162 STATUTE LAWS RELATING TO 



" over which it is in evidence that the fish could 

 " not pass except in extraordinary times of flood. 

 " And however twenty years' acquiescence may 

 " bind parties whose private rights only are affected, 

 " yet the public have an interest in the suppression 

 " of public nuisances, though of longer standing, 

 " No objection, however, of this sort, can apply to 

 " the present case, where the action was com- 

 " menced within twenty years after the complete 

 " extension of the stone weir across the river, by 

 " which it has been proved that the plaintiff has 

 " been injured. Then, however general the words 

 11 of the ancient deeds may be, they are to be con- 

 strued, as Lord Coke says, * by evidence of the 

 manner in which the thing has always been 

 possessed and used.' " — Lawrence, Justice. 

 " The jury themselves have found the fact that the 

 " plaintiff's fishery is injured by the stone weir, 

 " and therefore the verdict is against the evidence, 

 and there is no bar to the action from any 

 length of possession in the defendant." — Rule 

 absolute. 



From this case there are many most important 

 conclusions to be drawn. First, that weirs across 

 rivers are public nuisances ; that new ones cannot 

 be built, or old ones altered ; that other obstruc- 

 tions impeding the passage of the fish are public 

 nuisances ; that an ancient weir having an escape 

 for the fish cannot be altered ; that one person 

 having a right to fish above, cannot be obstructed 



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