Chase (land)

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In the United Kingdom, a chase is a type of common land used for hunting to which there are no specifically designated officers and laws, but there are reserved hunting rights for one or more persons.[1] Simillarly, a Royal Chase is a type of Crown Estate by the same description, but where certain rights are reserved for a member of the British Royal Family. Chases and Royal Chases are beneath the status of forests and Royal Forests respectively.

A chase to which are attached particular officers and laws are properly called forests; The so-called deer forests in Scotland are properly speaking chases, whilst Cannock Chase in Staffordshire is properly a Royal Forest.[2] Examples of a chases in England include the Wyre Forest and Malvern Forest in Worcestershire.

According to A History of the County of Middlesex (1911), a chase was, "like a forest, uninclosed, and only defined by metes and bounds; but it could be held by a subject. Offences committed therein were, as a rule, punishable by the common law and not by forest jurisdiction."[3]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Parrish, J. M. & Crossland, John R., eds., The Diamond Dictionary, Long Acre, London: Odhams Press Ltd, p. 93 
  2. ^ (1884) Staffordshire Forest Pleas: Introduction, Staffordshire Historical Collections 5, 123-135. 
  3. ^ (1911) in Page, William: A History of the County of Middlesex 2, 223-251. 
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