FIS 
tntions of the empire, where it was their 
business to plead, one is against those who 
have been condemned to pay a fine to the 
fisc on account of their litigipusness, or fri- 
volous appeals. 
FISH, in natural history, constitutes a 
class of animals which have no feet, but 
always fins ; add to this, that their body is 
either altogether naked, or only covered 
with scales ; and that they are aquatic 
animals, which live mostly, if not always, in 
water. See Pisces. 
Fish, in law, the property in fish in a 
river is in the lord of the manor, where he 
has the soil ou both sides ; but where the 
river ebbs and flows, and is an arm of the 
sea, it is common to all, and he who claims 
a privilege must prove it. To secure the 
property of fish in ponds, or drains, there 
are several statutes, creating offences and 
enacting punishments with respect to them, 
which are too numerous to be here men- 
tioned. 
Fishes, in heraldry, are the emblems 
of silence and watchfulness, and are borne 
either upright, imbowed, extended, endor- 
sed respecting each other, surmounting one 
another, fretted, &c. 
In blazoning fishes, those borne feeding 
should be termed devouring ; all fishes 
borne upright and having fins should be 
blazoned hauriant ; and those borne trans- 
verse the escutcheon must be termed 
naiant. 
FISHERY, a place where great numbers 
of fish are caught. 
The principal fisheries for salmon, her- 
ring, mackarel, pilchards, &c. are along the 
coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; 
for cod on the banks of Newfoundland; for 
whales, about Greenland; and for pearls, 
in the East and West Indies. 
Fishery denotes also the commerce of 
fish, more particularly the catching them for 
sale. 
Were we to enter into a very minute and 
particular consideration of fisheries, as at 
present established in this kingdom, this 
article would swell beyond its proper 
bounds ; because to do justice to a subject 
of that concernment to the British nation, 
requires a very ample and distinct discus- 
sion. We shall, however, observe, that 
since the coasts of Great Britain and Ire- 
land abound with the most valuable fish ; 
and since fisheries, if successful, become 
permanent nurseries for breeding expert 
seamen ; it is a duty we owe to our coun- 
try, for its natural security, to extend 
FIS 
this trade to the utmost. No nation can 
have a navy, where there is not a fund of 
business to breed and employ seamen, 
without any expense to the public, and no 
trade is so well calculated for training up 
these useful members of this society, as 
fisheries. 
The situation of the British coasts is the 
most advantageous for catching fish in the 
world; the Scottish islands, particularly 
those to the north and west, lie most com- 
modious for carrying on the fishing trade 
to perfection ; for no country in Europe 
can pretend to come up to Scotland in the 
abundance of the finest fish, with which its 
various creeks, bays, rivers, lakes, and 
coasts are replenished. King Charles I. 
was so sensible of the great advantage to 
be derived from fisheries, that he began 
the experiment, together with a company 
of merchants ; but the civil war soon occa- 
sioned that project to be set aside. King 
Charles II. made a like attempt, but his 
pressing wants made him withdraw what 
money he had employed that way, where- 
upon the merchants that joined with him, 
did so too. Since the union, several at- 
tempts have been made to retrieve the fish- 
eries, and a corporation settled to that ef- 
fect, entitled the Royal British Fishery. 
In the year 1750, the parliament of Great* 
Britain taking the state of the fisheries into 
consideration, an act was passed for the 
encouragement of the white herring fishery, 
granting a charter, whereby a corporation 
is created, to continue twenty-one years, 
by the name of the Society of the Free 
British Fishery, to be under the direction 
of a governor, president, vice-president, 
council, &c. who are to continue in office 
the space of three years, with power to 
make by-laws, &c. and to raise a capital of 
500,0001. by way of subscription. And 
any number of persons, who, in any part 
of Great Britain, shall subscribe 10,0001. 
into the stock of this society, under the 
name of the Fishing Chamber, and carry on 
the said fishery on their own account of 
profit and loss, shall be entitled to the same 
bounty allowed to the society. The bounty 
is 30s. the tun, to be paid yearly, for four- 
teen years, besides three per cent, for the 
money advanced by each chamber. The 
act contains other proper regulations rela- 
tive to the nets, marks on the herring-bar- 
rels, number of hands, and the quantity of' 
salt that is entitled to the bounty, &c. It is 
then by the encouragement given by this 
act, that we now see a laudable emulation 
