X. Game keeper to kill preserve or kill (s) the game for my sole use and benefit, and also within the said limits to take and seize for my use Game, &c. What is game. In lieu of duties repealed, the duties herein named to be levied. Licences may respect of which such person shall have been appointed gamekeeper; and in case the appointment of any person as gamekeeper shall expire or be revoked, by dismissal or otherwise, all powers and authorities given to him by virtue of this Act shall immediately cease and determine." By sect. 36, persons entitled to game, or occupying the lands, or their gamekeepers or servants, are authorized to take game from trespassers. By sect. 2, the word "game " is declared for the purposes of that Act to include hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath or moor game, black game, and bustards. The 23 & 24 Vict. c. 90, after repealing previous duties (sect. 1), enacts, sect. 2, "In lieu of the duties hereby repealed there shall be granted, charged and paid for and upon the several Licences and Certificates to take or kill game, and Licences to deal in game hereinafter mentioned, the respective duties or sums of money hereinafter expressed or denoted (that is to say), "For a Licence in Great Britain, or a Certificate in Ireland, to be taken out by every person who shall use any dog, gun, net or other engine for the purpose of taking or killing any game whatever, or any woodcock, snipe, quail or landrail, or any conies, or any deer, or shall take or kill by any means whatever, or shall assist in any manner in the taking or killing by any means whatever, of any game or any woodcock, snipe, quail or landrail, or any coney, or any deer: "If such Licence shall be taken out after the 5th £ s. d. day of April and before the 1st day of November, "To expire on the 5th day of April in the follow ing year "To expire on the 31st day of October in the same "If such Licence or Certificate shall be taken out on "To expire on the 5th day of April following 3 0 0 200 200 right to kill game on any lands in England or Scotland shall be entitled to take out a Licence to authorize any servant for whom he shall be chargeable to the duty of assessed taxes as a gamekeeper to kill game upon the same lands, upon payment of the duty of.. 200 "And for every Licence to deal in game in England, Scotland or Ireland, to be granted under this Act..... 200 "7. Any person having the right to kill game on any lands in be taken out England or Scotland, and being charged, or liable to be charged, to the assessed tax on servants in respect of any gamekeeper, by on behalf of assessed ser (s) If the appointment be made by a trustee, it seems that the words in italics should be omitted. See Webb v. Earl of Shaftesbury, 7 Ves. 488; Hutchinson v. Morritt, 3 You. & C. 547. all such dogs, nets, and other engines and instruments for the taking or killing of game, as within the precincts of my X. Gamekeeper to Kill Game, &c. or under defrom lords of putations manors. whomsoever deputed or appointed, and whether deputed or ap- vants acting pointed or not, and any person granting a deputation or appoint- as gamement in Great Britain to the servant of keepers for other any person who shall be duly charged to the assessed tax on servants in respect ing right to persons havof such servant, whether as gamekeeper or in any other capacity, kill game, with power and authority to take or kill any game, shall respectively be at liberty to take out a Licence to kill game on behalf of any such servant, on payment of the duty of 21. for the year ending on the 5th day of April, and such Licence shall exempt the servant named therein during his continuance in the same capacity and service, and on his quitting such service shall also exempt any servant who shall succeed him in the same service and capacity, or who shall succeed to the deputation of the same manor or royalty or lands within the year for which the Licence is granted, during the remainder of such year; and no such servant on whose behalf a Licence shall have been duly obtained as aforesaid shall be required to obtain a Licence for himself, or be liable to any penalty by reason of not obtaining a Licence in his own name.' or revocation "8. Every such Licence to kill game taken out on behalf of On change of any such servant as aforesaid shall, upon the revocation of any gamekeeper, such deputation or appointment, or on his quitting the service of of deputation, the master by whom such Licence shall have been taken out, be Licence may from thenceforth of no further effect as to the person named be continued therein as such servant, or so deputed or appointed as aforesaid; to successor. but if within the year for which such Licence was granted the said master, on the quitting of such servant, shall employ another servant as gamekeeper in his stead, or the person by whom such deputation or appointment was made shall, on the revocation thereof, make a new deputation or appointment to any person in his service, or in the service of the same master by whom such Licence shall have been taken out, and who shall have been charged or be chargeable to the said assessed tax on servants as aforesaid, the officer by whom such Licence was granted, or the proper officer appointed by the commissioners in that behalf, shall renew such Licence for the remainder of that year, on behalf of the fresh servant or the person so newly appointed, as the case may be, without payment of any further duty, by indorsing on such Licence the name and place of abode of the said last-mentioned servant, or the person to whom such last-mentioned deputation or appointment shall have been granted, and declaring the same to be a renewed Licence free of duty." not available for acts done "9. Provided always, that no such Licence taken out for or Such Licences on behalf of any person, being such servant or acting under a deputation or appointment as aforesaid, shall be available for such person in any suit or prosecution where proof shall be given of his doing or having done any act for which a Licence is required under this Act on land on which his master had not a right to kill game." As to Licences to carry guns, see stat. