26 WILD ANIMALS. 



from the whale, less the cost of trying it out and preparing 

 it for market, with interest from the date of the conversion. 

 And this is also the rule in Bourne v. Ashley ^« and Bartlett 

 V. Budd, supra. In Taber v. Jenny, supra, the cost of cutting 

 up and boiling down the whale, etc., was not allowed to be 

 deducted. 



A custom in Shetland that the owners of lands on which 

 whales were driven should share in the proceeds with the cap- 

 tors was held in a Scotch case not to be just or reasonable, and 

 was therefore denied judicial sanction.^^ 



With regard to seals, the most important decision is that 

 of the Behring Sea Arbitration. The result of this arbitra- 

 tion has thus been summed up : "The decision of the arbitra- 

 tors practically adopts the rules of the English common law 

 as to the ownership of wild animals by individuals and makes 

 them part of international law as regards such ownership by 

 nations. Since no wild animals at all similar to the fur-seal 

 ever figured before in an inteniational dispute, it became 

 necessary for our government, in the absence of precedents 

 of this character, to turn to the common law for some prin- 

 ciple which would sustain our claim to ownership in the seal 

 herds. Accordingly it was argued in our behalf that seals in 

 international law were analogous to such animals as bees or 

 carrier pigeons at the common law, which, as Blackstone said, 

 continued to be the property of their custodian even when 

 flying at a great distance from home, because of their having 

 a fixed intention to return (animus revertendi). On the other 

 hand, it was asserted in behalf of Great Britain by Sir Charles 

 Russell, that this animus revertendi only conferred the right 

 of property in wild animals at the common law when it was 

 induced by artificial means, such as taming them or ofifering 

 them food. Hence, he argued, it involved a confusion of 

 ideas to claim that the seals were American property because 

 they migrated at certain periods to a particular place, since 



" I Low (U. S.) 27. ™ Bruce v. Smith, 17 Rettie (Sc. Ct. Sess.) 1000.. 



