186 STATUTE LAWS RELATING TO 



seized and condemned ; whether right or wrong is 

 not the question. These fish, I understand, were 

 old spent salmon returning to the sea after having 

 shed their pea. There ought not to be any power 

 to take such fish at any time; nor do I expect 

 that any man will venture to assert the contrary. 

 Indeed, I even doubt the validity of the power, 

 though proclaimed by parliament, on account of 

 its rendering the act nugatory and absurd, and 

 affecting to do that which parliament had not the 

 power to accomplish. To pronounce a rotten fish 

 eatable and seasonable, is an absurdity in terms, 

 and nugatory in effect: query, then, how far lawful ? 

 One would suppose that those legislators who 

 could so nicely discriminate and ascertain, from 

 the nature of the fish, why there should be a differ- 

 ence in the defence of the rivers Teign and Dart 

 by only a few days, when the two rivers lie only a 

 few miles from each other, must have known that 

 a great many fish were not fit to be killed after the 

 time mentioned in the act. Was this discrimina- 

 tion the result of science and reflection ? or was it 

 to promote the interest of the public, or the inte- 

 rest of individuals ? It should be altered without 

 loss of time, for the credit of the House, as an 

 oversight ; as well as for the benefit of the country, 

 as an evil. 



Hitherto we have seen that there is nothing in 

 any of the acts before quoted, to legalize or justify 

 the use of fish traps and coops across rivers and 

 streams, for the taking salmon or any fish of that 



