208 THE FISHERY LA WS. 



particular conventions with foreign Powers made by the 

 British Government and confirmed by Parliament. There 

 are also special provisions as to oyster fisheries and 

 other shell-fish. Apart from these, and from any particular 

 convention of the kind just mentioned, there is nothing to 

 prevent any British subject from fishing on the high seas 

 when, where, and how he thinks fit. In territorial waters 

 within the jurisdiction of any foreign State he is subject 

 to the local laws and regulations, whatever they may be. 

 There have been controversies about the extent of a 

 maritime State's jurisdiction in its own coast waters, 

 but it seems to have always been admitted that it includes 

 the regulation of fisheries. Territorial or, as they are 

 sometimes called, marginal waters are commonly understood 

 to extend to a distance of a marine league (three geograph- 

 ical miles) from the shore. This measure, fixed long ago 

 with reference to the supposed extreme range of cannon 

 planted on the land, is thought by some modern authorities 

 to be too short : the question, however, is one of general 

 international law, which cannot be discussed here. For the 

 purpose of fishery rights the three-mile limit is expressly 

 adopted in our conventions with France and other Powers. 



A. Freshwater Fisheries. 



Let us begin at home with the law of freshwater fisheries. 

 The questions with which it deals fall under the two general 

 heads of who may fish, and how they may fish ; or, to put 

 the questions as an individual fisherman might put them 

 to himself: May I fish here at all? and, if so, on what con- 

 ditions and within what limits as to manner, time and other- 

 wise ? Restrictions, again, where they exist, may be of two 

 classes ; they may be (as most of them are) designed for 

 the preservation of the fish and the benefit of the public, 



