subjecting them to certain restrictions, remarkable for 

 their rustic and ludicrous simplicity ;* and there is sub- 

 sequently a regular series of statutory regulations in va- 

 rious reigns, down to the time of Queen Anne, all hav- 

 ing one common object, the propagation of the Salmon 

 species, and the protection of the fry or young brood of 

 Salmon. The act of Queen Anne, (21st September 1705, 

 cap. 11), which ratifies and approves all the former laws 

 and acts of parliament, enumerates them as being c made 



* This curious production is entitled ' Lex Aquarum,' and 

 is in the following terms. ' Haec est assisa Regis Alexandri, 



* facta, apud Perth, die Jovis, ante festum Margaretae, per 



* Comites, Barones, et Judices Scotice, quod filum aquae sen 

 ' medium aquae, lie streame, debet esse Hberum, usquequaque 

 ' in tantum, adeo quod unus porcus, trium annorum bene 



* pastus, posset se vertere infra filum aquae : Ita quod neque 

 ' rostrum porci, nee cauda appropinquat sepi, vel ripae. Et 

 ' debet aqua esse libera, ita quod nemo ibidem pisces capiat, 



* a die Sabbathi, post vesperas, usque ad diem Lunse post or- 

 ' turn solis.'- Alexander II, cap. 1 6. The Scots translation of 

 this Statute, as given in Skene's Regiam Majestalem, bears, 



* that the streame of the water sail be in all parts swa free, 

 ' that ane swine of the age of three sears, weell fed, may turnc 



* Idmself within the streame, round about, swa that his snowt nor 

 6 laill sail not touch the batik of the water' But Lord Hailes, in 

 his Annals of Scotland, <dpp. I, No. 3, shews that the latter part 

 of this translation is incorrect -, and that the sense of the sta- 

 tute is, that the mid-stream should, for a certain breadth, be free 



from any hedge or heck, palisadoes or rails, placed for interrupt- 

 ing the course of the salmon : this breadth being expressed ac- 

 cording to a form of measurement adapted to the notions of 

 a rude age. 



