As in Austria, private ownership of forest property is largely
preponderant, while state property is small.
In ancient Gaul, the Romans found the forest outside of holy groves as
communal property. After the conquest, all the unseated lands,
especially the extensive mountain forests, were declared either State or
imperial property--more than half the whole territory--and were managed
as _res publica_ by the administrators of public affairs. And while
later, with the advent of the German hordes, property conditions shaped
themselves somewhat according to their ways, the influence of the Roman
law and institutions were never quite eradicated.
* * * * *
The country, outside of the public property, was by the Romans divided
into communities, called _fundus_, each placed under a Gallic seigneur
(_eques_), a former chief, now proprietor, his tribesmen and the
remnants of the earlier sessile population becoming serfs. One-third of
the _fundus_ was handed to the serfs as their property and divided among
them--the first private property--; another third was retained by the
seigneur and utilized by means of the service of the serfs (_corvées_),
but usually also burdened by rights of user on their part; and the last
third became common property of the community at large. There remained,
however, here and there, also, some of the original free communes or
Mark (_vicus_), so that five different property classes were in
existence.
The 5th century saw the Teutonic tribes, Suevi, Alani, Vandals and
Burgundians, overwhelm the Romans, who had for 500 years kept the
Gallo-Celtic population under their rule; and these were followed by
Visigoths and Franks, who in turn took possession of the country. The
conquerors did not drive out the Gallo-Romans, but merely quartered
themselves on them under the euphemistic title of “guests,” assuming to
themselves two-thirds of each estate, and leaving the remainder to their
“hosts.” On these lands, undoubtedly, similar economic and social
institutions were developed as in Germany. Communal ownership under
these was at first developed to such an extent that the Salic laws
declared all trees which were not reserved by special sign as subject to
the use of all and any of the Markers. But later, as in Germany, the
socialistic Mark was followed by the feudal system with its ban forests
and the creation of great landed proprietors or lords.
When Clovis, the king of the Franks, in the first decade of the 6th
century defeated the Visigoths and took possession of the country (see
p. 29), he found communal forests of the villagers (_vicus_), property
of seigneurs (_equites_), royal forests and State forests, remnants of
Roman origin. The latter properties and much of the Mark forests he
claimed for himself and divided two-thirds among his vassals; but the
larger part of the other third became also gradually property of the
nobility and church, so that, by the 12th century, only a relatively
small royal property remained. Afterwards, the royal or State property
grew again in various ways, as the power of the kings grew. In 1539,
Francis I declared the same inalienable. But neither himself nor his
successors paid heed to this self-imposed prohibition and, whenever
financial troubles made it expedient, they disposed of some of their
holdings.
By the ordinance of 1566 (_Edit de Moulins_), King Charles IX again
declared the domain of the crown inalienable. Nevertheless he himself in
the same year, and repeatedly afterwards, sold parts of his domain.
Henry III, in 1579, renewed the ordinance of non-alienation and restored
some of the last parcels to the domain by the exercise of the royal
right. Himself and his successors, however, continually broke this
contract, and the royal domain decreased while that of the seigneurs
grew. Similarly to what happened in Germany, the church property was
taken by machination or force to increase the holdings of kings or
seigneurs. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the revolution in 1789, the
royal domain comprised not more than 1,200,000 acres, producing a net
income of 1.2 million dollars. Then followed an era of ups and downs,
continuous changes of policy, increases and decreases of the property
until with the inauguration of the republic, in 1871, comparative
stability was secured.
In 1791, after the revolution, the royal property became national
domain, and by further spoliation of church property, and otherwise,
attained an area of 4,300,000 acres. In the law of 1791, a distinction
was made between the inalienable domain, which comprises roads, canals,
fortresses, harbors, etc., and the alienable national domain, including
the forest and other property derived from royal or crown domains. To
this national domain was added, by the law of 1792, the forest property
of the refugees of the revolution which was, however, later for the most
part restored or indemnified. Finally, when, by the treaty of Basel
(1795), the French frontier had been pushed to the Rhine, the total
state forest had grown to around 6,500,000 acres, nearly one-third of
the total forest area.
But, through sales and otherwise, this area had, by 1815, been reduced
to 3,200,000 acres, and during the period until 1872, the area had been
further again reduced to less than 2,500,000 acres. At present (1905) it
comprises 2.9 million acres, or less than 12 per cent., of the total
forest area, 55 per cent. of which comes from the original royal domain,
22 per cent. from original church property and 23 per cent. from recent
acquisitions, secured under the laws of reboisement of mountains, sand
dunes, etc.
The communal property developed largely in a similar manner as in
Germany, from the Mark, and through the feudal system, with its rights
of user as a result. In the twelfth century, the grandees or seigneurs
were active in colonizing their domains, acquired as fiefs or otherwise,
with serfs and others, giving them charters for villages with communal
privileges and rights. Under this method, another kind of communal
forest property grew up, by written instruments or contracts, in which
limitations and reservations of rights are imposed by the seigneurs. One
of the most usual conditions of the contract was the prevention of
clearing or sale; at the same time a new set of rights of user, this
time on the part of the seigneur, brought new complications. One of the
worst features originating in the 14th century as an outgrowth of feudal
relations, was “the right of the third” (_triage_), which gave to the
seigneur, whenever he wished to exercise it, one-third of the property
free of all rights of user. In this way, the communal area was
diminished until, in 1667, the widespread abuse of this right led to an
ordinance abolishing it. It was, however, re-established by the
ordinance of 1669 in all cases where the forest had been gratuitously
ceded by the seigneurs, or when the remaining two-thirds was deemed
sufficient for the needs of the parish. Not until 1790-1792 was this
exorbitant right finally abolished.
As an outgrowth of the revolutionary doctrine of 1793, the most radical
legislation decreed presumptive ownership by the municipal corporations
of all lands for which the claimant could not show a deed of purchase,
excluding any title acquired as a result of feudal relations. The day of
revenge of all old wrongs had come, and, appeal to justice being
useless, the municipalities increased their holdings freely. Although
later legislation attempted to arrest this public theft and to restitute
some of the stolen property, much of the communal forest area of to-day
consists of this kind of ill-gotten property.
Another method of increasing municipal properties was by exchange of
territory for the rights of user. Efforts to get rid of these rights,
which grew up as described and to prevent their extension were
instituted much earlier than in Germany, Philip of Valois expressly
forbidding such extension as early as 1346. Nevertheless they continued
to grow so that, by the middle of the 18th century, they were as general
and afforded as great a hindrance to forest management, as in Germany.
The ordinance of 1669 also provided for the extinction of these rights,
apparently without much success, and the troublesome times after 1789
increased their number. Only when the orderly regime following the reign
of Napoleon gave rise to the Code Forestier (1827), was a systematic
attempt for their extinguishment by the cession of territory and cash
payment begun, and by this time the extinction may be considered
practically concluded, at least for the state and communal property.
Private property, not seignorial, was but little developed before the
16th century; after that the frequent sales by the kings and barons gave
rise to small forest owners, so that, by 1789, over 10 million acres
were in such possession. During the 19th century this grew by purchase,
by cessions, and by reforestation of waste lands to double that amount,
not less than two million acres being added by the latter cause alone,
while some decrease came from clearings.
In 1905, private holdings comprised 15 million acres or 65 per cent. of
the total; the communal and institutional forests 4.8 million acres or
21 per cent., leaving for State forest 2.9 million acres, or a little
over 12 per cent. of the total of 22.7 million acres. Twenty-two per
cent. of state and communal property is, however, waste land, and such
areas in private hands may be six times as large; there being altogether
between 14 and 15 million acres of waste lands.