THE GAME LAWS. 307 



And by 9 Geo. I.e. 22. If any person, being armed and dis- 

 guised, shall appear in any warren or place where hares or conies are 

 usually kept, or unlawfully rob any such warren, or shall, though 

 not armed and disguised, rescue any person in custody for such 

 offence, or procure any person to join him therein, he shall be 

 guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. 



By the stat. 22 and 23 Car. 2. it is provided, That no person 

 shall kill or take, in the night, any conies upon the borders of 

 a warren, or other grounds lawfully used for the breeding and 

 keeping of conies, except such person be the owner of the soil, 

 or lawful possessor of the ground, whereupon such conies shall 

 be killed, or be by him employed, upon pain of such satisfaction 

 as the justices aforesaid shall award, and also pay to the overseers 

 for the poor a sum not exceeding ten shillings, or, in default 

 thereof, to be committed to the house of correction for a term 

 not exceeding one month. 



And by :he same act, any person convicted of setting or using 

 any snares, or other like engines for the taking of conies, shall 

 be liable to the same penalties as in the last-mentioned section. 



A man cannot have an action of trespass on the case for 

 another man's conies breaking into his grounds, because they 

 are in their natural liberty when they are out of the warren, but 

 the owner of the soil may lawfully kill them while they are oil 

 his ground. Cro. Eliz. 54/7. 5 Co. 104. 



The lord of the soil may make burrows in a common, and 

 stock them with rabbits ; and therefore a commoner cannot jus- 

 tify chasing them thence, damage Jesant, for he ought to come 

 there but to use his common : but if the lord surcharge the 

 common, he is liable to an action for so doing. Cro. Jac. 

 195. 208. 229. 



Rex v. Yaites. Yaites was convicted of killing rabbits in a 

 private warren by inquisition taken before a justice of the peace, 

 and was fined twenty shillings a rabbit, And it was moved to 



