THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 305 



fish passes, and the remedy against a trespasser is not severed from the 

 soil ; the owner whereof, and not the grantee, may maintain an action, 

 and may also fish himself. Co. Lit. 122 a. 



As common of fishing may be appendant to land, so also there may 

 be a joint tenancy, or a tenancy in common of a fishery. 1 Inst. 

 186 b. 



Having thus shewn in what cases the angler, in the pursuit of his 

 recreation, may become a trespasser, let us next consider how far he is, 

 by taking fish, in danger of committing larceny ; for that the taking 

 fish out of a pond, without the consent of the owner, falls within 

 my Lord Coke's definition of that crime, no one can doubt that reads 

 it. His words are, " Larceny is, the felonious and fraudulent tak- 

 ing and carrying away, by any man or woman, of the mere personal 

 goods of another ; neither from the person, nor by night in the house 

 of the owner." 3d. Inst. 107. And a little after, 109, he expressly 

 says, " Larceny may be committed of fishes in a pond. " 



Now, though to make the taking any personal thing felonious, 

 reason and the law require that the party should do it animo fu- 

 randi,(sce Bracton, lib. 3. fol. 150. Fleta lib. ]. cap. 36, which we 

 will suppose no angler to be possessed with, ) yet, whether by the 

 word pond, we are to understand ponds at large, is perhaps of some 

 consequence for him to know. 



It is a rule in law, that personal goods, and things severed from 



the freehold, shall go to the executors, and not to the heir Went- 



worth's Office of an Executor, chap. 5. And so shall fish in a tank, 

 or the like. 'Ibid. But Lord Coke, in his Commentary on Littleton, 

 fol. 8, tells us, that fish in a pond shall go with the inheritance, 

 " Because," says he, " they were at their liberty, and could not be 

 gotten without industry, as by nets or engines." 



From hence we may conclude, that fish in ponds cannot be said to 

 be mere personal goods ; and then it follows as a consequence, that of 

 such fish larceny cannot be committed : and we may farther conclude, 

 that the word ponds, in the above passage, must mean only stew- 

 ponds, cisterns, or ether such small receptacles of fish. 



Many wholesome laws have from time to time been enacted, to 

 prevent the destruction of fish ; but they are so numerous, that I 

 must refer the reader to the Statutes at large, or to the Abridgment 

 published by a late worthy and learned friend of mine, John Cay, 

 Esq. deceased. 



He may also see, a Discourse on the Laws concerning Angling, 

 and for Preservation of Fish, at the end of the Angler's Sure Guide, 

 written, as it seems, by the author of that book, with the learning 

 and accuracy of an able lawyer. 



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