FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 227 



little by legislation to assign or define the rights which 

 may exist amongst those of its subjects (as between them- 

 selves) who are engaged upon the fisheries. The regu- 

 lation of such rights the State has safely entrusted to 

 Usage. From this it is not to be understood that Parlia- 

 ment has legislated but little in regard to sea-fishing. 

 The remainder of this essay will show the contrary, and 

 our Statute Books contain scores of enactments on the 

 subject In one piece of legislation alone, that of 1868, 

 reference is made to no less than sixty-five previous 

 Fishery Acts. 



The main object of this State legislation has been to 

 regulate the fishing community as a class in order that by 

 the maintenance of order and honesty, and the prevention 

 of fish from wanton destruction, the country may be bene- 

 fited at large. It has seldom interfered to establish the 

 exact rights which one fisherman may have against another 

 for the reasons that the wide extent of the sea, the un- 

 certainty of the property in fish until they are actually 

 caught, and the unwritten regulations which have been 

 established through custom amongst fishermen themselves, 

 have rendered legislative interference less necessary than 

 legislative supervision. In Penning v. Grenville (i Taunt. 

 247), Justice Chambre was of opinion that of necessity 

 usage, and not statutory enactments, must in many 

 instances be the only obligatory law regulating the use of 

 deep-sea fisheries, not only as between British subjects 

 and those of other nations, but as between British subjects 

 themselves. 



The prosperity of the State and the prosperity of the 

 classes which compose it are mutually dependent on each 

 other ; and, although the legislation regarding fishermen, 

 from being primarily based upon a consideration for the 



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