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Good News in History, November 6

On this date we remember the 1217 Charter of the Forest, when King Henry III affirmed rights allowing free people to access and use England’s forests. It was an important early expansion of communal land rights alongside the Magna Carta.

Original reporting: Good News Network · 1 min read

Originally published by Good News Network: First briefed by The Daily Lift: Last updated:
Illustrative photo: Open medieval manuscript (two-page spread) with handwritten Latin script and red and blue decorated initials, shown on a purple display cloth inside a glass case.
Illustrative photo: Jacklee . — Hart Book of Statutes (early 14th century), Society of Antiquaries of London, UK - 20150617.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: photo cropped and resized by The Daily Lift. This adapted photo is shared under the same licence, CC BY-SA 4.0. The licence applies to the photo only, not to the story text. If the remote photo is unavailable, a labelled original TDL illustration is shown instead.

Why this is good news

By affirming that free people could access and use England’s forests, the Charter concretely extended communal land rights to free people. That demonstrated outcome matters because it was an early legal expansion of communal land rights alongside the Magna Carta.

What happens next

How widely were the Charter’s rights to access and use forests implemented and enforced across England after 1217?

Read the full story at Good News Network

This is a short original brief by The Daily Lift, not the publisher's full article. Credit and copyright for the original reporting remain with Good News Network.

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