Such licence is also required for the taking of any woodcock, snipe, quail, landrail or coney, but not for the taking of woodcocks and snipes with nets or springes, the taking or destroying of conies by the proprietors of warrens, or tenants of lands, or by their direction or permission; nor is it necessary to be held by persons who only aid and assist a licensed person using his own dogs, &c., in the taking of game, &c. ;10 nor is a licence required for the killing of swans, wild ducks, teal or widgeons, although their eggs are protected in the breeding season by the 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, s. 24. These excise licences, when granted, are Forfeiture of forfeited on a conviction for an unlawful trespass in the daytime on land in search or pursuit of game, &c.11 licence. Amount of cences. duty on li The amount of duty on the licences to kill game, &c., varies with the period for which they are in force. They are taken out after the 5th of April, and expire on the 31st of October in the same year, or on the 5th of April in the following year. All game licences must be dated on the day on which they are actually issued; those which expire on the 5th of April (for which the sum of 37. is payable) are printed on red tinted paper; Colour of those which expire on the 31st of October (the duty licences. on which is 27.), are printed on paper tinted green; and those which are taken out on or after the 1st of November, and expire on the 5th of April following (the duty on which is also 27.), are printed on yellow tinted paper. paper of The gamekeeper's licence will expire on the 5th GameApril annually, the duty, in addition to the assessed licence. keeper's 10 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, ss. 2, 4, 5, p. 26-30, Chap. III. " Id. s. 11, p. 36. Where licence in force. Tax on dogs. Licence to tax as a servant, being 27.12 to kill within the manor, or, if out of it, the same as any other person; and on a change of gamekeeper or revocation of deputation, the licence may be transferred to the successor, free of duty, by indorsement made by the excise officer. 13 It should also be observed here, that any person licensed in his own right may kill game anywhere in the united kingdom, subject to the law of trespass.1 There is also a tax on the dogs kept or used for these and other purposes.' 15 Another excise licence, expiring on the 1st of July, deal in game. is required for the buying and selling of game (in its Licence to kill deer. restricted sense, but not for woodcocks, snipes, quails, landrails, conies or deer), after the dealer has obtained a licence from the justices in special sessions, for that purpose; and there are penalties on persons dealing in game without any licence.16 For the first time, it is believed, in England, the law now requires a government licence to be taken out for the taking or killing of any deer (in the same manner as game), by other persons than the owners or occupiers of inclosed lands when the deer is in 12 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, ss. 2, 7, 13. The inland revenue officers are required by their "Instructions" from the Board to afford every information to persons desirous of taking out game licences, for which personal application is not required, but it may be in writing, specifying the date, the name at full length, and residence of the person for whom the licence is required, and left at the residence of the supervisor of excise or distributor of stamps. In the case of the grant of a gamekeeper's licence, the supervisor acquaints the surveyor of taxes thereof in order that the master may be charged for the duty on a servant. 13 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, s. 6; 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, ss. 2, 7, 8, Chap. III., pp. 32, 33. 14 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, s. 18; 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, ss. 5, 6, pp. 24, 35. 15 See Chap. II., note, p. 19. 16 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, s. 18; 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, ss. 14, 15; and 24 & 25 Vict. c. 91, s. 17, Chap. VIII., pp. 81, 82. such lands, or is killed by their direction or permission, and also when it is not pursued and killed by hunting with hounds.17 The killing and taking of game on improper days, or of birds of game during the breeding seasons, is prohibited by heavy penalties, viz.,—no game is to be caught on a Sunday or Christmas-day, under a penalty of 51.,-nor any partridge between the 1st February and the 1st September following; a pheasant between the 1st February and the 1st October following; black game between the 10th December and 20th August following; or in Somerset, Devon or New Forest, between 10th December and the 1st September following; grouse or red game between the 10th December and the 12th August following; bustards between the 1st March and the 1st September following, under a penalty of 17. for every head of game taken.18 Licensed dealers in game and persons not so licensed are prohibited