case such person shall not immediately deliver up such game, to seize and take the same from him, for the use of the person entitled to the game upon such land, forest, park, chase, or warren. XXXVII. Application of penalties for offences against this act.— And be it enacted, that every penalty and forfeiture for any offence against this act (the application of which has not been already provided for) shall be paid to some one of the overseers of the poor, or to some other officer (as the convicting justice or justices may direct) of the parish, township, or place in which the offence shall have been committed, to be by such overseer or officer paid over to the use of the general rate of the county, riding, or division in which such parish, township, or place shall be situate, whether the same shall or shall not contribute to such general rate; and no inhabitant of such county, riding, or division shall be deemed an incompetent witness in any proceeding under this act by reason of the application of such penalty or forfeiture to the use of the said general rate as aforesaid. XXXVIII. Time for payment of penalties, and scale of imprisonment for non-payment.-And be it enacted, that the justice or justices of the peace by whom any person shall be summarily convicted and adjudged to pay any sum of money for any offence against this act, together with costs, may adjudge that such person shall pay the same either immediately or within such period as the said justice or justices shall think fit, and that in default of payment at the time appointed such person shall be imprisoned in the common gaol or house of correction (with or without hard labour), as to the justice or justices shall seem meet, for any term not exceeding two calendar months where the amount to be paid, exclusive of costs, shall not amount to five pounds, and for any term not exceeding three calendar months in any other case, the imprisonment to cease in each of the cases aforesaid upon payment of the amount and costs. XXXIX. Gives the form of conviction. XL. Power to summon witnesses.—Penalty for disobedience of summons, &c.—And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace to issue his summons requiring any person to appear before himself, or any one or two justices of the peace, as the case may require, for the purpose of giving evidence touching any offence against this act; and if any person so summoned shall neglect or refuse to appear at the time and place appointed by such summons, and no reasonable excuse for his absence shall be proved before the justice or justices then and there present, or if any person appearing in obedience to such summons shall refuse to be examined on oath touching any such offence by the justice or justices then and there present, every person so offending shall, on conviction thereof before the said justice or justices, or any other justice or justices of the peace, forfeit and pay such sum of money, not exceeding five pounds, as to the convicting justice or justices shall seem meet. XLI. Time for proceedings, and mode of enforcing the appearance of offenders. And be it enacted, that the prosecution for every offence punishable upon summary conviction by virtue of this act shall be commenced within three calendar months after the commission of the offence; and that where any person shall be charged on the oath of a credible witness with any such offence before a justice of the peace, the justice may summon the party charged to appear before himself, or any one or two justices of the peace, as the case may require, at a time and place to be named in such summons; and if such party shall not appear accordingly, then (upon proof of the due service of the summons by delivering a copy thereof to the party, or by delivering such copy at the party's usual place of abode to some inmate thereat, and explaining the purport thereof to such inmate), the justice or justices may either proceed to hear and determine the case in the absence of the party, or may issue his or their warrant for apprehending and bringing such party before him or them, as the case may be; or the justice before whom the charge shall be made may, if he shall have reason to suspect from information upon oath that the party is likely to abscond, issue such warrant in the first instance, without any previous summons. XLII. Prosecutor not required to prove a negative. XLIV. Appeal. And be it enacted, that any person who shall think himself aggrieved by any summary conviction in pursuance of this act may appeal to the justices at the next general or quarter sessions of the peace to be holden, not less than twelve days after such conviction, for the County, riding, division, liberty, franchise, city, or town, wherein the cause of complaint shall have arisen: provided, that such person shall give to the complainant a notice in writing of such appeal, and of the cause and matter thereof, within three days after such conviction, and seven clear days at the least before such sessions, and shall also either remain in custody until the sessions, or within such three days enter into a recognizance, with a sufficient surety, before a justice of the peace, conditioned personally to appear at the said sessions, and to try such appeal, and to abide the judgment of the court thereupon, and to pay such costs as shall be by the court awarded; and upon such notice being given, and such recognizance being entered into, the justice before whom the same shall be entered into shall liberate such person, if in custody; and the court at such sessions shall hear and determine the matter of the appeal, and shall make such order therein, with or without costs to either party, as to the court shall seem meet, and in case of the dismissal of the appeal, or the affirmance of the conviction, shall order and adjudge the offender to be dealt with and punished according to the conviction, and to pay such costs as shall be awarded, and shall, if necessary, issue process for enforcing such judgment. XLV. No certiorari, &c. XLVI. This act not to preclude actions for trespass, but no double proceedings for the same trespass. XLVII. Venue, &c. in proceedings against persons acting under this act.-Tender of amends. XLVIII. Act not to extend to Scotland or Ireland. THE ACT 11 & 12 VICT. CAP. XXIX., TO ENABLE PERSONS TO KILL HARES IN ENGLAND AND WALES WITHOUT A GAME CERTIFICATE. I. Persons in the occupation of inclosed ground, and in certain cases owners, may kill hares without a game certificate.