Law of God and man" in some of the forests of Wales, where payments had been exacted from those travellers who passed through, unless they carried "tokens" or were "yearly tributors or chensers." Travellers found or espied twenty-four feet out of the highway lost a joint of their hands and all their money, and were also liable to a fine to the foresters. Beasts straying were accustomed to be captured, confiscated and marked with the forest mark, and to repossess themselves the owners thereof had to buy them back. All the King's subjects were thenceforth to be permitted to pass through the forests without paying toll, and stray cattle were to be restored to their owners upon repayment for their keep when detained. The abuses of these Welsh forest customs have their parallel in the forest laws and customs of the early Norman Kings.
The "Statute of Uses" (27 Henry 8, c. 10) was an important measure of reform, enacted in 1535. On two previous occasions the passing of this statute had been defeated in Parliament. According to the common law of England, land was not subject to testamentary disposition, but descended according to the ordinary feudal rules. A custom had grown up of leaving estates in "use" or upon trust, and the Court of Chancery in England recognised that the cestui qui use possessed an equitable estate in land devised for his benefit. The liberty of testators had thus developed, depriving the over-lords of many of the privileges incident to the feudal system. The passing of this measure was not favoured by the gentry, but it was procured by ingeniously setting forth the embarrassing evils arising from these fictitious conveyances. It was therefore declared that persons entitled to the use of lands were to be to all intents and purposes the lawful possessors, and consequently to be liable to all the incidents of feudal tenure, just as if the lands had been made over to them by formal grant or conveyance. The 16th section provided that the Act was not to be prejudicial to any
