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rivers flowing into the Waterford estuary. That of Charles I. 

 was framed in a more than usual spirit of intention to prohibit 

 any monopolizing method of capture of the salmon, and to 

 insure its preservation. This fish appears at that time to have 

 been considered as legitimately appertaining to the inland dis- 

 tricts : the setting of stationary nets in rivers, and the taking 

 of salmon by any such devices is made illegal. The Acts of 

 George the Third's reign further provide for the enforcement 

 of this principle, and contain other rules ' for the protection and 

 improvement of the inland fisheries of this kingdom/ 



This old code of laws, repealed by the act of 1842, has often 

 the character of class and local legislation, instanced by the 

 qualification necessary to kill salmon, the mistaken and over 

 stringent provisions to repress the destruction of the fish and 

 fry, and the various acts passed to suit the wishes of proprietors 

 of separate rivers. For example, the Act of Elizabeth forfeits 

 " any swine, hogge, or pygge," feeding on the strands of tide- 

 ways, where these animals were supposed to devour " great 

 quantitie of salmon and eel frye, and frye of spaune of divers 

 other good fishes." Those of George I. imposed for making, 

 having, or keeping any lyster or spear, whether used or not, a 

 penalty, or hard labour for one month, and public whipping. 

 But the strangest clause was that enacting that no person, ex- 

 cept possessors of 40 per annum freehold, or 1,000 of per- 

 sonal estate, or entitled to any fishery, or those employed by 

 them, " shall make, have, or keep any gaff, spear, loop, net, or 

 any other engine or instrument commonly made use of to take 

 or kill salmon" (no proof of using them being required), on pain 

 of forfeiture, a fine of 40s., or imprisonment not exceeding 

 thirty- one days. The effect of this qualification clause might 

 have been to deprive poorer persons of the power of taking 

 salmon in all fisheries, and to abrogate the common rights of 

 piscary. 



The Act of 5 George II. amended that of Henry VIII. for 

 removing weirs by providing a penalty on persons repairing or 

 re-erecting them after they were broken down, of 50 for the 

 first, and 100 for the second offence. Fishermen and their 

 apprentices were not to be prevented from using lawful nets 

 and engines in navigable waters. 



Many excellent provisions may be found in these laws for the 

 repression of illicit practices, of poaching, of the destruction in 

 mill works, and for the advantage of the peculiar circumstances 

 of the Irish fisheries, and were partly adopted in the statute of 

 1842 ; but much was so insufficient and ambiguous as to create 

 a general call for their being remodelled by the imperial 

 legislature. 



