justice thinks meet; for a second offence, be committed to hard labour for not exceeding twelve months; and if such second conviction be before two justices, they may order the offender to be once or twice publicly or privately whipped, after the expiration of four days from the time of such conviction; for a third offence, the offender may be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, solitude, or whipping if under sixteen years of age, s. 22. Destroying Fruit or Vegetables.-Persons maliciously destroying or injuring any plant, root, fruit, or vegetable production, in any garden, orchard, nursery-ground, hothouse, greenhouse, or conservatory, may, on conviction before a justice of the peace, be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding six months, or else pay, over and above the amount of the injury done, any sum not exceeding £20; a second conviction is felony, subject to penal servitude for three years, or imprisonment, with hard labour, for not above two years, s. 23. If any person destroy, or damage with intent to destroy, any cultivated root or plant used for the food of man or beast, or for medicine, distilling, or dyeing; or for or in the course of any manufacture, and growing in any land, open or inclosed, not being a garden, orchard, or nursery-ground; every such offender, being convicted before a justice of the peace, shall be committed, with or without hard labour, for not exceeding one month, or else pay over and above the amount of the injury done, any sum not exceeding 208. Persons convicted a second time may be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for not exceeding six months, s. 24. But, on a first conviction, the justice may discharge the offender, on his satisfying the aggrieved party for damage and costs, or either of them, s. 66. . Destroying Wall, Fence, or Gate.-Persons maliciously destroying or damaging any fence, wall, stile, or gate, shall, for a first offence, pay, over and above the amount of the injury done, any sum not exceeding £5; for a second offence, be committed to hard labour for any term not exceeding twelve months, s. 25. Injuries by Tenants.-By s. 13, if the tenant of any dwellinghouse or other building, or of part thereof, held for years or at will, or held over, maliciously pull down or demolish, or begin to do so, any part of such holding, or to sever from the freehold any fixture, he is guilty of misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment. Malicious Injuries of other description. -The 24 & 25 V. c. 97, s. 51, enacts that unlawfully to commit any damage, injury, or spoil, upon any real or personal property whatever, either of a public or private nature, to an amount exceeding £5, is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment not above two years; in case the offence is committed between the hours of nine in the evening and six in the morning, the offender is liable to penal servitude for not exceeding five years, or imprisonment not above two, with or without hard labour. By s. 52, if a person wilfully or maliciously commit any damage, injury, or spoil, to or upon any real or personal property, either of a public or private nature, for which no punishment is provided, the offender shall pay such sum of money as appears to the justice to be a reasonable compensation for the injury done, not exceeding £5; and, in default of payment, together with costs, the offender may be committed, with or without hard labour, for not exceeding two months. But this provision does not apply where the party trespassing acted under a reasonable supposition that he had a right to do the act complained of; nor to any trespass, not being wilful or malicious, committed in hunting, fishing, or in the pursuit of game. By s. 54, making or having gunpowder or any noxious thing, or any dangerous machine or instrument for the commission of any felony under the act, is punishable with imprisonment for not more than two years, with or without hard labour or solitude. A person loitering in any highway, road, or other place, in the night, suspected of any felony against the statute, may, without warrant, be taken into custody by a constable or peace-officer, 25 & 25 V. c. 97, s. 57. CHAPTER XIX. Game Laws. GAME is still deemed of sufficient importance to be subject to special legislation, different from property, or of other animals, either wild or domesticated; and is defined to include hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath or moor game, black game, and bustards. Before giving an analysis of the Game Act, the 1 & 2 W. 4, c. 32, for improving the law on this subject, and which repealed former enactments from 13 R. 2, to 59 G. 3, it will be useful to notice the more important alterations that statute introduced, and by which almost the last remnant of the forest laws, which had long formed a topic of popular animadversion, has been yielded up to the advancing spirit of the age. First, no qualification of rank or property is required; every person who has obtained a game certificate is authorized to kill game on his own land, or on that of another person, with the leave of the person entitled to the game, subject to the ordinary prosecutions for trespass, to which qualified persons were liable, before the passing of the act. Game is made saleable by taking out an annual license. The lord of the manor is not restricted to the appointment of one gamekeeper, as formerly, but may appoint several for the same manor. Prior to this act, the occupier of land, if qualified, might sport over his grounds, and give permission to others to do the same, unless the right to kill game had been reserved to the landlord ; but these immunities are now transferred to the landlord; except in cases which will be subsequently mentioned. The penalties imposed for offences are recoverable on a summary conviction before two justices, except in the case of trespass, in which, with a view to the more speedy liberation of the party arrested, the power of conviction is given to a single magistrate. An appeal to the quarter sessions is allowed against all convictions, but no certiorari. Under the old acts, the power of conviction was given to a single justice without any appeal, and no certiorari allowed for removing the proceedings under any of the leading acts, except upon onerous conditions. We shall next proceed to give a digest of the Game Act, and also of other acts relative to game certificates, and for the preservation of deer and coneys, and the prevention of night-poaching, which, though not included in the act, have been always considered to form part of the Game Code. The word "game" will be used in the sense defined above by the statute, which does not include snipes, woodcocks, quails, landrails, coneys, &c.; though these are subject by the Certificate Act to legal regulation, as to the season of sporting. The following will be the order of our subjects: 1. Seasons and Days of Sporting. 