POACHING 167 



and delivered over to a constable, to be brought 

 before two Justices of the Peace to be dealt with 

 as the Act provides. If such person offers violent 

 resistance, and assaults those authorised to apprehend 

 him, he is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable on 

 conviction to transportation for seven years, or to 

 imprisonment with hard labour for two years. 



The Larceny Act, 1861 (Section 17) makes it an 

 offence to kill hares and rabbits at night ' in a warren ' 

 (see p. 57), an extension, as it were, of the Night 

 Poaching Acts which relate to taking or killing game 

 or rabbits 'in open or enclosed lands.' Whether the 

 land in question is ' a warren,' or not, may be a 

 question for the determination of the justices.' If it 

 be quite certain that the offence was committed ' in a 

 warren,' the offender may be prosecuted under the 

 Larceny Act, otherwise under the Night Poaching 

 Acts. One must, of course, bear in mind the dis- 

 tinction between an ordinary warren and the right of 

 free warren, as explained in a former chapter (see p. 52). 



not sufficient for him to be merely on the land in search of 

 rabbits. The keeper therefore, if he sees a trespasser at night 

 whom he has reason to suspect, should give him time before 

 making his appearance. The reason for this anomaly, which 

 arises on a question of construction of the Act, is fully explained 

 in an article on ' Rabbit Poaching by Night,' in The Field of 

 February 15, 1890. 



' Bevan v. Hopkinson, 34 L.T. 142. See p. 58, note. 



