THE LAW OF SCOTLAND AS TO TROUT-FISHING. 77 



exercising this right, however, the banks of the 

 stream beyond high-water mark, or the shores of 

 the loch, where ei'ther of these are private pro- 

 perty, must not be trespassed upon. A public 

 navigable river may be defined in this connection 

 as " one which is fit for the transportation of the 

 country products ; " but an opinion is expressed 

 by the leading authority on Scotch fishery law 

 that the right of angling is confined to that 

 portion of the river which is within the influence 

 of the tide. 



It has long been decided that the right of 

 trout-fishing in private rivers that is, in all rivers 

 which do not fall within the category we have 

 just considered passes as a pertinent of the 

 adjoining land. Put into plain English, this 

 means that the proprietor of every piece of ground 

 intersected or bounded by a stream has, without 

 the necessity of any written grant, the privilege 

 of angling for trout in that stream, in so far as 

 it washes his estate. If he possess the ground 

 on both sides, he is entitled to fish the whole 

 breadth of the river ; if, on the other hand, only 

 one of the banks should, belong to him, his 

 boundary, beyond which he may not wade, is an 

 imaginary line drawn down the centre of the 

 stream. Some authorities hold that in the latter 

 case he cannot even throw his line into his 

 neighbour's half of the water ; but this has not 



