202 THE RABBIT 



or any other kind of gun from which any shot, bullet, 

 or other missile can be discharged. Even a toy 

 pistol has been held to be a gun.^ A catapult, of 

 course, is not ' a firearm,' and although it may ' dis- 

 charge a shot, bullet, or other missile,' it can hardly 

 be called a 'gun.' If, instead of the words 'or any 

 other kind of gun,' the statute were to read ' or any 

 other engine,' a catapult would come within the 

 definition. 



To return to the Ground Game Act : 

 The fifth section provides that an' 'occupier ' can- 

 not exercise his concurrent right to the ground game 

 if the right to kill or take it has been already vested 

 in some one else by lease dated prior to the passing 

 of this Act. An important decision upon this section 

 was given in the case of Allhusen v. Brooking by 

 Mr. Justice Chitty,^ who held that it extended to an 

 agreement dated prior to the Act, whereby a lessor 

 agreed to grant a lease for a term to commence after 

 the passing of the Act, and the tenant was restrained 

 from killing ground game otherwise than as provided 

 by the terms of his agreement. 



' See Campbell v. Hadley, 40 J. P. 756; and for further 

 convictions for using a pistol without a licence, see The Field, 

 April 10 and 17, 1897, and June 18, 1898. 



2 51 Law Times Reports, N.S. 57. See also Hassard v 

 Clark, 13 L. Rep. Irish Ch. Div., 391 



