THE FISHERY INTERESTS OF AUSTRIA. 643 



board is entitled to receive all such moneys. The district-board may 

 use all money coming from such sources iu meeting the expenses of 

 carrying out the regulations of this act." 



23. — FISHING-PRIVILEGES AND FISHING-LAWS IN AUSTRIA. 



A review of the fishing-privileges granted iu olden times in the sev- 

 eral provinces of Austria, and of the old fishing-laws, possesses not merely 

 a great historic interest, but is likewise useful, because a portion of 

 these, even some very old ones, have not been changed in the course 

 of time, and because all of them frequently throw much light on the 

 various demands which even a modern law must take into account. 

 Many of the older laws, though their form be antiquated, therefore 

 in many respects form tbe best guides for the framers of new ones. 



The question which of the older laws are still in force is a very diffi- 

 cult one, and the following review, which divides them into old and still 

 existiug fishing-laws does not claim to be complete nor to be entirely 

 free from errors. 



Old fishing-laics. — A large portion of legislation, especially with re- 

 gard to economical matters, and therefore also to the fisheries, was 

 formerly in tbe hands of lower autonomous bodies, such as villages, 

 towns, and corporations, and of smaller landed proprietors. 



We therefore find numerous fishing-regulations from the oldest times 

 in the legal documents containing the privileges of villages and landed 

 proprietors. These ordinances partly define the limits of the fisheries, 

 and partly prescribe the manner in which they are to be carried on. 



The older documents frequently consider the catching of fish as a priv- 

 ilege belonging to the community or to the landed proprietors ; but from 

 the fifteenth century the right had fallen almost entirely into the hands 

 of the government. 



To mention a few examples : the Lower Austrian Law-Book of Mollers- 

 dorf, in the archbishopric of Vienna, gives the right to fish in the water 

 called the Mull to the community of Mollersdorf. The king's bailiff and 

 the bailiff of the convent-chapter are allowed to go to the water on 

 Fridays and catch a " dish of fish." Strangers are not allowed to catch 

 fish or crawfish, either with "tools" or with their hands. (Kal ten back, 

 Osterreichische Reclitsbiichcr^ I, 482.) In Oberwaltersdorf, the community 

 likewise possess a fishing grounds; the fisherman is appointed by the 

 community, but is not allowed to sell fish to any one, unless he has 

 called them three times on the bridge. Every person who sits "at his 

 own fire-place" may fish in the stream with hook and line, (I, 35.) Sim- 

 ilar regulations are given in the Lebarn Law-Book, (II, 114.) 



According to the old Law-Book of IsTeunkirchen, the citizens of the 

 town have the right to fish ; servants who fish when not in the company 

 of their master are punished. A later appendix to this law-book like- 

 wise indicates the trausfer of the fishing-privileges iu the following 

 words: " When the market was changed, the fisheries were likewise 



