124 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



The nature of the title of the Crown to salmon fishings 

 in Scotland being that which has been above described,* 

 and being vested in the Crown not merely as trustee 

 for the public, as has been contended, but as part of its 

 patrimonial estates it is next to be considered how the 

 right to any particular salmon fishing may be acquired 

 by a subject. Such a right may clearly be obtained by 

 an express grant from the Crown ; and it has been stated 

 to the Committee by the Lord Advocate that if there be 

 a title from the Crown cum piscationibus, followed by a 

 possession of salmon fishings by the use of a net and 

 coble, cruive, yair, or other mechanical contrivance, for 

 forty years, a presumptive right to salmon fishings would 

 be acquired, but that rod or spear fishing will not be 

 sufficient to found a presumptive title. It has been 

 proved in evidence that many grants of salmon fishings 

 in the sea, and in estuaries in Scotland, were made by 

 the Crown before the transfer of the management of the 

 Crown property to the Commissioners of Woods, and 

 the list of such grants which was produced to the Com- 

 mittee probably does not contain references to nearly 

 all the grants which have been made, or titles which 

 could be maintained against the Crown. 



The statutory restrictions on the salmon fishings in 

 Scotland, as regards the use of fixed engines, may be 

 considered, first, with reference to rivers above the flow 

 of the tide that is to say, from the source down to the 

 place where the flow and ebb of the tide is perceptible ; 

 secondly, with respect to that portion of rivers which is 

 within the ebb and flow of the tide ; and, lastly, with 

 reference to the sea coast. 



The general statutes by which these restrictions were 

 imposed are very numerous they commence with an Act 



* See Blue Book. 



