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Under the Old Regime, a “défends” was an estate reserved for the exclusive use of a lord. All activities (hunting, harvesting, gathering dead wood, or pastures) were prohibited to the population. Numerous lawsuits pitted communities against their lords over the rights to use these lands. In Eyguières, the Count of Sade (a distant relative of the Divine Marquis) had placed the entire mountain range under défends. Until the Revolution, grazing livestock there was therefore prohibited.