52 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
slight reference to other matters which accrue from their in- 
stitution. All manors or lordships were originally derived from 
the Crown. No new manor has been or can be legally created 
since 1290 (18 Edward I). In the past lords of manors had 
certain civil and criminal jurisdiction which was exercised at 
the manor courts, but now this has ceased to exist. It appears 
that the lord of the manor has the exclusive rights to the 
game on the open and unenclosed lands in the manor of which 
he is owner. This would imply, on foreshores, a line of demar- 
cation determined between mean high- and low-water marks. 
Further, the exclusive right of shooting on certain foreshores by 
the owner of an adjoining manor has been reserved by special 
grants from the Crown, but such grants were all made prior 
to Magna Charta, and are now not available. There are other 
rights of common, but these chiefly refer to grazing. This 
state of law concerns England and Ireland, but it is different 
in Scotland. As regards Crown property, the Game Act, 
1831, sec. 9, excepts from its operation all possessions or 
land revenues of the Crown, etc., but it provides that this 
exception is not to give any lord of a manor any greater rights 
than he possessed before its passing. Crown lands are under 
the management of the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, 
and Land Revenues. Unless a locality can be proved to be 
in the waste of a manor or similar privileged place subject to 
individual rights, no special claim to game or other wild 
animal can legally exist in any different manner from any 
other private lands in the country. The Larceny Act protects 
animals kept in confinement, such as pheasants in pheasantries 
and waterfowl in enclosures. Game under a state of domestica- 
tion, as on a game farm, and duck decoys are recognised as 
business or trade properties. With regard to wildfowl decoys, 
although the owner has no property in them, he can legally 
maintain an action against a person who may wilfully fire a 
gun on his own land to disturb the wildfowl in the decoy. 