-Whereas by an act passed, &c., &c. [preamble omitted], be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this act it shall be lawful for any person, being in the actual occupation of any inclosed lands, or for any owner thereof who has the right of killing game thereon, by himself or by any person directed or authorized by him in writing, according to the form in the schedule to this act annexed, or to the like effect, so to do, to take, kill, or destroy any hare then being in or upon any such inclosed lands, without the payment of any such duties of assessed taxes as aforesaid, and without the obtaining of an annual game certificate. II. Authority to kill hares to be limited to one person at the same time in any one parish; which authority shall be sent to the clerk of the petty sessions, who shall register the same. If authority revoked, notice to be given of the same.-Provided always, and be it enacted, that no owner or occupier of land as aforesaid shall be authorized to grant or continue, under the provisions of this act, authority to more than one person, at one and the same time, to kill hares upon his land within any one parish; and that he shall deliver the said authority, or a copy thereof, or cause the same to be delivered, to the clerk of the magistrates acting for the petty sessions division within which the said lands are situate, who shall forthwith register the same, and the date of such registration in a book to be kept by him for such purpose, which book shall be at all reasonable times open to the inspection of the clerk of the commissioners acting in the execution of the acts for assessed taxes or of any of the collectors of assessed taxes within such district; and the said authority, so soon as it shall have been registered as aforesaid, shall be held good until after the first day of February in the year following that within which the same is granted, unless the same be previously revoked, and notice of such revocation be given to the clerk of the magistrates as aforesaid; and the said registered authority, or the unrevoked register thereof, shall be good and sufficient evidence of the right of the person to whom authority is given by the same to kill hares upon the lands mentioned within the same without having obtained an annual game certificate. III. Persons not to be liable to tax on gamekeepers.-And be it enacted, that no person so directed or authorized to kill any hare as aforesaid shall, unless otherwise chargeable, be liable to any duties of assessed taxes as gamekeeper. IV. To extend to coursing or hunting. And be it enacted, that from and after the passing of this act it shall be lawful for any person to pursue and kill or to join in the pursuit and killing of any hare by coursing with greyhounds, or by hunting with beagles or other hounds, without having obtained an annual game certificate. V. Not to authorize the laying of poison.-Provided also, and be it enacted, that nothing herein contained shall extend or be taken or construed to extend to the making it lawful for any person, with intent to destroy or injure any hares or other game, to put or cause to be put any poison or poisonous ingredient on any ground, whether open or inclosed, where game usually resort, or in any highway, or for any person to use any firearms or gun of any description, by night, for the purpose of killing any game or hares. VI. Agreements reserving game to be still in force. VII. Interpretation of act. VIII. To extend to England and Wales only. IX. Act may be amended, &c. SCHEDULE. I, A. B., do authorize C.D. to kill hares on ["my lands," or "the lands occupied by me," as the case may be], within the of [here insert the name of the parish or other place, as the case may be]. Dated this [here insert the day, month, and year.] day of Witness. OLD LAWS NOT REPEALED. A. B. The old action for trespass is still in force, but notice must be given prior to the trespass, unless the judge certify that it was wilful and malicious. Owners or huntsmen may follow fox-hounds, harriers, or greyhounds, while in hot pursuit of their game, without penalty under the game-law, 1 and 2 Will. 4, c. 32, and also clear of the old action for trespass, unless notice has been served upon them. Notices must be served either verbally or in writing, and should come from the tenant of the particular parcel of land on which the trespass is committed. Gamekeepers, or other persons, may serve notice, if deputed by occupiers or by lords of manors; but they must expressly name the occupier, &c., as giving them orders to warn off. If, after receiving notice, a person, instead of going on lands himself, sends his dogs upon them, he is liable to an action for trespass as much as if he himself went. , I do hereby give you notice not to come into or upon any of the lands or woods occupied by me in the parish of of and commonly known as the farms or woods of , county and in case of your so doing, I shall proceed against you as a wilful trespasser. Witness my hand this day of , 18. C. D. N.B.-In case the lands are in more than one parish or county, or both, it must be specified in the notice. If the notice is to warn off rivers or waters, then insert such words instead of lands or woods. In case of a joint occupancy, the notice must commence We, and for me and I in the body of it, us and we must be substituted. It must be signed by all the tenants. Newspaper notices are not legal services. Those who require further information relative to the English Game Laws will be able to obtain it by referring to "Locke on the Game Laws," published by Shaw and Sons, Fetter-lane. THE SCOTCH GAME LAWS. Game in Scotland is greatly dependent upon common law, and is beyond my knowledge altogether, with the exception of the statutes which legalise the killing of hares, and the granting of certificates, and which settle the law of trespass. The important sections of the first of these are here appended, being distinct from the English law; the second is comprehended under the same statute with the English-viz., the Act 52nd Geo. III., cap. 93; and the third is the 2nd and 3rd Will. IV. c. 68, from which also I extract the chief sections. In Scotland it is a doubtful point whether the rentals paid for game are liable to the poor rates. There is a property qualification, but what it is I cannot say with anything like precision. THE SCOTCH LAW RELATING TO HARES. (11 & 12 VICT. CAP. XXX., TO ENABLE PERSONS TO KILL HARES I. Any person having a right to kill hares in Scotland may do so without a game certificate, provided they shall be found on his own land. Whereas by an act passed, &c. &c. [preamble omitted]: be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this Act it shall be lawful for any person having at present a right to kill hares in Scotland to do so |