392 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



now, or hereafter shall be established, ' ' an obligation which 

 cannot be read as referring only to the rules established 

 by this very act, and having no reference to anteceding 

 rules "as are now established." In a similar way, the 

 statute of 1699 preserves in force prior legislation, con- 

 ferring the freedom of fishery only "as fully and freely 

 as at any time heretofore." The order in council, 1670, 

 provides that the Admirals, who always were fishermen, 

 arriving from an English or Welsh port, "see that His 

 Majesty's rules and orders concerning the regulation of 

 the fisheries are duly put in execution" (sec. 13). Likewise 

 the Act 10 and XI, Wm. Ill, Cap. 25, (1699) provides 

 that the Admirals do settle differences between the fisher- 

 men arising in respect of the places to be assigned to 

 the different vessels. As to Nova Scotia, the proclama- 

 tion of 1665 ordains that no one shall fish without license ; 

 that the licensed fishermen are obliged "to observe all 

 laws and orders which now are made and published, or 

 shall hereafter be made and published in this jurisdic- 

 tion," and that they shall not fish on the Lord's day and 

 shall not take fish at the time they come to spawn. The 

 judgment of the Chief Justice of Newfoundland, October 

 26th, 1820, is not held by the Tribunal sufficient to set aside 

 the proclamations referred to. After 1783, the statute 26 

 Geo. Ill, Cap. 26, 1786, forbids "the use, on the shores 

 of Newfoundland, of seines or nets for catching cod by 

 hauling on shore or taking into boat, with meshes less 

 than 4 inches"; a prohibition which cannot be considered 

 as limited to the bank fishery. The act for regulating the 

 fisheries of New Brunswick, 1793, which forbids ' ' the plac- 

 ing of nets or seines across any cove or creek in the Province 

 so as to obstruct the natural course of fish," and which 

 makes specific provision for fishing in the Harbour of 

 St. John, as to the manner and time of fishing, cannot 

 be read as being limited to fishing from the shore. The 