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 57; and as to the right of occupiers to kill ground game, stat. 43 & 44 Vict. c. 47. out of limits of the manor or lands for which the parties are appointed gamekeepers. X. Gamekeeper to Kill Game, &c. Gamekeeper to seize fishing nets. LORD OWNER Reputed ma nors give no right to appoint gamekeepers. Manor extinct for want of freeholders. said manor of (u) The words in brackets will be added if the lord of the manor be owner or occupier of any river or fishery within the manor. By sect. 25 of the Larceny Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 96), “If any person shall at any time be found fishing against the provisions of this Act, the owner of the ground, water, or fishery where such offender shall be so found, his servant, or any person authorized by him, may demand from such offender any rod, line, hook, net, or other implement for taking or destroying fish which shall then be in his possession, and in case such offender shall not immediately deliver up the same, may seize and take the same from him for the use of such owner." But persons angling in the daytime in private waters are, on seizure of their tackle, exempt from the penalties imposed by sect. 24 of the Act. The following passages from Mr. Bythewood's notes on the subject of the appointment of gamekeepers, are retained on account of the incidental information which they contain. The quasi lord or lady of a reputed manor had no power, under any of the repealed Acts (see p. 787, n), to appoint a gamekeeper either to seize guns, engines, &c., or to kill game. See now Bush v. Green, 5 Scott, 289. Many of the places which are called manors would not be found to be such in point of law, if the matter were strictly examined. To constitute a manor it is necessary, not only that there should be two freeholders within the manor, but two freeholders holding of the manor, subject to escheats; Glover v. Lane, 3 T. R. 447; Bradshaw v. Lawson, 4 T. R. 446; Rumsey v. Walton, cited there; Chetwode v. Crew, Willes, 618; but a copyhold manor is not capable of an escheat of a freehold, because that which comes in lieu of another ought to be of the same nature, and then the freehold escheated would be copyhold, which is repugnant and impossible: Rex v. Staverton, Yelv. 190. As to what is prima facie evidence of the existence of a manor, see Doe d. Beck v. Heakin, 6 Ad. & El. 495; 2 Nev. & P. 660. If all the freeholds, except one, escheat or become forfeited to the lord; or if he purchase all the freeholds except one; or if he grant away the services of all the freeholders except one; or release their services to all the freeholders except one; notwithstanding the demesnes and services of the copyholders remain, and although it be known by the name of a manor, yet it is not in law a manor, for want of freeholders, the maintainers and upholders of a Court Baron. But the lord may still hold a court for the copyholders: 4 Rep. 26 b; Co. Cop. s. 31, Tr. 53; Vines v. Durham, cited Sir Moyle Finch's case, 6 Rep. 67 a. And although it would cease to be a legal manor, yet it would still be a seigniory in gross: F. N. B. 3, C.; 1 Watk. Cop. by Cov. 26; 1 Cru. Dig. 37, 4th ed.; 3 Bac. Abr. 682, 7th ed., Fines & Rec. (B.); Co. Tr. 54. The manor is extinct; because there cannot be a manor unless there be a Court Baron, which is the chief prop and pillar seize, take, and keep, for my own use, all rods, lines, hooks, nets, and other implements for taking or destroying fish, X. Game keeper to Kill Game, &c. of a manor; Co. Cop. s. 31, Tr. 49; and a Court Baron cannot be held unless there be two suitors at the least; The King v. Staverton, Yelv. 190, 191; because in a Court Baron the suitors are the judges; Co. Litt. 58. a.; Melwich v. Luter, 4 Rep. 26. b.; 4 Inst. 268; Co. Tr. 51; and not the steward; Chetwode v. Crew, Willes, 619; Howard v. Wood, Sir T. Jones, 126; S. C., 2 Lev. 245; and if there be but one suitor, he has no peer, and consequently there is no person to sit in judgment on him in the manor court; Baldwin v. Tudge, 2 Wils. 20; and therefore, when there is but one freehold remaining, the manor is extinct and determined: Bro. Abr. Comprise, &c. Pl. 31, 150 b.; Tenures, pl. 102; Suite and Contribution, pl. 17; Court Baron, &c. pl. 22; Kitchen on Courts, 4 a. Fr. ed.; 7 4th ed. So if the lord trans- Extinction by fer to a stranger the services of all his tenants, and reserve to separating the himself the demesnes, or if he grant away the demesnes and services from reserve the services, in both cases the lord has a manor only in name; because in the first case he wants