THE DOG AND THE LAW 



553 



sessions, and punishable by imprisonment, 

 with or without hard labour, for not more 

 than eighteen months, and (or) fine and 

 sureties ; and corruptly taking any money 

 or reward, directly or indirectly, under 

 pretence or upon account of aiding an}?^ 

 person to recover a dog which has been 

 stolen or is in the possession of a person 

 not its owner, is a misdemeanour triable 

 and punishable in the same way. 



It will probably be of interest to many 

 of those who nowadays follow the sport of 

 Greyhound coursing to know that in the 

 year 1603 or thereabouts a statute was 

 passed which enacted that if anybody — 

 with the exception of some privileged 

 people — should be found keeping " Grey- 

 hounds to course deer or hare, he shaJl 

 straightway be committed to the common 

 gaol for three months without bail except 

 he forthwith pay forty shillings to the 

 churchwardens of the parish where the 

 offence was committed." 



In the reign of Charles II. no one was 

 allowed to keep a dog unless he was fortunate 

 enough to be (i) an owner of a free warren ; 

 (2) a lord of a manor ; (3) an owner of an 

 estate of inheritance of at least £100 per 

 annum for life ; (4) a leaseholder for ninety- 

 nine years of £150 per annum ; or (5) a 

 son or heir of an esquire or one of higher 

 degree. The penalty for keeping a dog by 

 any unqualified person was later fixed at a 

 fine not exceeding £20 for each dog, a 

 moiety of which went to the informer and 

 the rest to the poor of the parish. If the 

 fine could not be levied by distress, the 

 offender was sent to a house of correction 

 with hard labour for any time not exceeding 

 one month. 



Even as late as Queen Anne's reign 

 several people were not qualified to keep 

 dogs, and by the statute 5 Anne, c. 14, s. 4, 

 justices and lords of the manor might 

 take away dogs from persons not qualified 

 to keep them, and the case of Kingsworth 

 V. Bretton, 5 Taunt. 416, decided that 

 they might also destroy them. 



It seems quite plain that in the olden 

 time ev-ery step possible was taken to dis- 

 courage the ordinary person from becoming 



a dog o\TOer, and it is therefore not difficult 

 to understand that coursing meetings, dog 

 shows, dog fights, and the like, were not 

 of frequent occurrence. The statute of 

 1603 already referred to— which was, of 

 course, in the time of James I.— was by 

 no means the only one which was passed 

 dealing with this subject, for in the third 

 year of that monarch's reign we find another 

 statute, which enacted that — 



" If persons not having manors, lands, 

 or tenements of the yearly value of £40, 

 and not worth goods or chattels of £200, 

 shall use an}^ gun, bow, or cross bow to 

 kill deer or conies, or shall keep ' conny 

 dogges,' then every person having lands 

 or tenements of £100 yearly value in fee 

 simple, fee tail, or for life, in his own 

 right or in that of his wife, may take 

 possession of such malefactors and keep 

 their guns, dogges, etc., for his 'own use." 



About one hundred years previous to 

 this, in the nineteenth year of the reign 

 of Henry VII., we find an interesting statute 

 which sets forth : — 



" Forasmuch as it is wele undrestand 

 and knowen that the grettest destruc- 

 cion of Reed Deer and Falowe within 

 the Realme in tyme past hath ben and 

 yet is with Netts called Deere Hayes 

 and Bukstallys and stalkyng with beest 

 to the greate displeasure of our Sovereign 

 Lorde the Kyng and all the Lords and 

 other noble mene within this his Realme 

 havyng forests, chaces, or parks in their 

 possession, rule, and kepjmg, so that if 

 the said netts or stalkyng shuld un- 

 lawefuUy be used and occupied in tyme 

 com3mg, as they have been in tyme 

 past, the most part of the forests, chaces, 

 and parks of this Realme shuld be ther- 

 with destroied ; Be it therfore established 

 and enacted by the Lords spirituell 

 and temporell and the Commons in this 

 present Parliament assembled and by 

 the authority of the same that eny person 

 or persons spirituell or temporell having 

 no park, chace, or forest of their owne, 

 kepe nor cause to be kepte eny netts called 



