DIGEST OF GAME LAAVS FOR 1901/ 
I. GENERAL DISCUSSION OF GAME LAWS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The game laws now in force in the L'nited 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 Territory , 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 L'nited 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 hxing 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 detinition 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 fomid in Bull. Xo. 12 
of the Biological Survey. 
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