22 



nued y it must be peaceable and acquiesced in, not 

 subject to contention and dispute ; for, as customs 

 owe their original to common consent, their 

 being immemorially disputed either at law or 

 otherwise, is a proof that such consent was 

 wanting. 1 Black. Com* 77. 



Such appear to be the requisites necessary 

 to support a Prescription or a custom. 



Let us now see how far Prescription can in 

 this case be implied, or ever proved. 



We have before seen that the right of fish- 

 ing in all navigable rivers is prima facie in the 

 public ; that the King's Grant cannot bar them 

 thereof; that a person claiming an exclusive 

 right must prove it, for it shall not be pre* 

 sumed, but the contrary prima facie ; that no 

 custom shall prevail against an Act of Parlia- 

 ment ; and that there are several Acts of Par- 

 liament besides the great Charter in which the 

 public right is acknowledged. Therefore no 

 custom or prescription can be offered or given 

 in evidence against these acts.* 



* In the case of Carter and Mercot these Acts were not 

 pleaded in bar, and therefore could not perhaps have been 



