74 



Appendices to Thirteenth Annual Report 



In the cases of the Fishers of Northesk v. Scott and the Heritors of 

 Don (Stair II. 3. 70), the Saturday's slop was laid down as 4 one ell ' 

 wide of a sluice in each cruive. A Scotch ell is 37 inches, and therefore 

 this bye-law goes somewhat farther than the former practice. 



Bye-law III. provides that the hecks and inscales shall be capable of 

 being removed, and shall be removed during the annual close time. That 

 during the weekly close time the hecks shall be removed and the inscales 

 removed or kept open for the space of four feet. 



This b} r e-law is in conformity, generally, with the authorities, though 

 scarcely so strict as some. In the case of the Fishers of Northesk, it was 

 laid down that £ the teeth and rungs of the hecks ought to be entirely 

 1 removed in forbidden times to fish, and the same kept clear and void, 

 ' and that, during the Saturday's slop, the defender ought to lay by 

 ' the inscales in all and every one of his cruivee.' In the case of 

 Halkerton v. Scott, it was decided as to inscales, that the owner was 1 not 

 ' bound to take the same out from the cruives in times of flood,' but that 

 it was ' sufficient at such times to fix them back, so that they remain 

 1 open for the purpose of Saturday's slop.' In Grant v. Duke of Gordon, 

 the Court found that the inscales behoved to be taken out during 

 Saturday's slop, except in time of flood, when that could not be done, but 

 that at that time they should be fixed back, and a similar decision was 

 given by the Court of Session in 1802 in Johnston v. Stotts case. In the 

 case of Lord Banff and Earlof Fife (1783, Morison 14,299) it was decided 

 that it ' was not necessary to remove the sole trees or side posts of the 

 1 cruive boxes in forbidden time, the removing of the hecks and inscales 

 ' being sufficient to answer the purposes of law.' And in Fishers of 

 Northesk v. Scott it was also decided that the hecks and inscales should 

 be taken out and laid aside in forbidden time. 



Bye-law IV. provides that the hecks shall be perpendicular, not less 

 than three inches apart, and that they shall not be more than two inches 

 thick, nor more than four inches broad in the up and down way of the 

 stream, and that their edges shall be rounded off so that they shall be 

 only one and a half inches broad at the up and down sides. 



That the hecks must be perpendicular was decided in the cases of 

 Earl of Moray v. Callendar (1762, Morison 14,291), and Johnston v. 

 Stotts (House of Lords, 1802, 4 Paton's Appeals 274). 



The statutory width of three inches was affirmed in the Fishers of 

 Northesk v. Scott, Heritors of Don v. Town of Aberdeen (1665, Morison 

 14,286), Barclay v. Scott (1684, Morison 14,286), Falconer v. Scott (1701, 

 Morison 14,283), and Grant v. Duke of Gordon. An interesting point 

 arises as to the difference between Scotch and English measure, and, as if 

 to guard against error in the case of the Heritors of Don, the distance 

 between the hecks was ordered to be ' three inches Scots measure, 

 1 whereof 27 make an ell.' This would seem to be a misprint for 37, as 

 there are practically 37 inches in a Scotch ell, and, so far as can be 

 learned, any difference between a Scotch and English inch is frac- 

 tional. 



In the case of Johnston v. Stotts the construction of cruives was most 

 precisely dealt with. The Court of Session ordained that the hecks 

 should not only be three inches apart, but should themselves be of an oval 

 shape with the edges rounded off. This was affirmed by the House of 

 Lords, but the case was remitted back to the Court of Session that pre- 

 cise directions might be given to the parties. Following upon this the 

 Court of Session ordered, inter alia, that the spars of the hecks should be 

 perpendicular, not exceeding the existing dimensions, which were five 

 inches in depth in the direction of the stream, and two and a half inches 

 across the stream, that the lower edge should be one inch thicker than 



