286 LAWS RELATING TO 



An Act to incorporate the Assonet Fishing Company, 



1860, 82. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: Sect. 1. Gilbert Wins- 

 low, John D. Wilson and John Crane of Freetown, their associates 

 and successors, are hereby made a corporation by the name of the 

 Assonet Fishing Company, for the purpose of introducing, cultivating 

 and catching herrings or alewives in the Assonet River and Bay, so 

 called, and the several ponds connected therewith ; and they are 

 hereby empowered to alter such dams and construct such race-ways 

 and adopt and carr}^ out such other measures as may be necessary to 

 secure the aforesaid purpose, subject to all the duties, restrictions and 

 liabilities set forth in the forty-fourth chapter of the Revised Statutes, 

 and the sixt^'-eighth chapter of the General Statutes. 



Sect. 2. If any person, without the permission of said corpora- 

 tion, shall take, catch or haul on shore any herrings in said river, bay 

 or ponds, he shall forfeit and pay for the use of said corporation, a 

 sum not exceeding three dollars, if the quantity so taken be less than 

 one barrel ; but if the quantity be more than one barrel, the person 

 so offending shall forfeit and pay for each barrel of fish so taken, the 

 sum of five dollars, to be recovered in any court proper to try the 

 same. 



Sect. 3. If any damage shall be done by said corporation to the 

 property of any individual not a member of the corporation, such 

 individual shall be entitled to recover reasonable damage, to be esti- 

 mated in the same manner as damages occasioned by the laying out 

 of highways. 



Sect. 4. Nothing herein contained shall authorize said company 

 to take or use the private property of any person without his consent, 

 or deprive any inhabitant of the town of Freetown of any privilege 

 which he now has of taking any kind of fish, excepting herring, from 

 said river, ba}^ or ponds. 



Sect. 5. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. — 

 [March 17, 1860. 



[1813,147; 1838,19; 1844,65; 1853,377.] 

 An Act to regulate the Fishery in the Agawam and Half-way Pond Rivers. 

 1860, 89. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: Sect. 1. The town of 

 Plymouth at its annual meeting in the month of March or April, and 

 the town of Wareham at its annual meeting in the month of Novem- 

 ber, of each year, shall choose, by ballot, a committee of not more 

 than three persons each, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge 

 of their duties, in the manner of other town officers ; which committee 

 shall, in the month of March, annually, after a public notice of at 

 least ten days, sell at public auction the privilege of taking the fish 

 called alewives and shad in the Agawam and Half-way Pond Rivers, 



