Perambulation
Encyclopedia
Perambulation means "walking around". In traditional English law, it is used specifically to mean "determining the bounds of a legal area by walking around it", meaning physically walking around the region in question. It is primarily used in two contexts:
- Beating the boundsBeating the boundsBeating the bounds is an ancient custom still observed in some English and Welsh parishes. A group of old and young members of the community would walk the boundaries of the parish, usually led by the parish priest and church officials, to share the knowledge of where they lay, and to pray for...
– annually verifying parish boundaries - Royal forestRoyal forestA royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...
– "survey of the boundaries of land subjected to Forest Law", done sporadically – see for example New Forest History 1189 - 1681. It may also refer to the boundary region itself.