17 



it be an arm of the sea ; such a right shall not 

 be presumed, but the contrary prima facie ; but 

 it is capable of being proved, and must have 

 been so, in the present case." 



Mr. Justice Yates, in the same case, says "I 

 was concerned in a case of this kind ; such a 

 claim was made, but the claim failed, because 

 it there happened, that such a right could not 

 be proved ; therefore it was in that case deter- 

 mined, that the right of fishing was common." 

 4 Burrows Rep. 2162. 



The next authority I shall offer, is an Act of 

 Parliament, in which not only the Common 

 Law right of the subject is recognized, but his 

 interest in fee simple declared. 



The statute I allude to, is that of the 2d 

 Hen. 6. c. 15. Anno Dom. 1423, which is enti- 

 tled "An Act to prevent persons fastening nets 

 athwart the River Thames and other rivers." 

 After reciting that " it had been the practice to 

 fasten trinks or nets by day and night to large 

 posts, boats and ancres across the River Thames 

 and other Rivers of the Realm, which was the 

 cause of great destruction of fish," it prohibits 



