pleas and causes whatsoever therein arising. This was a court of record, but since the Revolution, in 1688, the forest laws have fallen into total disuse. (3 Steph. Com. (7 edit.) 317 n.) - Wharton. signs"). (not equivalent to "heirs and as 107 Mass. 591, 593. (synonymous with "permanently! 1 La. Ann. 315. FOREVER, HIM AND HIS ASSIGNS, (in a gran 2 Wend. (N. Y.) 492. FORFANG, or FORFENG.-The tak ing of provisions from any person in fairs o markets before the royal purveyors were servec with necessaries for the sovereign. -Cowell. Also the seizing and rescuing of stolen or strayed cattle from the hands of a thief, or of those having illegal possession of it; also the reward fixed for such rescue. - Wharton.
FORESTARIUSmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
L. Lat. [from foresta, a forest.] In old English law. A forester; an officer appointed to take care of a wood or forest. Cart. de Forest. c. 7, 8, 14. Where a tenant in dower had committed waste in a wood, there was an old writ de forestario apponendo, which lay for the appointment of a forester to take charge of the wood, and see that no further waste was done. Bract. fol. 316. In Scotch law. A forester or keeper of woods, to whom, by reason of his office, pertains the bark and the hewn branches. And when he rides through the forest, he may take a tree as high as his own head. Skene de Verb. Sign.

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