from dealing in or having possession of birds of game, whether alive or dead, after the expiration of the seasons before stated, i. e., licensed dealers from buying or selling, or having in possession such birds after ten days from the termination of the season, and unlicensed persons from buying or selling also after ten days, or having the same in possession (except in a mew or breeding place), after forty days from the termination of the seasons respectively.19 No person, including a gamekeeper, can at any time sell game to a licensed dealer unless he has taken out a 31. excise license,20 neither can a person, not licensed to kill, sell 17 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, ss. 2, 4, 5, p. 26-30, Chap. III. 18 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, s. 3, p. 13-15, Chap. I. 19 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, s. 4. The case of Loome v. Baily, p. 83, Chap. VIII., decided that this provision applies to live as well as to dead birds of game. 20 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, s. 13; 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, ss. 6, 17, pp. 20, 21. Appointment of gamekeepers; their powers. game to an unlicensed or licensed person, except incurring heavy penalties.21 Hares, it will be seen, are not included in the enactments as to the times and seasons of taking or dealing in game, except as to Sunday and Christmas-day.22 Woodcocks, snipes, quails, landrails and conies also have no statutory season assigned to them, or within which it is unlawful to kill or take them, as a few winged animals only are specified in the enactment ;22 nor are swans, wild ducks, teal or widgeons prohibited from being killed at any period of the year. The 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, contains a variety of provisions authorizing a lord or lady of a manor, lordship or royalty, or a steward of the crown of a manor, &c., appertaining to her majesty, or a body corporate, to appoint gamekeepers to preserve and kill the game within the limits of a manor, &c., for the use of the lord, &c., as well as to seize dogs, nets and engines, there found, of persons not licensed to kill game; and such lord, &c., may also grant deputations of a like kind to other persons, whether they be the servants or not of the lord, &c. These appointments and deputations are to be registered with the clerk of the peace of the county in which the manor, &c. is, otherwise they will be of no effect.23 A gamekeeper must have a licence to kill game like any other person, except, that to kill merely within his manor, the duty is 21., while, if he is to sell game (whether authorized to do so by his master or not) or to kill out of his manor, a 37. licence is necessary; and if he sell game not on account of, and without the written authority of 21 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, s. 25, p. 90, Chap. IX. 22 Id. s. 3, p. 13-15, Chap. I. 23 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, ss. 13, 14, 15, 16, pp. 17-20, Chap. II. 24 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, ss. 2, 6, 7, pp. 26, 31, 32, Chap. III. his master, he incurs the penalty imposed for selling it without having a licence to kill, or if he kill, &c., out of his manor, not having a 37. licence, he is liable to the penalty for not taking out a licence.25 His authority is limited to his manor, and to the seizure of dogs, guns, &c., while being used for the purpose of taking, or while pursuing game thereon; but he may demand to see the licence of a person sporting on his manor, without showing his own, and take a copy of it, and require such parties to disclose their names, &c., which they may refuse to do at the risk of a penalty.27 rights and A tenant of lands under a lease or agreement made Tenant's previously to the 1st of October, 1831,-except game liabilities. be reserved therein to him, or a fine had been taken on the granting of the lease, &c., or the lease was for a term exceeding twenty-one years, has not the right to the game; but if the lease be made since the 1st of October, 1831, the tenant has the game, unless it be therein reserved to the landlord; and, indeed, so have all occupiers not under leases, as they had before their right was curtailed by the passing of the 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32. The landlord, when he has the exclusive right, may authorize others who have licences to kill game, to sport over the lands, but a tenant, not having a right, is liable to a penalty if he sports or authorizes another person to do so, who also is liable to the penalty imposed for a trespass. The landlord also is liable to the action of 28 25 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, ss. 6, 17; 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, s. 13, pp. 20, 21. 623 & 24 Vict. c. 90, ss. 2, 9, 10, pp. 26, 34, 36, Chap. III. 27 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, s. 10, p. 36, Chap. III. 28 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, ss. 7, 8, 11, 12, 30. See p. 41-44, 60, Chap. IV. |