SALMON LEGISLA TION IN SCOTLAND. 517 



shore is as much the " run of fish " as the river. That no 

 such mode of fishing was ever authorised or contemplated 

 is clearly shown by the terms of the charters, in no single 

 one of which is anything to be found to give colour to the 

 claim, and the proprietors of fixed nets have simply erected 

 them without any right to do so, and on chance of their 

 being permitted to remain. It was in the rivers that 

 salmon fishery was originally recognised as property, long 

 before even a coast charter was granted (in 1603), and no 

 persons could have at any .subsequent time a right to 

 encroach on this private property, directly or indirectly. 

 That is precisely what the fixed net fishers on the coast 

 have done, however, with the result that what was once a 

 valuable possession has in many cases become useless, and 

 no compensation has been paid to those deprived of a con- 

 siderable portion of their income, in securing which often a 

 large amount of capital had been sunk. It is difficult to 

 see what better claims to compensation those persons 

 would have for the abolition of a practice which was really 

 illegal at first, and which has only acquired a semblance of 

 right because, owing to the uncertainty of the law and the 

 want of proper opposition, it has been allowed to exist 

 beyond the prescriptive period. The appropriation of the 

 waters of rivers and streams by manufacturers without any 

 title, and totally oblivious of the rights of others, is a case 

 on all fours with that under discussion. Their so doing 

 has destroyed in many cases the fishings formerly enjoyed 

 and paid for by riparian proprietors, and depreciated in 

 all cases the value of the land through which the streams 

 passed ; but for want of proper opposition, combined with 

 a mistaken notion on the part of the authorities that it 

 would not do to interfere with industry, the illegal en- 

 croachments were allowed to go on till they have obtained 



