SA LMON LEG IS LA TION IN SCO TLA ND. 5 39 



been carried out successfully in some instances already, 

 e.g. in the Nether Don fishings in Aberdeenshire, and on 

 the Tweed. 



THE TWEED. 



The Tweed has a course of 100 miles, and a drainage The Tweed, 

 area of 1870 square miles, and was at one time the most 

 productive salmon river in Scotland, though it has long 

 fallen from this high estate, forming now a bad second to 

 the Tay. Owing to its exceptional position as being 

 situated partly in England and partly in Scotland, the 

 Tweed has always been the subject of special legislation. 

 Before the time of James I. its position was very unfor- 

 tunate, as, in common with the Solway, little or no protec- 

 tion could be secured for it, owing to the jealousy between 

 the two countries. It is not altogether clear that the old 

 Scotch statutes applied to the Tweed, but the presumption 

 is that they did for the most part However, this question 

 does not require to be considered, as the precaution was 

 taken in the case of the Tweed, which was omitted in the 

 general Scotch Act, though passed five years later viz. 

 to repeal all prior statutes and, therefore, we do not require 

 to go further back than 1857 in our examination of the 

 law relating to the river. The law is contained in the two 

 Tweed Acts of 1857 and 1859, together with occasional 

 sections in the general Scotch Acts, which are declared to 

 apply to the Tweed also. 



The Act of 1857 is in many respects superior as a general 

 measure to the subsequent Scotch Act of 1862, and might 

 with advantage have been taken as a closer model. 

 Curiously enough, it was the outcome chiefly of an agita- 

 tion about fixed nets promoted by the upper proprietors, 

 headed by the Duke of Roxburgh, and adopted by the 

 Tweed Commissioners. 



