Hunting in Many Lands 



the eyes or death. No greater penalty was 

 inflicted for the killing of a man. 



The underlying principle maintained was 

 that all wild game was the property of no one, 

 and that to which no one had title belonged to 

 the sovereign. So the king held all lands not 

 apportioned, and granted permission to his 

 chiefs to hunt therein. He also created the 

 right of free chase, warren and free fishery, 

 thus authorizing a designated person to pro- 

 tect game and to follow the chase on the land 

 of others, or protect and take fish from rivers 

 and streams that flowed over the properties of 

 other men. These claims of right became 

 numerous and so burdensome that they were 

 subsequently restricted by Magna Charta. 

 The fascination of the chase, indulged in for 

 years, became so inwrought in the English 

 mind that it formed the principal recreation of 

 the people, shared in alike by nobles, priests 

 and peasants, evoking a world of romance and 

 legend in Robin Hood tales, and a sturdy, 

 semi-warlike pride. The exercise formed a 

 school of stalwart out-of-door men, whose de- 

 scendants of like taste have invaded the re- 

 motest isles of the sea, and girdled the earth 

 with the colonies of England. The taste 



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