LEGAL ASPECTS OF FISHERIES 8l 



as a trust in the Crown for the public, came by 

 degrees to be regarded as part of the patrimonial 

 property of the Crown, and so susceptible of 

 alienation, and to be made the subject of grants 

 to individual owners, with a view to an increased 

 and more regular supply of mussels being thus 

 made available for bait. If, as there is strong 

 reason to suspect, the private ownership of mussel 

 scalps, as hitherto exercised, has not attained that 

 object, then I think some other arrangement 

 should be tried.' 



TJie Transfe?' or Granting of Right from the 

 Crown to the Subject. 



This implies a certain obligation on the part of 

 the grantee to carry out the purposes for which 

 the right of fishing is granted. This obligation 

 acts as a certain protection of the public interest. 

 The estate is an heritable one held by feudal 

 title. In cases where the grant is not given to 

 an individual or to a company for purely com- 

 mercial purposes, an additional obligation may 

 rest upon the grantees. The scalps at the mouth 

 of the Eden, for instance, are held by the corpora- 

 tion and inhabitants of St. Andrews, in the interest, 

 first of all, of the fishermen of the neighbourhood. 



F 



