SALMON WEIRS. 217 



the fish. This barrier, which may or may not extend 

 across the whole breadth of the river, is either of solid 

 masonry or of brushwood, or it may be of any substance 

 and texture sufficiently high and closely reticulated to stop 

 the fish, and lead them into the apertures which contain 

 the boxes or traps." 1 



A mill-dam or mill-weir, though its purpose is only to 

 dam up and collect the water above it for the use of the 

 mill, may have and often has, according to its width and 

 height, the same effect in stopping the passage of fish. 

 There are also mill-dams with which a fishing-weir is 

 purposely combined as part of the same structure. These 

 are called in the Acts fishing mill-dams. 



It is easily seen that if there were no check on the 

 maintenance and use of weirs and dams, it would be in 

 the power of a few persons to monopolise and ultimately 

 destroy the whole fish stock of our rivers, or at any rate 

 the migratory species. Other riparian owners, indeed, 

 might without the aid of Parliament complain of the 

 infringement of their rights of fishery ; but the difficulty 

 of proving substantial damage in particular cases, and 

 the still greater difficulty of combined action, make the 

 common-law rights of private owners all but nugatory. 

 Hence the statutory regulation which has been undertaken. 



In England the general rules are now in substance as 

 follows : 



It is unlawful to take salmon by means of a dam or 

 weir, 2 unless it is constructed for the sole purpose of 

 catching fish, or partly to catch fish and partly as a 



1 Leconfidd v. Lonsdale, L. R. 5 C. P. 664, 666. 



* " Fishing weir " in the Acts means " any erection, structure, or 

 obstruction fixed to the soil either temporarily or permanently across, 

 or partly across, a river or branch of a river, and which is used for the 



