52 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



slight reference to other matters which accrue from their in- 

 stitution. All manors or lordships were originally derived from 

 the Crown. No new manor has been or can be legally created 

 since 1290 (18 Edward I). In the past lords of manors had 

 certain civil and criminal jurisdiction which was exercised at 

 the manor courts, but now this has ceased to exist. It appears 

 that the lord of the manor has the exclusive rights to the 

 game on the open and unenclosed lands in the manor of which 

 he is owner. This would imply, on foreshores, a line of demar- 

 cation determined between mean high- and low-water marks. 

 Further, the exclusive right of shooting on certain foreshores by 

 the owner of an adjoining manor has been reserved by special 

 grants from the Crown, but such grants were all made prior 

 to Magna Charta, and are now not available. There are other 

 rights of common, but these chiefly refer to grazing. This 

 state of law concerns England and Ireland, but it is different 

 in Scotland. As regards Crown property, the Game Act, 

 1 83 1, sec. 9, excepts from its operation all possessions or 

 land revenues of the Crown, etc., but it provides that this 

 exception is not to give any lord of a manor any greater rights 

 than he possessed before its passing. Crown lands are under 

 the management of the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, 

 and Land Revenues. Unless a locality can be proved to be 

 in the waste of a manor or similar privileged place subject to 

 individual rights, no special claim to game or other wild 

 animal can legally exist in any different manner from any 

 other private lands in the country. The Larceny Act protects 

 animals kept in confinement, such as pheasants in pheasantries 

 and waterfowl in enclosures. Game under a state of domestica- 

 tion, as on a game farm, and duck decoys are recognised as 

 business or trade properties. With regard to wildfowl decoys, 

 although the owner has no property in them, he can legally 

 maintain an action against a person who may wilfully fire a 

 gun on his own land to disturb the wildfowl in the decoy. 



