436 GAME LAWS. 



qualified man, sporting on either, would be subject to an action ac- 

 cordingly (with costs), and without receiving any previous notice. 



The exercise of a free warren, however, is, in most cases, now 

 difficult to be proved. 



WILDFOWL. 



Any one may shoot them on the coast, from a public path, fyc. fyc. 



Where a person, with neither qualification nor licence, has a 

 right to carry a gun, provided he does not use it for the destruction 

 of game. 



The shooting of wildfowl, therefore (according to the 

 best professional opinions I have collected), is, notwith- 

 standing the act of Anne (cap. xxv.), such a use as 

 cannot be deemed an illegal one. 



It is said, that a lord of a manor, or his keeper, can- 

 not seize the gun of any person whatever, unless it has 

 been used, by the person carrying it, in destroying, or 

 with an intent to destroy game. (Sed quere ?J 



TIME WITHIN WHICH INFORMATIONS AND 

 ACTIONS MUST BE BROUGHT. 



Informations for penalties, relative to the game laws, should be 

 brought so as for the conviction to take place within three months. 



A penalty may be either recovered by information before ajustice 

 of peace, or sued for in any of the courts of record at Westminster. 

 In the latter case, the action must be brought within six lunar 

 months after the offence committed. 



By this way of proceeding, the informer, as plaintiff, 

 will, if he recover in the action, be entitled to the whole 

 of the penalty for his own use (instead of one half going 

 to the poor, as in cases of information), and the de- 

 fendant will, of course, have to pay double costs. (Vide 

 2 Geo. III. cap. xxix.) 



