198 THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 



on occupancy, the very notion of which implies 

 industry, or some act in the occupant of which no 

 stranger has a right to avail himself : he that first 

 took possession of an uncultivated tract of land, 

 provided it was no more than was necessary for 

 the subsistence of himself and his family, became 

 thereby the proprietor of such land. 



Mr. Locke illustrates this doctrine by an ele- 

 gant instance : " The water running in the 

 fountain," says he, "is every one's, but that in 

 the pitcher is his who draws it." On Govern- 

 ment, book ii. chap. v. sect. 29. 



And, if this reasoning be admitted in the case 

 of land, which is reckoned among the immoveable 

 objects of property, it is much stronger in favour 

 of things moveable, the right of which is at once 

 claimed, and fortified by an actual possession and 

 separation from that common mass in which they 

 were originally supposed to exist. 



But, notwithstanding the innumerable appro- 

 priations which, in the present civilized state of 

 the world, appear to have been made, there are 

 many things which may yet be said to be in com- 

 mon, and in a state of natural liberty ; in this 

 class we. may rank creatures ferce nature^ beasts 

 of chase, many kinds of fowl, and all fish. The 



