200 THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 



cap. 6 ; where it is said, that in Peru, hunting, 

 by the inferior sort, is prohibited, lest, says tne 

 author, " men betaking themselves to the plea- 

 sure of the field, should delight in a continued 

 course of sports, and so neglect the necessary 

 provision and maintenance of their families/' 

 And it is worth noting, that laws made to prohi- 

 bit the taking of creatures ferce naturd, by per- 

 sons unqualified, do not take from a man any 

 thing which is his own ; but they barely forbid 

 the use of certain methods of acquisition, which 

 the law of nature might perhaps allow of. 



Agreeable to the principles here laid down, we 

 find that the laws of most countries, at least of 

 this, have assigned the property in the creatures 

 in question to particular persons. Thus to royal 

 fish, which are whales and sturgeons, the king is 

 entitled by his prerogative ; and the property of 

 fish in rivers, or, at least, a right to take them, is, 

 in many places, given to corporations ; as, with 

 us, the fishery of the river Thames is granted to 

 the city of London ; and the townsmen of Hun- 

 gerford, in Berkshire, claim a right of fishing in 

 that part of the river Kennet, called their common 

 water, under a grant from John of Gaunt, who, 

 we may suppose, derived it from the crown : but 



