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A SHORT DISCOURSE* BY WAY OF POSTSCRIPT, TOUCHING THE LAWS OF ANGLING.

MY GOOD FRIEND,

I CANNOT but tender my particular thanks to you, for that you have been pleased by three editions of your COMPLETE ANGLER, freely to dispense your dear-bought experiences to all the lovers of that art; and have thereby so excellently vindicated the legality thereof, as to Divine approbation, that if I should go about to say more in that behalf, it indeed were to light a candle to the sun: but since all pleasures (though never so innocent in themselves) lose that stamp, when they are either pursued with inordinate affections, or to the prejudice of another; therefore as to the former every man ought to endeavour, through a serious consideration of the vanity of worldly contentments, to moderate his affections thereunto, whereby they may be made of excellent use, as some poisons allayed are in physic and as to the latter, we are to have recourse to the known laws, ignorance whereof excuseth no man, and therefore by their directions so to square our actions, that we hurt no man, but keep close to that golden rule, "To do to all men as we would ourselves be done unto."

Now concerning the Art of Angling, we may conclude, Sir, that as you have proved it to be of great antiquity, so I find it favoured by the laws of this kingdom; for where provision is made by our statutes primo Elizab. cap. 17, against taking Fish by Nets that be not of such and such a size there set down, yet those law-makers had so much respect to Anglers, as to except them, and leave them a liberty to catch as big as they could, and as little as they would catch. And yet though this Apostolical recreation be simply in itself lawful, yet no man can go upon another man's ground to fish, without his license, but that he is a trespasser; but if a man have license to enter into a close or ground for such a space of time, there, though he practise Angling all that time, he is not a trespasser; because his fishing is no abuse of his license: but this is to be understood of running streams, and not of ponds or standing pools; for in case of a pond or standing pool, the owner thereof hath a property in the fish, and they are so far said to be his, that he may have trespass for the fish against any one that shall take them without his

*This "Discourse," which was prefixed to the third and subsequent editions of The Complete Angler, was evidently written by a friend and admirer of Walton; it could not, therefore, with propriety be omitted in an edition of that work. The numerous additions and alterations which have been made in the Laws of Angling since Walton lived, render it impossible to state those changes in notes; and the publication of “An Essay on Aquatic Rights, intended as an illustration of the Law relative to Fishing, by Henry Schultes, 8vo, 1811," would, under any circumstances, render such notes superfluous.

license, though it be upon a common, or adjoining to the king's highway, or adjoining to another man's ground, who gives license: but in case of a river, where one or more have libera piscaria only, it is otherwise, for there the fishes are said to be feræ naturæ, and the taking of them with an angle is not trespass, for that no man is said to have a property in them till he have caught them, and then it is a trespass for any to take them from him : but this is not to be understood of fishes confined to a man's own ground by gates or otherwise, so that they cannot pass away, but may be taken out or put in at pleasure, for in that case the party hath a property in them, as in the case of a standing pool.

But where any one hath seperalis piscaria, as in Child and Greenhill's Case in Trin. 15 Car. I. in the King's Bench, there it seemeth that the fish may be said to be his, because no man else may take them whilst they are within his several fishing; therefore what is meant by a several fishing is necessary to be considered: and though the difference between a free fishing and a several fishing be often treated of in the ancient books of the law, and some opinions will have the difference to be great, and others small or nothing at all; yet the certainest definition of a several fishing is, where one hath the royalty, and owneth the ground on each side of the water which agreeth with Sir William Calthrop's Case, where an action was brought by him against another for fishing in his several fishing, &c., to which the defendant pleaded, that the place wherein the trespass was supposed to be done, contained ten perches of land in length, and twenty perches in breadth, which was his own freehold at the time when the trespass was supposed to be done, and that he fished there as was lawful for him to do: and this was adjudged a good plea by the whole court, and upon argument in that very case it was agreed, that no man could have a several fishing but in his own soil, and that free fishing may be in the soil of another man, which was all agreed unto by Littleton our famous English lawyer. So that from all this may be drawn this short conclusion, that if the Angler take care that he offend not with his feet, there is no great danger of his hands.

But there are some covetous rigid persons, whose souls hold no sympathy with those of the innocent Anglers, having either got to be lords of royalties, or owners of lands adjoining to rivers, and these do, by some apted clownish nature and education for the purpose, insult and domineer over the innocent angler, beating him, breaking his rod, or at least taking it from him, and sometimes imprisoning his person, as if he were a felon: whereas a truebred gentleman scorns those spider-like attempts, and will rather refresh a civil stranger at his table, than warn him from coming on his ground upon so innocent an occasion. It would therefore be considered how far such furious drivers are warranted by the law, and what the Angler may (in case of such violence) do in defence of himself: if I come upon another man's ground without his license, or the license of the law, I am a trespasser, for which the owner may have an action of trespass against me; and if I continue there after warning to depart by the owner, or his servant thereunto authorised, the owner, or his servant by his command, may put me off by force, but not beat me, but in case of resistance by me, for then I (by resisting) make the assault; but if he beat me, I not resisting, in that case he makes the assault, and I may beat him in defence of myself, and to free myself from his violence: and in case I shall leave my rod behind in

Mich. 17 E. 4, 6, and Pasc. 18 E. 4, 4.

214

his ground, he may take it damage feasant, but he can neither take it from my person by force, nor break it, but he is a trespasser to me: which seems clear by the case of Reynell and Champernon, where Reynell brought an action of trespass against Champernon for taking and cutting his nets, the defendant justified for that he was seised in fee of a several fishing, and that the plaintiff with others endeavoured to row upon his water, and with the nets to catch his fish, and that for the safeguard of his fishing he took and cut the nets and oars; to which plea the plaintiff demurred; and there it was adjudged by the whole court, that he could not by such colour cut the nets and oars, and judgment was thereupon given for the plaintiff.

Doubtless our forefathers well considered, that man to man was a wolf, and therefore made good laws to keep us from devouring one another, and amongst the rest a very good statute was made in the three-and-fortieth year of Queen Elizabeth, whereby it is provided, that in personal actions in the Courts at Westminster (being not for land or battery), when it shall appear to the judges (and be so by them signified) that the debt or damages to be recovered amount not to the sum of forty shillings or above, the said judges shall award to the plaintiff no more costs than damages, but less at their discretion.

And now, with my acknowledgment of the advantage I have had both by your friendship and your book, I wish nothing may ever be that looks like an alteration in the first, nor anything in the last, unless by reason of the useful pleasure of it, you had called it the ARCADIA OF ANGLING, for it deserves that title, and I would deserve the continuance of your friendship.

* Mich. 7 Car. I.

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