THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 



that they savour of barbarism, and are calculated to 

 serve the purposes of tyranny and ambition ; it was 

 thought necessary to trace the matter farther back, and 

 shew from whence laws of this kind derive their force. 

 And though it is not imagined that speculative argu- 

 ments will operate upon men of licentious principles,- 

 yet as the general tenor of this work supposes the 

 angler to be endued with reason, and under the domi- 

 nion of conscience, it may not be amiss, To state the 

 obligation he is under to an observance of such lawn, 

 and to point out to him the several instances where 

 he cannot pursue his recreation without the fisque of 

 his quiet. 



Property is, universally, allowed to be founded on 

 occupancy ; the very notion of which implies in- 

 dustry, or some act in the occupant, of which no 

 stranger has a right to avail himself: lie that first 

 took possession of an uncultivated tract of land, pro* 

 vided it was no more than necessary for the subsistence 

 of himself and his family, became thereby the proprie- 

 tor of such land. 



Mr. Locke illustrates this doctrine by an elegant 

 instance : " The water running in the fountain," says 

 he, " is every one's ; but that in the pitcher is his, only, 

 " who draws it." On Government , Hook II. Chap. V. 

 Sect. 20. 



And if this reasoning be admitted in the case of land, 

 which is ranked among the immoveable objects of 

 property ; it is much stronger in favour of things 

 moveable, the right of which is, at once, claimed 

 and fortified by an actual possession, and separation 

 from that common mass in which they were originally 

 supposed to exist. 



But notwithstanding the innumerable appropriations 

 which, in the present civilized state of the world, ap- 

 pear to have been made, there are many things which 

 may yet be said to be in common, and in a state 

 of natural liberty ; in this class, we may rank ciea* 

 tures fercK naturd ; beasts of chace, many kinds 

 of fowl, and all fish. Ths fisherman in Plautus 

 admits, that none of the fish were his, while they 



