Trees are down in many parts of the country, branches have snapped and fallen. And you turn to a book, mentioned here before: The Body Language of Trees. The preface says the book is dedicated to the potential hazards of trees, but is greatly on the side of them, pointing out that while trees can live very well without man, man cannot live without trees. The authors, a scientist and a jurist, both German, claim that when trees do become a danger to people, it is nearly always because of past damage people have inflicted on them. Thus, trees have no rights? Not so, write the authors; a body of opinion has emerged in Anglo-American and European circles which says that Nature should be accorded legally enforceable rights. Little sign among judiciary and legislators that the idea has found much favour. Strange, to the authors, the situation where the motor car which inflicts death and injury on so many people, takes a higher position than the tree which rarely harms by falling or shedding branches. Yet the courts, they say, erect the strictest of safety requirements from trees and regard trees as the greatest of dangers. (Is this a bit odd? After all, one of the authors is a jurist.)
At the other extreme is Otto the Great of Germany who made a law: "Whosoever beheads a tree shall himself likewise be beheaded." Then the book goes on to say that a tree has a right to die - as long as it stands in a safe place. And there is the usual and correct point made, that in dying a tree feeds and sustains a host of wildlife creatures. ("These thoughts may seem rather philosophical"). But, it is conceded, unhealthy, old and dying trees do endanger people if the trees stand alongside busy roads and parks. And, an interesting note for our compensation-riddled society: "Above all, officials who are responsible for safety in parks and highways must lose an excessive fear that they will immediately be liable if someone is hurt."
And they quote the German Federal Court, where the following principle has now been established: "A street tree cannot, of course, be expected to be completely free from defects or potential hazards. Such a state is simply unattainable." The rest of the book goes on to tell how to prevent and recognise defects. From the London Stationery Office. £18.50 stg. Y