23 



The gentlemen, therefore, claiming these ex- 

 clusive privileges would do well to consider, 

 whether their prescriptive rights possess all 

 the qualities here required ; for if they fail in 

 one point, they fail in all: for the presumption 

 is in favour of the public. 



Have they from the 1st year of Richard I. 

 exercised the right they claim peaceably ? Has 

 such claim been acquiesced in ? Has it been 

 without contention and dispute ? Are the char- 

 ters of King John and Henry III., or the statute 

 of Henry VI. still in force ? (nay, even were 

 they repealed, I should contend, that, as they 

 once had been in force, it would be sufficient 

 to destroy such prescription.) Or is there a 

 single Act of Parliament which recognizes or 

 protects a private or exclusive right of fishery 

 in the River Thames, or in any other public 

 navigable river ? 



In the year 1787 this right was the subject 

 of a law-suit, and perhaps it is to be regretted 

 that the question had not been put at rest; 

 but after incurring all the expenses of a 



made available : sed quere, had they been pleaded, would the 

 result have been the same ? 



