1618 NOBTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



1783, and what was that right? For the purpose of ascertaining that 

 we turn to the regulations affecting the coasts on which they were 

 then fishing, and these are the coasts to which Mr. Turner has de- 

 clined to turn his attention. Every one of the regulations then made 

 is material, or very many of them are. They affect nearly every one 

 of the subjects that I have mentioned. 



THE PRESIDENT: Could you submit to us a list of those regulations 

 before 1783 and from 1783 until 1818, at your pleasure, giving an 

 indication of their contents in two or three words ? 



SIR W. ROBSON : I shall be very glad to do so. I have here an ex- 

 cellent note which I owe to the industry and ingenuity of my learned 

 friend, Mr. Peterson, and I will have this note handed to Mr. Root 

 and to the Tribunal. It shall be typed as quickly as possible. I may 

 tell you exactly the plan of it. It commences before 1783. It gives 

 the regulations in Newfoundland before 1783, beginning at 1611. 

 Then it gives a short account of each, just exactly such as the Presi- 

 dent has asked for. It has first of all a reference to the Appendix 

 where the Acts are set out in full, so that the accuracy of the note can 

 be tested. It gives a short account of the material sections within a 

 single line like a marginal note, indicating their contents. The first 

 statute of all is important, and it is dated 1653. That is a long statute 

 with a schedule of laws attached. Then in 1660 are the Star Chamber 

 rules. They were called the Star Chamber rules, because they were 

 rules made by the King in the assumed exercise of his own preroga- 

 tive in 1660 in the unfortunate days when the King was assuming to 

 act without the assistance of Parliament, and therefore it occurred 

 that they were called the Star Chamber rules. Then there follow the 

 Acts of 1670 and 1699, the latter being the principal Act relating to 

 regulation, referred to in many of the other Acts, and more or less, 

 I think, incorporated with other Acts for facility of reference. That 

 gives all of the Newfoundland statutes before 1783. Then, with ref- 

 erence to Labrador, before 1783, there are regulations by the Gov- 

 ernor, acting under the royal authority, and closing that fishery to all 

 except whale fishers. There is a little doubt when one comes to the 

 statute, and it may be that it is open to another construction, but I 

 think it referred only to whale fishers. But it is unimportant be- 

 cause, as we have seen from the extracts that I have read, and as far 

 as the case will enable us to judge, the United States fishermen, in 

 the pursuit of their adventurous calling, never appear to have gone 

 there. Then come the regulations before 1783 in Nova Scotia, New 

 Hampshire, New Plymouth and New York, about which I need not 

 trouble. Then it goes on from 1783 to 1812. Then it gives the reg- 

 ulations in Newfoundland, the first being in 1786, which. I think, has 



Appendix (B), infra, p. 1302. 



