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Showing contexts for: Fish waste in Baban Mayacha And Ors. vs Nagu Shravucha And Ors. on 2 October, 1876Matching Fragments
23. British authorities have laid it down that the British seas, to their geographical extent, whatsoever it may be, both as regards the land or soil beneath them, and the water, are vested in the Sovereign. It has been said that 'the sea is the King's proper inheritance.' (The case of the Royal Fishery of the Bann, Sir John Davis, Rep., 56), and he is lord of the Great Waste, tam aquae quam soli. This includes not only the open sea, but all creeks, arms of the sea, havens, ports, and tide rivers so far as the reach of the tide, around the coast of the United Kingdom. Lord Chief Justice Hale, in his treatise De Jure Maris, divides the King's right into two branches, viz.: 1, "His right of jurisdiction which he ordinarily exerciseth by his admiral," and, 2, "His right of propriety or ownership," and deals with the latter thus: "The King's right of propriety or ownership in the sea and soil thereof is evidenced principally in these things that follow. 1st--The right of fishing in this sea and the creeks and arms thereof is originally lodged in the Grown, as the right of depasturing is originally lodged in the owner of the waste, whereof he is lord, or as the right of fishing belongs to him that is the owner of a private or inland river." Although theoretically this may be so, what follows shows that the British Law was as little forgetful of the interests of the public as the Roman Law. Lord Chief Justice Hale, after making references in support of what he had said, proceeds thus: "But though the King is the owner of this Great Waste, and, as a consequent of his propriety, hath the primary right of fishing in the sea and the creeks and arms thereof; yet the common people of England have regularly a liberty of fishing in the sea or creeks or arms thereof, as a public common of piscary, and may not without injury to their right be restrained of it, unless in such places or creeks or navigable rivers where either the King or some particular subject hath gained a propriety exclusive of that common liberty."