OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. 959 



fishery, for the purpose of taking oysters or oyster-brood, 

 although none shall be actually taken, or shall, with any 



o * * 



net, instrument, or engine whatsoever, drag upon the 

 ground or soil of any such fishery ; every such person shall 

 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and being found 

 guilty shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both, 

 as the court shall award, such fine not exceeding the sum 

 of twenty pounds, and such imprisonment not to exceed 

 three calendar months." 



A trial took place at the Sussex Lent Assizes, 1814, 

 Bridger v. Richardson, an action being brought to recover 

 the penalty of i o under the above statute, for wittingly, 

 with a certain engine called a dredge, taking, in Chichester 

 harbour, three gallons of oyster fry and spat, the same 

 being sea-fish, and that of a size unfit for use. There was 

 also a second count for a similar penalty, for witting!}-, 

 ' with a certain engine called a drag, taking 100 bushels of 

 the brood sea-fish, to wit oysters, the same being sea-fish. 



On the trial it was proved that the defendant, who 

 was a Colchester fisherman, took the brood in question 

 for the purpose of carrying them to Colchester, to be laid 

 down there on private lands for further growth and 

 maturity, and to make them marketable. 



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Defendant's counsel objected, ist, that the taking 

 must be with the intent to destroy, the contrary of which 

 was proved ; zndly, that the Act applied only to floating 

 fish. A verdict was, however, taken for the plaintiff for 

 10, with liberty to defendant to move for a nonsuit. 

 Accordingly a rule was obtained in the Queen's Bench for 

 that purpose, and after long arguments on both sides, the 

 court held the case not to fall within the meaning of the 

 statute, for that the taking could not be penal, when the 

 object of such taking was not to destroy, but to preserve. 



