108 SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 



the above criterion, all below Putney, which is higher up than 

 all the London bridges, is the SEA ; and only all above it the 

 river Thames. We know not what the Thames watermen 

 would say to this ; or how it would affect the Lord Mayor's 

 jurisdiction in the river, which we suppose would not extend 

 into that part of it at London, converted by our civil engineer 

 into the sea. In the river Potomack, again, the tide flows 

 above Washington, a distance of upwards of 280 miles. We 

 wonder how much of this internal space would, by the same 

 criterion be termed the river, and how much the SEA. Honest 

 Jonathan would be quite delighted to learn that he possessed 

 so many inland seas which he never dreamt of. But the Court 

 rejected it, and had to hunt out for another principle for 

 themselves, and at length hit upon one not a whit better viz. 

 the charters or titles of parties as if charters or legal docu- 

 ments could be proof of a natural fact. They accordingly 

 extended the river to Drumly Sands, but without prejudice, 

 they added, to those who had sea-fishings above that point, 

 that is in the river, which is downright nonsense, and thus 

 ended that very drumly Case, just as it had begun to the 

 great edification of all concerned. 



In another case, of recent date, from the Frith of Dornoch, 

 relative to a fixed engine placed in the very channel of the 

 water, in that part not so broad at low water as the Thames at 

 London Bridge, and which, though the water was quite fresh, 

 the party, as a last desperate resource, chose to affirm was the 

 sea, knowing that in the Scotch Court it would ensure him 

 three years mala fide possession, till the point was determined, 

 a remit was made to another civil engineer, who was directed 

 by the Court to report his opinion whether the part in ques- 

 tion was the sea or not, as if the mere opinion of this man were 

 sufficient to authorise the disposal of the vested rights of indi- 

 viduals. Our engineer accordingly inspected the part ; he 

 reported to the Court, that as they had been greatly puzzled, 

 and the vested rights of parties greatly distracted, by the vari- 

 ous denominations of friths, fiords, rivers, and estuaries, he 

 would supply them with a criterion that would settle all matters 

 at once, being applicable to all cases. He adopted the former 



