SOME BROAD FACTS IN ANGLING LAW 375 



number of boats. The right to land, how- 

 ever, is confined, as regards proprietors and 

 those to whom they have given permission 

 to fish, each to his own shores. 



(3) Public Rivers. A river is only public as regards 



trout-fishing to the extent that the public may 

 fish in it for trout, flounders, and other float- 

 ing fish, except salmon, as far up as it is both 

 tidal and navigable. In this sense it is not 

 public where it is only tidal, or where it is 

 only navigable, and in these cases the rules 

 of fishing applicable to private rivers apply. 

 The " publicity " of a non-tidal navigable 

 river consists in a mere right of passage by 

 boat on the surface of the water, and gives no 

 public right to the water, or its inhabitants, 

 or the solum. Where a river is tidal and 

 navigable, it, and its solum (broadly speak- 

 ing), is vested in the Crown for behoof 

 of the public's right of free navigation 

 and white fishing, which is the sole basis of 

 any right of trout-fishing which the public 

 possesses. 



(4) Public Locks. On legal principle alone, no 



lochs in Scotland, except such as are both 

 tidal and navigable, can be held to be public 

 as regards trout-fishing. Where they are not 

 at the same time tidal, access to them either 

 by a navigable river, or by a canal, will not 



