356 THE LAWS OF ANOLINO. 



yers assert that wild beasts and fish belong only to those- 

 \vh.> take them. 1 



This notion has led many persons to imagine, that , 

 even DOW, there subsists a general community 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 permit- 

 ted 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 controul it by express prohibitions ; and how 

 far such prohibitions are deemed lawful and binding on 

 the consciences of those on whom they are imposed, will 

 appear by consulting the authorities in the margin.* 

 And it is worth noting, that Laws made to prohibit the 

 taking of creatures fera nahtrd, by persons unqualified, 

 do not take from a man any thing which is his own ; but 

 they barely forbid the use of certain methods of acquisi- 

 tion, which the law of nature might, perhaps, allow of. 

 Puffendorfde Jure Nat. et Gent. Lib. IV. Cap. 6. 6. 8 



Agreeable to the principles here laid down, we find, 

 that the laws of most countries, at least of this, have as- 

 signed the property in the creatures in question to parti- 

 cular persons. Thus to royal fish, which are Whales and 



(I) Seld. Dt Jurt Nat. tt Gent. Just* Ducip. Ebr*or. Lib. IV. Cap. 4. 

 lnm. Lib. II. Tit. I. Dt rerum divitiorte et acquirendo eartim Dominic. 

 However. th'. U to be understood only in cases wherein there is no law to for- 

 bid it. Or or. De Jurt Belli ac Tacit, Lib. II Cap. 2. f ft. 



(t) PaffeixWf De Jurt Nut. et Gent. Lib. IV. Cap. 6. * 6. Gudelin Dt Jurt 

 m*mimf. Lib. II. Cap. . D. Lib. XLI.TU. 2. DC acquirend.vel admittend. 

 flltmi. SM alto Oarcilauo d> la Vefa, Comm Reg. Lib. VI. Cap. fi. Where 

 il to id. Uiat io Pem. hunting, by the inferior tort, it prohibited, lest, tajs the 

 aathor, - en betaking tbeaueUe* to the. pleasure of the field, should delight io 

 a coatinaed course of sports, aod so neglect the accessary provision and maln- 

 teaaorc of their fassilirs." 



(S) Sac also Arnold Finn, ad sect 13. De Rtr. Dnn. and Ziegter on Cro- 

 KM, Lib. 1 1. 



