Charta de foresta, 1217. Until this charter the penalties imposed by the crown for infringement of forest law were severe and horrible: mutilation and/or death. In the 1217 charter these penalties were repealed. However, 10 years later, Henry III reimposed them; by 1250 large parts of the country, esp. around London, were being treated as if *forest. It was said the forest had its own laws based not on the common law of the realm but on arbitrary legislation by the king. -
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.