French forestry ordinance of 1669
It was drafted after serious investigation of forestry exploitation practices by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who successfully championed the idea of systematic reform.
Noting that "the disorder which had crept into the Waters and Forests of our kingdom was so universal and so inveterate that the remedy seemed almost impossible",[1] Louis XIV promulgated an ordinance that was to become a landmark in the history of forestry.
From the 13th century onwards, political powers had attempted to put some order in the rampant exploitation of forest resources for fuel and building materials.
[3] By the mid-17th century, the urgent need for reform was clear from the extreme disorder of the administration of royal property after the long period of the Wars of Religion and the Huguenot Rebellions.
Indeed, the "ignorance of forest officers, the constant need for money from the Treasury, and embezzlement had led to enormous waste and inconsiderate sales of wood.
Of particular concern to Colbert and Louis XIV was the fact that, for ship building, France was forced to rely on masts imported from the Netherlands or from nordic countries, leaving it vulnerable to blockades.
[2]:22 In late 1661, Colbert's first step in forestry reform was to take stock of the situation – he initially ordered the grands maîtres (the top officials in charge of forestry management) to report on the size of the forests for which they were responsible, the distribution and composition of species of trees and the type of forest exploitation that was taking place.
[6] After several attempts, Colbert managed to compile reliable information about the state of many forests, principally by constituting a team of trusted commissioners.
[4]:137 These officials collected information from archives of legal documents, interviews of local people and from forest visits where measurements were taken and assessments of abuses made.
[8] Colbert's information gathering efforts also resulted in the imposition of disciplines and punishments on the corp of royal officials charged with implementing forestry policy.
"[3] In November 1662, he instructed the Commissioner of Ile-de-France to "execute justice, spare no one, fear nothing .. it is necessary to bring the greatest severity to those who have committed depredations in the forests.
[2]:52 These earlier attempts at regulation of forests were not successful and, indeed, were a subject of widespread mockery,[3] but they also meant that Colbert was not starting from a blank slate when he began drafting the Ordinance of 1669.
The highest ranking personnel were the Grand Masters (Title III[2]:69-76), who were qualified officers whose role was to oversee the execution of the Ordinance and the conduct of the lower officers (Title II[2]:66 68) -Masters, Lieutenants, Attorneys, Gardes-Marteau (keeper of the stamping hammers used in martelage, which defines forest boundaries, windthrows and stolen trees and trees for sale; only he was to have access to this hammer; Title VII) and Greffiers (who kept copies of documents and decrees, took minutes of meetings and forest visits and accounts of wood harvests, sales auctions and other events; Title VIII) These lower officers were organised in a pyramidal structure under the Grand Master and were subject to several constraints: 1) they had to be at least 25 years of age: 2) they could not have family relationships any closer than first cousins with other forest officers; and 3) most were not allowed to hold other royal positions.
[2]:45-47 In addition, in communal and ecclesiastical forests, one fourth of the land area was to be reserved for timber trees[3] (Titles XXIV and XXV).
[9] Title XXXII provides inter alia for penalties and punishments for crimes committed by forest officials: "Officers who have been convicted of forgery or fraud are to be condemned to pay quadruple, be deprived of their offices, banished from the forests and subjected to corporal punishment ... the Guards who shall have made the [fraudulent] reports shall be sent to the galleys for life, without any moderation.
An administrative monument of the Ancien Régime, the 1669 Ordinance now serves as the basis for France's current Forest Code and those of other countries as well.
