Laws of the Forest

When William"The Conquerer" instituted the Forest Law to protect his forests for hunting, he ushered in a new era of crime and punishment. Penalties for disobeying the Forest Law were severe and included blinding, cutting off hands, and even death; although most punishments dealing with mutilation were introduced later by William II (Rufus). Over the centuries punishments became less severe, resulting largely in imprisonment. However, crimes against sovereign-held lands would continue even through the period of colonization of the Americas.

During the early days of Swedish settlement along the Delaware River Valley in what is now southeasten Pennsylvania and northeastern Delaware, undersirables became the mainstay. On the third voyage of the Swedes in 1641, the Governor of New Sweden Peter Hollandare remarked that it contianed "quite a number of criminals and forest-destroying Finns transported to the Delaware River settlements to rid the mother-country of their presence." These Finns had set fire to the forests in Varmland and Dalclear to clear the land of timber and prepare the ground for planting grain in the ashes, a violation directly flaunting mandates of the royal government.

It became common to offer banishment to the New World for perputrating such nature-related crimes. In the province of Skaraborg, for example, a man condemned to death for breaking into the monastery gardens at Varnhem was permitted to choose between being hanged or leaving for New Sweden. As late as 1653, a criminal who had been convicted of killing an elk on D'Auland Island was given a similar choice.

Unfortunately, the "forest-destroying" techniques employed by the Finns in the Old Country was used effectively on the North American continent and virgin forests soon fell before the axe and the burning brand. It would be centuries, long after the forests of the northeastern and north-central United States had experienced the "cut and burn" policy of greedy landowners, before laws would be enacted to protect the forests of America for the benefit of the populace.