Page:The Preservation of Places of Interest or Beauty, 1907.djvu/27

, has a law on the lines of the French Act, providing for 'classement' and compulsory acquisition. This was passed so recently as 1902.

In this Act it is declared that the State may limit the rights of private property to such an extent as is necessary to preserve the monument in the fullest artistic, as well as historic, sense; the proprietor, if he deems his interest to be affected, may demand expropriation. Provision is also made for the expropriation of land, in order to carry on an excavation. Perhaps, however, the most interesting provision of the Act is that which extends the protection of the State to natural scenes and objects (Naturdenkmäler). The principle is thus laid down. "Natural phenomena of the earth’s surface, such as water courses, rocks, trees, and the like, the maintenance of which is a matter of public interest on grounds of history, or of natural history, or from considerations of the beauty or special character of a landscape can be placed under a special protection to be exercised by the Kreisamt [which may be taken to correspond to our County Council] on the demand of the Department of Forests in the Ministry of Finance.” A place of beauty may be scheduled after notice to the proprietor, and certain opportunities of objection, and, when a place is scheduled, destructive operations cannot be carried out without the permission of the Kreisamt. The disfigurement of protected places by advertisements, is also prohibited, and generally the exhibition of advertisements in localities of great natural beauty is forbidden.

In harmony with this Act the Hessian Ministry of Finance has published an illustrated book entitled, "Noteworthy Trees in the Grand Duchy of Hesse" (fancy our Treasury issuing a work on the beauties of the Lake District); and it is claimed that in addition to positive results, 'there has been aroused in the minds of the people a new and living interest in the memorials of the land.'