Forest Police
Original title: Policia Florestal
Describes the rural and forest police of Madeira, from the sixteenth-century forest guardianship to the corps created in 1913 by the Junta Agrícola.
It is the responsibility of the rural guards appointed and paid by the Municipal Councils (Câmaras Municipais) and of a special police corps of rural and forest police guards, created by the now-abolished Agricultural Council (Junta Agrícola) under the regulations of 8 March 1913. When at full strength, this corps is to have 3 chief guards, 5 mounted guards and 25 foot guards, under the direction of the district forestry officer.
The Timber Regulations (Regimento das Madeiras) of 1562 and other old enactments show that the protection and conservation of the forests was then entrusted to the judges and councillors (vereadores), to the bailiffs of the uplands and to the magistrates (ouvidores) of the island’s two jurisdictions. Each January the magistrates were required to hold inquiries to discover the authors of any damage done to the trees.
After the Agricultural Council was abolished, the rural and forest police service was provisionally placed under the Agricultural Station of the 9th Region, under article 33 of the decree of 3 April 1922 (1922).
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03-
Queen-regent Catarina promulgated the Regimento das Madeiras, Madeira's forest code, requiring licences for felling, ordering chestnut and pine planting and entrusting forest protection to local officials.
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A decree approved the regulation of the rural and forestry service, under which the Junta Agrícola created a rural and forest police corps.
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Decree no. 8089 defined the duties of the 9th Region Agricultural Station, transferring to it the extinct Junta Agrícola's property, experimental stations, forest policing and the sugar regime.