BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 199 



fisherman in Plautus admits, that none of the fish 

 were his while they remained in their proper ele- 

 ment, and insists only in his right to those which he 

 had caught ; Rudens, act iv. scene 3. And both 

 the Jewish and Roman lawyers assert, that wild 

 beasts and fish belong only to those who take 

 them. 



This notion has led many persons to imagine 

 that, even now, there subsists a general commu- 

 nity of these creatures; and that, at this day, 

 every one has a right to take them to his own 

 use, wherever he finds them. Not to insist, that 

 if all men promiscuously were permitted the 

 exercise of this right, it would be of very little 

 benefit to any, it may suffice to say, that there 

 are few civilized countries that have not found it 

 necessary, either for promoting some public good, 

 or averting some public mischief, to control it 

 by express prohibitions; and how far such pro- 

 hibitions are deemed lawful and binding on the 

 consciences of those on whom they are imposed, 

 will appear by consulting Puffendorf, De jure 

 Nat. et Gent. lib. iv. cap. 6 sect. 6. Gudelin, 

 l)e Jure novissimo, lib. ii. cap. 2. D. lib. xli. tit. 2. 

 "De acquirend. vel. admittend. Possess." See 

 also Garcilasso de la Yega, Comm. Reg. lib. vi. 



