rame 



Laws 



into the State more money than its hay crop 

 or its potato crop. The value of a mountain 

 stream is nothing except as it may water peo- 

 ple or kine. Stock and protect that river by 

 suitable laws, and the fishing privileges may be 

 rented for an annual rental that will pay all 

 the taxes of every county through which it 

 runs. Yet often it is that the inhabitant of 

 that county complains of the injustice of pre- 

 venting him from taking fish therein at his 

 pleasure at any season of the year. 



The earliest recorded game law is found in 

 the twenty-second chapter of Deuteronomy, 

 where it is forbidden to take a bird from her 

 nest. The earliest law upon this subject in 

 America that we find was the act of the As- 

 sembly of Virginia of 1699, II. William III., 

 wherein the killing of deer between January 

 and July was prohibited under a penalty of 

 500 pounds of tobacco. In Maryland an act 

 was passed on the same subject in 1 730, which 

 recites the evils of constant shooting — " Which 

 evil practice, if not put a stop to, may in a few 

 years entirely destroy the species of deer, to 

 the great damage of the good people of this 

 province; be it enacted by the Right Honor- 

 able the Lord proprietary, by and with the 



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