The chief officer of this, as of other forests, was the justice in eyre who held the justice seat, the highest forest court and the only court of record capable of entering and executing judgments on offenders; the lower courts were the Swainmote and Wodemote, the former of which is still held, in a modified form, in the Verderers' Hall of the King's House at Lyndhurst.
The swainmote, held three times in the year, is the court to which all the freeholders within the forest owe suit and service, and of which the verderers are the judges.
This is reserved for the justice-seat, held every third year, to which the rolls of offences presented at the court of attachment, and tried at the swainmote, are presented by verderers.