444 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



tieu-men ralione soli, so long as 

 they remain in his grounds he 

 may kill them, for tlie jjioperty 

 ratione soli is in him. In 11 

 Coke's Reports, p. 876", it is laid 

 down, that for hawking, hunt- 

 ing, &c. there neadeth not any 

 licence but every one may, in 

 his own land, use them at his 

 pleasure, without any restraint to 

 be made, if not by parliament, as 

 appears by the statutes 1 1 Hen. 

 VJJ. c. 17, 23 Eliz. c. 10, and 3 

 James I. c. 13. 



In button and Moody's 5 Modern 

 Repot ts, p. 3/5, Holt, C. Jus- 

 tice, says, the conies are as much 

 his, in his ground, as if they were 

 in a warren, and rhe {)roperty is 

 ratione soli. So in the Year-book, 

 12 Hen. VIH. pi. 10, if a man 

 start a hare in his own ground, 

 he has a property in it ratione soli. 



In limitation, and to a certain 

 degree in derogation of t!ie com- 

 mon law, a variety of statutes hiis 

 subjected to penalties persons 

 who, not having certam (lualiti- 

 catiims, shall even upon their 

 own lands kill any of those wild 

 animals which come under the 

 denomination of game. 



By the 13 Ritliard II. slat. 1, 

 c. 13, laymen not having 40s. 

 per annum, and priests not havirig 

 lOl. per annum, are prohibited 

 from taking or desti'oying conies, 

 hares, &c. under pain of a year's 

 imprisonment (this .statute ap- 

 pears to be the first introduction 

 of a qualification to kill game.) 

 By the 32 Henry VIH. c. 8, a 

 penalty upon selling game was 

 tirst enacted, but, this was a tein- 

 l)orary law, which was suffered 

 to ex})ire, and the sale of game 

 was not again restrained till the 

 1st James I. c. 27. By the 3d 



James I. c. 13, the qualification to 

 kill game was increased to 40l. in 

 land, and ?00l. in personal pro- 

 perty. 



By the 22d and 23d C. II. cap. 

 25. lords of manors, not under 

 the degree of esquire, may by 

 writing under their hands and 

 seals appoint gamekeepers within 

 their I'espective manors, who may 

 kill conies, hares, &c. and other 

 game, and by the warrant of a 

 justice may search houses of per- 

 sons |:)ohibited to kill game. 



It appears to your committee, 

 that the statute 22 and 23 C. II. is 

 the first instance, either in our 

 statutes, reports, or law treatises, 

 in which lords of manors are 

 distinguished fi'om other land- 

 owners, in legard to game. 



The same statute, section 3, 

 confines the qualification to kill 

 game to persons having lands of 

 inheritance of lOOl. per annum, 

 or leases of 1501. (to which are 

 added other descriptions of per- 

 sonal qualifications ; ) and persons 

 not having .such qualifications aie 

 declared to be persons not allowed 

 to have or keep game-dogs, &c. 



The 22 and 23 C. IlT q. 25, 

 was followed by 4 and 5 W. and 

 M. c. 23, and the 28 Geo. II. c. 

 VI, which enacted penalties against 

 unqualified, and, finally, against 

 qualified persons, who shall buy, 

 sell, or ofier to sell, any hare, 

 pheasant, partridge, &c. Similar 

 penalties are therein enacted 

 against unqualified persons having 

 game in theii' possession. 



Such appears to your commit- 

 tee to be the stale of the laws re- 

 specting game, as they at present 

 stand. The various and num- 

 berless statutes which have been 

 enacted upon the subject, and to 



which 



