THE INADEQUACY OF THE THKEE-MILE LIMIT 723 



British subjects, and that it was not for them to draw a dis- 

 tinction which had not been made by Parliament. 1 



This decision was the means of raising the question whether 

 the byelaw did not apply to foreigners equally with British 

 subjects in the whole extent of the Firth, and a series of cases 

 were brought before the Sheriff to test the point. Three 

 prosecutions were instituted, one against Emmanuel Mortensen, 

 a Dane, master of the Niobe, of Sandefjord, Norway, for trawl- 

 ing at a point about five miles off Lossiemouth; another 



Fig. 30. The Moray Firth, showing the line of closure. 



against Thomas Robinson, a British subject, master of the 

 Verbena of Stavanger, Norway, for trawling at a point five 

 miles S.S.E. of Garty Point, Sutherlandshire ; and the third 

 against Arthur Lambert, a British subject, fishing-master of 

 the Pine^vold, registered at Sandefjord, Norway, for trawling 

 at a distance of seven miles from Tarbetness. Convictions 

 were obtained in all cases in the Sheriff Court of Dornoch, 



1 Peters v. Olscn, 7, Court of Session Reports, 5th Series (Justiciary Cases) ; 42 

 Scottish Law Reporter, p. 735. 



