ABSTRACT OF THE GAME LAWS. 9 1 1 



111 the eye of the law a vicar has not an estate of inheritance in 

 respect of his churcli, but only for his life; and, conseqnently, mn^t 

 possess one hundred and fifty pounds per annum. — Caldccot's Cases, 188. 



The owners or keepers of forests, parks, chases, or warrens, being 

 stocked with deer or rabbits for their necessary use, are qualified without 

 the requisite estate, merely as far as relates to said forests or parks, &c. 



The lord of the manor, or royalty, is qualified in a legal sense, 

 although his property may be insufficient according to the statute. In 

 the same manner a gamekeeper may be said to be qualified, as he has 

 a legal right to shoot on the manor for which he is deputed. 



Any justice of the peace, or lord or lady of a manor, may take away 

 any hare, or other game, as w^ell as any dogs, found in the possession 

 of an unqualified person. 



Gamekeepers, or any other persons, may, by warrant of a justice of 

 peace, on proper information, search the houses or other places of un- 

 qualified persons, and seize and keep for the use of the lord or lady of 

 the manor, or destroy any dogs, nets, or engines, &c., as before named. 



The 1st of James I. c. 27, inflicts a penalty (to the poor) of twenty 

 shillings, or three months' imprisonment, for shooting or destroying 

 game ; and also requires two sureties in twenty pounds each not to re- 

 peat the offence. And the possession of game, by statute of Wm. 

 & Mary, c. 23, s. 3, subjects an unqualified possessor to imprisonment 

 for not more than one month nor less than ten days, and to be whip- 

 ped and kept at hard labour. The same act also specifies, that if 

 any inferior tradesman, (whatever property he may possess,) appren- 

 tice, or dissolute person, shall hunt, hawk, fish, or fowl, such i)erson 

 maybe sued for wilful trespass the first time he comes on any persons 

 ground, and if found guilty, must pay the full costs of suit. 



Trespass. — Either a qualified or an unqualified person may commit 

 a trespass, by entering upon the grounds of another without tlie per- 

 mission of the occupier, and doing some damage to his property, how- 

 ever small, for wliich an action may be brought, and satisfaction ob- 

 tained, according to the extent of the mischief or the malicious inten- 

 tion of the tres])asser. But in order to prevent, as far as possible, 

 vexatious litigation, it is enacted, by 43 Eliz. and 22 & 23 Charles II., 

 that where less damages than 40 shillings are given by the jury, the 

 plaintiif shall be allowed no more costs than damages : unless ( Wm. & 

 Mary, 8 & 9, c. II) it shall appear that tlie tresjjass was wilful and 

 malicious, in which case the plaintiff shall recover full costs of suit. 



A man becomes a icilful and malicious trespasser in a legal sense, if 

 he enter again upon the land or manor from which he has been wr.rned 

 off, either in writing or verbally. The occupier of land may demand the 

 address of a sportsman, or the sight of his certificate, as well as his 

 permission to shoot thereon, and upon refusal it subjects the sportsman 

 to a penalty of twenty ])Ounds. This demand may likewise be made 

 by any assessor or collector of taxes of the jinrish, commissioner, sur- 



