360 THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 



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 taking 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," 

 34 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 \l ttntmo furandi, see Brae ton, Lib. Z.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 conse- 

 quence 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. Wentworth's Office of an Executor, 

 Chap. 5. and so shall fish in a trunk, 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 h, " 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 can- 

 not 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 further conclude that the word 

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

 cisterns, or other 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 