5. Poaching, Deer, Hares, Rabbits, and Pigeons. 6. Destroying Eggs of Game. 7. Rights of Landlords and Tenants. 8. Powers and Duties of Gamekeepers. 9. Licenses to sell Game. 10. Privileges of Forests, Chases, Warrens, and Parks. I. SEASONS FOR KILLING GAME. Any person that shall kill or take game, or use any dog, gun, net, or other engine for these purposes, on a Sunday or Christmasday, shall, on conviction before two justices, forfeit not exceeding £5, with costs. Any person killing or taking any partridge, from the 1st of February to the 1st of September; or pheasant, from the 1st of February to the 1st of October; or black game, between the 10th of December and the 12th of August (or the 1st of September, in the counties of Somerset and Devon, and the New Forest); or grouse, between the 10th of December and the 12th of August; or bustard, between the 1st of March and the 1st of September, shall, on conviction before two justices, forfeit, for every head of game, not exceeding 20s. with costs. Any person laying poison with intent to destroy game, to forfeit not exceeding £10, 1 & 2 W. 4, c. 32, s. 3. Any licensed dealer buying, or selling, or having in his possession, any bird of game, ten days after the expiration of the season; or any person, not licensed to deal in game, buying or selling within such days, or having in his possession, any bird of game (except in a mew or breeding-place), after forty days, shall, on conviction, forfeit, for every head of game, not exceeding 20s. with costs, s. 4, As "bird of game," not hares, is mentioned, it can be no offence in any licensed dealer to buy, sell, or have in possession hares at any time; and no offence in any unlicensed person to buy of a licensed dealer, or have in possession, hares at any time. Though hares are included in the definition of "game," no time is fixed within which they ought not to be killed; neither is there any limitation as to the time when rabbits or wild-fowl may be killed. II. GAME LICENCE AND CERTIFICATE. Although the Game Act abolished qualifications to kill game, it made no alteration in the law relative to certificates; the duties and penalties pertaining to these were repealed, in 1860, by 23 & 24 V. c. 90, and, in lieu, duties on excise licenses to kill and deal in game imposed. By s. 2, For a license in Great Britain or a certificate in Ireland, to be taken out by every person using a dog, gun, net, or other engine for taking or killing any game whatever, or any woodcock, snipe, quail, landrail, or any coney, or any deer, or assisting therein-if taken out after April 5 and before Nov. 1, to expire on April 5 of the following year If to expire on October 31 of the same year. If taken out after Nov. 1, to expire on April 5 fol- Any person entitled to kill game on any lands in England £ s. d. 300 2 0 200 20 0 200 The duties are placed under the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and are subject to the regulations and powers for enforcing penalties of the Excise Acts. Any person killing any of the aforesaid kinds of game before taking out a license incurs a penalty of £20. The exceptions are: taking of woodcocks in nets or springes in Great Britain; taking or destroying coneys in Great Britain by the proprietor of a warren or of any inclosed land, or by the tenant, or by their permission or direction; the coursing of hares by greyhounds or by hunting with beagles or other hounds; the hunting deer with hounds; and the shooting or taking of deer in inclosed lands by the owner or occupier, or by his direction or permission. The exemptions are: any of the royal family; any person appointed as gamekeeper by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests; any person aiding or assisting another person holding a licence to kill game and using his own gun or net, who is not acting by virtue of any deputation or appointment; and all persons, as regards hares, who are now authorized to kill hares in England and Scotland, without a game certificate, ss. 4, 5. THE NEW GAME LICENSES. -The now reduced charges for game certificates, and payable to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, is £3 for the whole season, and £2 if not commencing before the 1st of November; but holders of game certificates are not exempt from the law of trespass, and are also liable to penalties for killing or taking partridges before the 1st day of September, or pheasants before the 1st day in October of the current year of the license, and after the 14th of February following. Hares may be killed at any time with license. Heavy penalties attach to persons sporting without a game certificate, in addition to a double charge thereof. -Sept. 1864. The provisions of the previous game laws remain in force, except that the sum paid for license shall be £3, instead of £3 13s. 6d. License taken out for assessed servant or person acting as gamekeeper is to be £2, for the year ending April 5, and in case of such person leaving the service, to be available to his successor for the remainder of the term, but the alteration must be notified, and the new name, place of abode, &c., endorsed on the license; such license, however, not to be available for acts out of the limits of the manor or land stated. All persons pursuing game must, on demand, produce their license, or declare their names, places of residence, and the place where the license was taken out, under a penalty of £20. The commissioners are to publish lists of persons licensed to kill game. The provisions of the act relating to licenses to deal in game are to be in force throughout the United Kingdom. And no person is to sell game to a licensed dealer unless he has taken out a £3 license. Persons licensed by the justices to deal in game must take out a license under this act under a penalty of £20 for neglect; but such licenses to be granted only to those who have obtained licenses from the justices; and a list of such persons is to be kept for inspection by the officer appointed to grant licenses to deal in game, who is entitled to 1s. for such inspection. Licenses and certificates to kill or deal in game are to be granted at the chief offices of Inland Revenue in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, |