98 LAWS FOR TAKING FISH. 



SECT. III. LAWS AND REGULATIONS FOR TAKING 

 FISH. 



In the act called the Black Act, it is enacted, that any 

 person being armed and disguised, and who shall steal, 

 or unlawfully take away, any fish out of a river or 

 pond, or maliciously break down and destroy the 

 mound or head of any river, whereby the fish shall be 

 lost or destroyed, or shall rescue any person in custody 

 for such offence, or procure another to assist him 

 therein, he shall be found guilty of felony, without 

 benefit of clergy. 



If any one take, destroy, or kill any fish, in any 

 enclosed ground, the same being private property, he 

 shall, on conviction, forfeit five pounds to the owner of 

 such fish, or, in default of payment, be committed to 

 the House of Correction for any time not exceeding 

 six calendar months. 



Any person breaking into an enclosed or private 

 ground, and stealing or destroying the fish kept in any 

 pond, stream, or river therein, shall be transported for 

 seven years, and any person receiving the fish, or 

 buying it, knowing the same to be stolen, shall suffer 

 the like punishment. 



No persons may have in possession, or keep, any 

 net, angle piche, or other engine for taking fish, but the 

 makers and sellers thereof, and the owner or renter of 

 a river fishery, except fishermen and their apprentices, 

 legally authorized in navigable rivers; and the owner 

 or occupier of the said river may seize, and keep, and 

 convert to his own use, every net, &c., which he shall 

 discover laid or used, or in the possession of any person 

 thus fishing without his consent. 



