The Forest Code of 1910 applied to the forests belonging to the compossessorates and the rural communities

• Author: Rosculet, G.
• Position: Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 147-154

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 4 (53) No. 2 - 2011

THE FOREST CODE OF 1910 APPLIED TO

THE FORESTS BELONGING TO THE

COMPOSSESSORATES AND THE RURAL

COMMUNITIES

Gheorghe ROŞCULEł 1

Abstr act: One of t he most import ant legisl ative measu res that hav e

infl uenced the e conomic and social life of R omania at t he beg inning of

the XXth centur y was the Forest ry Co de of 1910 . The appli cation of i ts

provi sions to the manage ment of the forest s ow ned by c ommunit ies of

free holders and sub sequentl y to t hat of the com possess orates i llustra ted

the invalid characte r of so me prov isions s tipulate d in th is Act a s relat ed

to the Romanian real ities of th ose t imes. Underst anding the concept of

join t pr operty as sui-ge neris indiv isibilit y, r evealed that the le gislator

had failed a correct usage acco rding to th e law , of the element s of the

custo mary la w.

Key words : The Fores t Code of 1910, compo ssessora te, j oint

prope rty, co mmunity, Olt Cou ntry, Vr ancea Co untry.

1 Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Braşov.

The forest has been the cradle of human

communities in the Romanian area due to the

fact of having fulfilled, according to Vintilă

Mihailescu, the function of ‘binding together,

not only the complimentary relief units (...),

but also the inhabitants who had been living

here for thousands of years ... ‘. The major

influence this component of the geographic

environment has had, over time, on the forms

of social organisations is demonstrated by the

fact that ‘the architectural layout of our

villages, their location on the ground, the

interior management of the village lands, even

the dominant note of our old village economy

are to be considered in relation to the extent

and nature of forests ... ‘ [7].

Over centuries, until the modern era, the

forest had been ‘overwhelmingly sufficient’ in

the Romanian area in relation to people's

needs. The spectacular development of the

timber industry at the turn of the XIXth and

XXth century caused massive deforestations,

which in certain areas led to the complete

disappearance of some forests. Thus, people

felt the need of ‘close vigilance’ in order to

prevent ‘the useless deforestation’ of the

forest stock; in other words, a forest code

became a necessity meant to provide

regulations for the rational exploitation of

forests and to clarify, in terms of legal aspects,

the status of the forests subject to the forest

regime.

1. The Forest Code of 1910. Introductory

aspects

The Forest Code of 1910 was one of the

most important bills that marked the