of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



67 



NOTE III. 



Memorandum by the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, in consultation with 

 Messrs Carmichael & Miller, W.S., in regard to the Law relating 

 to the Construction and Regulation of Cruives prior to the Salmon 

 Fishery Act of 1862, and as to the effect of that Act thereon. 



Cruives have been subjected from an extremely early period to various 

 restrictions which have been enacted more or less consistently in a long 

 series of statutes. A summary of these is given below, the marginal 

 references being to Thomson's collection of the Scots Acts. 



By an Act in the time of Alexander II. — by some authorities attri- Will c 10 

 buted to the time of William the Lion, — the mid stream was required to I. 374. 

 be left free for a space 1 in sa mekill that ane swine of thre zeir auld and 

 ' weill fed is of length, and may turn him within it, in sic ane manner 

 1 that nather his grunzie nor his tail tuich ony of the sides of the cruives 

 i that are biggit on ilk side of the water.' It also required the water to 

 be free, so that no one might take fish from Saturday at noon till sunrise 

 on Monday. This Act in one case was referred to as mythical, but it was 

 admitted that an Act to this effect must have existed prior to Robert 

 First's Act. In another case in 1828 (Kintore v. Forbes, 4 Shaw, 641) 

 the Act was founded on, and the word ' aqua ' in it was interpreted to 

 apply to rivers and not to the sea. 



The Act, Robert I. cap. 12, contained regulations in regard to cruives 13^3 c xl 

 in waters where' the sea { comes and goes and where the young salmon or I. 469. 

 ' smolts come and go.' It enacted that such cruives and the mechanical 

 arrangements placed therein should be at least two inches in length and 

 in breadth three, so that no fish fry might be prevented from ascending 

 or descending, but be able to ascend and descend freely everywhere. 

 The regulation as to length is somewhat difficult to understand, and the 

 provision does not reappear in the later Acts. It cannot mean height, 

 and, if length in the direction of the stream is meant, one would naturally 

 have expected that, instead of saying c at least,' the Act would have pro- 

 vided for ' not more than ' two inches. 



The Act of James I. 1424, cap. 11, enacted that cruives and yairs in 1424 c . 12 

 fresh waters where the sea ebbs and flows should be destroyed and put I. 5. 

 away for evermore, ' not again standing any privilege and freedom given 

 i in the contrary.' In regard to cruives in fresh waters, it was enacted that 

 the law should be observed in regard to the Saturday's slop, and that they 

 should not be allowed to stand in forbidden time, and that each heck 

 should be three inches wide as the £ auld statute requires.' The word 'fresh' 

 italicised above seems to be an error, and no doubt what was intended 

 was to make the prohibition apply to the tidal waters in estuaries and 

 not to the sea proper. (Kintore v. Forbes ; Athole v. Maule, 7th March, 



