1 64 THE RABBIT 



become forfeited, and if he intends to shoot again, he 

 will have to take out a fresh licence under penalties 

 prescribed in the Game Licence Act, i860, and the 

 Gun Licence Act, 1870. A gamekeeper, therefore, 

 who has obtained a conviction will do well to bear 

 this fact in mind. 



Disputes often arise as to who has or who has not 

 the right to kill rabbits, and as the law which formerly 

 held good has been materially altered by the Ground 

 Game Act, passed in 1880, the consideration of this 

 part of the subject may be reserved for another 

 chapter, in which we propose to deal exclusively with 

 the provisions of that particular statute. Since that 

 Act, however, does not affect the rights of owners 

 and occupiers under leases executed before the 

 passing of the Act, it may be well to note here that 

 rabbits do not come within the definition of ' game ' 

 laid down in the principal Game Act, and therefore, 

 where ' game ' only is reserved to a landlord under a 

 lease dated prior to 1880, the tenant may kill the rabbits 

 or authorise his servants to kill them for him, ^ but 7iot 

 strangers ; for the game being reserved, the permission 

 of the tenant is no defence to strangers prosecuted 



' Spicer v. Barnard, 28 L.J. M.C. 176 ; and Padwick v. 

 King, 29 L.J. M.C. 42. It is otherwise in the case of 

 tenancies created since the passing of the Ground Game Act, as 

 will be explained in the next chapter. 