demesnes, and in the other he wants services: Co. Tr. 53; Sir Moyle Finch's case, 6 Co. 64. a.; The King v. The Bishop of Chester, Skin. at p. 661; 1 English Copyholder, 379. After a partition of the demesnes and services, either by joint tenants, tenants in common, or coparceners, it seems that they may hold one joint Court Baron, and consequently may jointly appoint gamekeepers: Vide infra, tit. PARTITION. Although a manor exists only by reputation, yet nevertheless all its prescriptive rights remain; such as the right to wrecks, estrays, &c.; and if there be but one freehold tenant, the seigniory and services to him remain. The power to appoint a gamekeeper seems not to be a prescriptive right, but this question is of no practical importance, as the present Act extends to lords of manors, &c. in reputation merely. the demesnes. The prescrip tive rights of a reputed manor re main. an esquire can No lord or lady of a manor, under the degree of an esquire, No lord of a could appoint gamekeepers to seize guns, nets, and other engines manor under used for the destruction of game, under the 22 & 23 Car. 2, the degree of c. 25, s. 2, whatever the estate might be; for no landed estate, appoint gamehowever large, will confer the title, as the term esquire has no keepers to relation whatever to landed property; but it must be acquired seize engines, either by office, the king's patent, or some of the means laid &c. down by Selden and Camden. A lord of a manor is certainly not an esquire by virtue of his manor or royalty, though in common acceptation he is considered as such. Per Willes, J., Jones v Smart, 1 T. R. at p. 50. Esquires in law, and properly so called, are the sons of all the Who are peers and lords of Parliament, in the lives of their fathers: esquires. 2 Inst. 667; 2 Vin. Abr. 84, pl. 28; the eldest sons of the younger sons of peers, and their eldest sons, in perpetual succession; Judge Doderidge's Nobility, 144 (the second, for after page 170, the next page is numbered, by mistake, 105); Selden's tit. Honour, 342; and, consequently, the younger sons of peers, after the death of their fathers: Cowell's Interpreter, X. Gamekeeper to Kill Game, &c. which he shall find used, or laid, or in the possession of any person or persons whomsoever, fishing in any river or fishery Esquier. All the noblemen of other nations, and Scotch and Irish peers, if they be not knights: 3 Selden's Works, 848; 2 Inst. 667. The eldest sons of baronets; Cow. ut supra; the eldest sons of knights; 2 Inst. 596, 667; Wood's Inst. 45, 10th ed.; and their eldest sons for ever: Dod. Nobility, 144; Selden's tit. Honour, 342, ed. 1614. Esquires created expressly, with a collar of SS. and spurs of silver; Spelman's Glossary, verbo Armigeri, 3 Selden's Works, 853-4; tit. Honour, 342; of which, at present, there are none. Persons to whom the King gives arms by letters patent, with the title esquire, and their eldest sons for ever: Seld. tit. Hon. 343; Com. Dig. Dignity (B. 8). Esquires of knights of the bath, each of whom formerly constituted two at his installation; 3 Selden's Works, 851; Byshe's Upton de Studio Militari, 21; 1 Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, 708, Appendix; Stuart's View of Society in Europe, 433, 2nd ed.; Anstis's Historical Essay upon the Knighthood of the Bath, 66, 72, 99, ed. 1725; Stow's Annals, 899; but the number now is three; for by the statutes of the Order of the Bath, s. 15, 23 May, 11 Geo. 1, at which time the order was revived, each knight is required to have at his installation one young esquire, and two esquires governors; all of whom have the same rights and advantages as gentlemen of the privy chamber; and it is by the same section declared, that the eldest son of every of these esquires shall have and use the addition and title of esquire in all acts, proceedings, and pleadings: Statutes of the Order of the Bath, p. 32. Barristers-at-law, by their office or profession: Spelm. and Cow. ut supra; Messor v. Molyneux, cited 1 Wils. 245. Justices of the peace, while in the commission, but not justices of the peace of corporate towns, &c. : Cow. ut supra; Rex v. Brough, Mayor of Hedon, 1 Wils. 244. Persons chosen esquires to the body of the prince; Selden's tit. Honour, 342; Judge Doderidge's Nobility, 144, ut supra; of which, at present, there are none, their place being supplied and rendered unnecessary by means of a standing army. Persons attending upon the King's coronation in some employment, or persons employed in any superior office in the kingdom, or serving in some place of better note in the King's household: Dod. Nobility, 144-5; Selden's tit. Honour, 343. And it has been supposed, that all who bear an office of trust under the Crown, and who are styled esquires by the King in their commissions and appointments; as they are once honoured by the King with the title of esquire, they have a right to that distinction for life; Christian's note, 1 Bla. Com. 406 (19); such, for instance, as sheriffs of counties, or captains in the army or navy: Christian's Game Laws, 132. Notwithstanding the 44 Geo. 3, c. 54, s. 26, enacted, that all officers in corps of volunteers, having commissions from lieutenants of counties, should rank with the officers of his Majesty's regular forces, yet a commission signed by the lord lieutenant of a county, and announced in the Gazette, constituting a person captain commandant of a corps of volunteer |