162 APPENDIX. 



of rivers should be defined, not by the Commis- 

 sioners, but by positive enactment. 



It is proposed, that the mouth of a river be defined 

 to be at its outer bar, being the shallow, caused by 

 the flux and reflux of the tide, at the point, where the 

 current of the river meets the tide. This is a hmit 

 proposed upon the precedent of the decision of the 

 House of Lords in 1817, in the Tay case ; or in cases 

 (if any) where no deposit is made, that the mouth be 

 fixed at the point of confluence, namely, the place 

 where, at low water of spring tides, the current of 

 the river first meets the incoming tide. These 

 points, it is submitted, afford a distinct and adequate 

 hydrographical definition of the termination of the 

 river, and the commencement of the coasts of the 

 sea. 



It is then proposed, that no fixed net shall be per- 

 mitted within two statute miles of the mouth, as 

 above defined. This proposition is founded upon the 

 purview of the statutes which regulated fisheries 

 both in Great Britain and Ireland, before the Act of 

 1842, The 23d clause of Magna Charta prohibited 

 kidels to be used except upon the shores of the sea, 

 which word, " kidelh," Coke translates — " Open 

 weares whereby fish are caught." The fact of these 

 being thus permitted upon the coasts of the sea, indi- 

 cates clearly their structure to have resembled the 

 " open weir" or fixed net, of the present day. The 

 Scottish law prohibits fixed nets down to the *' fauces 

 terra) " at the mouth of the frith ; and the Irish Acts 



