[1641/8/223]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Our sovereign lord and estates of parliament, considering that parks and plantings are great ornamentation and much profitable to the kingdom, and that the demolishing and downcasting of the dykes of either and spoiling of the ground and planting enclosed within the same by those who are evil affected to policy is a great discouragement to many who are virtuously disposed to enclosing and planting, therefore, his majesty, with consent of the said estates, discharges all hawkers, hunters, travellers and other persons whatsoever to whom the same enclosing and planting do not belong from demolishing, downcasting, climbing or in any way wronging any of the dykes foresaid, parks and planting within the same under the pain of £5 on every occasion, which fine his majesty and estates foresaid declare to pertain to the owners of the said parks or plantings, they or their servants discovering the culprits. And if any other discover them, the one half to appertain to the discoverer and the other to the heritor, with power to the discoverer to pursue the contravener before the ordinary judge. And if it shall happen the heritor's own tenant to contravene the act foresaid, with power to the heritors to fine them at their own pleasure, the penalty and fine not exceeding the pain foresaid.