XXVII 

 LEGISLATION CONCERNING MAMMALS 



Laws concerning mammals, both wild and domesticated, are of 

 very ancient origin. In the Old Testament we find laws concerning 

 horses (Deut., xvn:i6), asses (Ex., xm:i3; xxmr/j.; Deut, xxn:io), 

 cattle, goats and sheep for the sacrifice, and forbidding the eating of 

 camels, conies, hares, swine, weasels, ferrets, mice, moles, and, by 

 implication, bats and flying foxes, ''flying creeping things, which have 

 four feet" (Lev., xi). 



In England laws relating to wild animals developed at a very early 

 date, including a fundamental principle that lies at the root of all fish 

 and game laws, to wit, that all wild animals belong to the state, based 

 upon the fact that they move freely from one man's property to that 

 of another and are not in actual possession of anyone until they are 

 either caught or killed. The recognition of this principle led to various 

 problems which had to be solved by legislation or court decisions, 

 and precedents established by courts soon became recognized as law 

 of equal force with legislative enactments. Such, for instance, was the 

 question as to w r ho owns the carcass of an animal that is shot on one 

 man's property and dies on another's. 



On the theory that wild animals belong to the state, the American 

 states have always exercised the right to decide, through the legisla- 

 tures, just how problems of wild life should be disposed of, when, how, 

 by whom, in what quantity and in what manner wild animals may be 

 caught, killed, used and sold. The federal government, under its con- 

 stitutional authority over interstate affairs, has assumed jurisdiction 

 over migratory birds, which pass regularly from state to state and into 

 other countries, has enacted laws and regulations concerning hunting 

 such birds and negotiated treaties in relation thereto with other powers. 

 It would doubtless do the same with mammals if they were sufficiently 

 migratory to make it advisable. Indeed, the government long ago es- 

 tablished the status of the North Pacific fur seal by treaties with Great 

 Britain and Japan, after a long and serious controversy. In a single 

 chapter we may only very briefly refer to a few general features of 

 the numerous wild animal laws in force in the United States. 



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