DIGEST OF GAME LAWS FOR 1901/ 



I. GENERAL DISCUSSION OF GAME LAWS. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



The game laws now in force in the United States are of two kinds, 

 Federal and State. Federal laws regulate interstate commerce in, 

 and importation of game; the preservation of game in Alaska, the 

 Indian Territor}^, and the District of Columbia, and on Government 

 reservations. State laws regulate the capture, shipment, and sale of 

 game within State jurisdictions. Canadian laws, like those of the 

 United States, may also be divided into General laws, comprising 

 chiefly regulations concerning the export of game; and Provincial laws, 

 corresponding to State laws, which govern the capture, shipment, and 

 sale of game. In some States certain counties have special statutes or 

 are partially or entirely exempt from the operation of the general 

 game laws. In the four States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 

 and Tennessee, where local statutes are especially popular, there are 

 probably more game laws for the three hundred or more counties than 

 in all the rest of the United States. It should be noted, however, that 

 these local laws are enacted by the States and not by the counties 

 themselves. State legislatures are jealous of their rights in such 

 matters, and, except in Mississippi, seldom delegate even the fixing of 

 game seasons to county boards of supervisors. In many instances 

 these laws do not conform to those of adjoining States or counties, 

 and even in so fundamental a matter as the definition of game there 

 is a noticeable lack of agreement. 



DEFINITIONS OF GAME. 



In Bouvier's Law Dictionary game is defined as ' ' Birds and beasts 

 ^of a wild nature obtained by fowling and hunting;'' in the Code of 

 Mississippi as "all kinds of animals and birds found in the state of 

 [nature commonly so-called." Both these statements are too general 

 to meet the requirements of modern conditions. The laws of Michigan, 

 British Columbia, and New Brunswick go to the other extreme and 



^ The present report deals only with laws concerning animals and birds which are 

 properly game. Legislation regarding nongame birds will be found in Bull. No. 12 

 of the Biological Survey. 



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