drift of the forest

Noun

drift of the forest (plural drifts of the forest)

1. (UK, historical) The act of driving or herding cattle in a forest to a particular place in order to determine who they belong to and whether the owners have a right to common or pasture them in the forest, and whether any fines should be paid by those without such a right.
   • It ſeemeth by the Aſſiſes of the Forreſt of Pickring and Lancaſter, that the Officers of the Forreſt there, did vſe to make two driftes of their Forreſt euery yeare, the firſt of thoſe driftes was made yearely fifteene daies before Midſomer, at the beginning of the Fence moneth, becauſe that in...1598, John Manwood, chapter XV, in A Treatise and Discourse of the Lawes of the Forrest: […], London: […] [Adam Islip (?) for] Thomas Wight and Bonham Norton, →OCLC, section 2 (At what Time of the...
   • The drifts of the foreſts are ſaid to be when all the Cattle as well of Commoners as of Strangers are driven by the Officers of the foreſt to ſome certain Pound or place incloſed, and the end hereof is threefold, viz. Firſt, to ſee whether thoſe that ought to common doe common with ſuch kind of...1644, Edw[ard] Coke, “Of the Forests, and the Jurisdiction of the Courts of the Forest”, in The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, for W[illiam]...