1212 MISCELLANEOUS. 



the collectors to inform the masters, owners, and others engaged in 

 the fisheries, that complaints have been made, and to enjoin upon those 

 persons a strict observance of the limits assigned for taking, drying, 

 and curing fish by the American fishermen, under the convention of 

 1818." 



In March, of the same year, an act was passed by Nova Scotia of 

 extreme, and, in some of its provisions, of inexcusable severity. It 

 provides (among other things not material to our present purpose) 



That "officers of the colonial revenue, sheriffs, magistrates, and any 

 other person duly commissioned for that purpose, may go on board 

 any vessel or boat within any harbor in the province, or hovering 

 within three miles of any of the coasts or harbors thereof, and stay 

 on board so long as she may remain within such place or distance." 



That "if such vessel or boat be bound elsewhere, and shall continue 

 within such harbor or so hovering for twenty-four hours after the 

 master shall have been required to depart, any one of the officers above 

 mentioned may bring such vessel or boat into port and search her 

 cargo, and also examine the master upon oath, and if the master or 

 person hi command shall not truly answer the questions demanded of 

 him in such examination, he shall forfeit one hundred pounds; and if 

 there be any prohibited goods on board, then such vessel or boat, and 

 the cargo thereof, shall be forfeited." 



That "if the vessel or boat shall be foreign, and not navigated 

 according to the laws of Great Britain and Ireland, and shall have 

 been found fishing, or preparing to fish, or to have been fishing, 

 within three marine miles of such coasts or harbors, such vessel or 

 boat and the cargo shall be forfeited." 



That "if any seizure take place and a dispute arise, the proof touch- 

 ing the illegality thereof shall be upon the owner or claimant." 



That "no person shall enter a claim to anything seized until security 

 shall have been given, in a penalty not exceeding sixty pounds, to 

 answer and pay costs occasioned by such claim; and in default of 

 such security, the things seized shall be adjudged forfeited and shall 

 be condemned." 



That "no writ shall be sued out against any officer or other person 

 authorized to seize for anything done until one month after notice in 

 writing, delivered to him or left at his usual place of abode by the per- 

 son intending to sue out such writ, his attorney or agent, in which 

 notice shall be contained the cause of action, the name and place of 

 abode of the person who is to bring the. action, and of his attorney or 

 agent; and no evidence of .any cause of action shall be produced, ex- 

 cept such as shall be contained in such notice." 



That "every such action shall be brought within three months after 

 the cause thereof has arisen." 



That "if on any information or suit brought to trial on account of 

 any seizure, judgment shall be given for the claimant, and the judge 

 or court shall certify on the record that there was probable cause of 

 seizure, the claimant shall not recover costs, nor shall the person who 

 made the seizure be liable to any indictment or suit on account thereof. 

 And if any suit or prosecution be brought against any person on ac- 

 count of such seizure, and judgment shall be given against him, and 

 the judge or court shall certify that there was probable cause for the 

 seizure, then the plaintiff, besides the thing seized or its value, shall 



