Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

PIRMURA

FISHERY LAWS

497

FIRMURA. In old English law. Lib erty to scour and repair a mill-dam, and carry away the soil, etc. Blount. FIRST - CLASS MISDEMEANANT. In English law. Under the prisons act (28 & 29 Viet. c. 126, § 67) prisoners in the county, city, and borough prisons convicted of misdemeanor, and not sentenced to hard labor, are divided into two classes, one of which is called the "first division;" and it is in the discretion of the court to order that such a prisoner be treated as a misdemeanant qf the first division, usually called "first elass misdemeanant," and as such not to be deemed a criminal prisoner, i. e., a prisoner eonvicted of a crime. Bouvier. FIRST FRUITS. In English ecclesi astical law. The first year's whole profits of every benefice or spiritual living, anciently paid by the incumbent to the pope, but after wards transferred to the fund called "Queen Anne's Bounty," for increasing the revenue froa poor livings. In feudal law. One year's profits of land which belonged to the king on the death of a tenant in capite; otherwise called "primer seisin." On3 of the incidents to the old feud al tenures. 2 Bl. Comm. 66, 67. FIRST IMPRESSION. A case is said to be "of the first impression" when it pre sents an entirely novel question of law for the decision of the court, and cannot be gov erned by any existing precedent. FIRST PURCHASER. In the law of descent, this term signifies the ancestor who first acquired (in any other manner than by inheritance) the estate which still remains in hid faoiily or descendants. FISC. An Anglicized form of the Latin S (which see.) FISCAL. Belonging to the fisc, or pub lic treasury. Relating to accounts or the management of revenue. FISCAL AGENT. This term does not necessarily mean depositary of the public funds, so as, by the simple use of it in a statute, without any directions in this re spect, to make it the duty of the state treas urer to deposit with him any moneys in the treasury t 27 La. Ann. 29. FISCAL JUDGE. A public officer named in the laws of the Ripuanans and some other Germanic peoples, apparently the same as the "Graf," "reeve," "comes," or "oount," and so called because charged with AM.DICT.I.AW—32

the collection of public revenues, either di rectly or by the imposition of fines. See Spelman, voc. "Grafio." FISCUS. In Roman law. The treasu ry of the prince or emperor, as distinguished from "cerarium," which was the treasury of the state. Spelman. The treasury or property of the state, as distinguished from the private property of the sovereign. In English law. The king's treasury, as the repository of forfeited property. The tteasury of a noble, or of any private person. Spelman. FISH. An animal which inhabits the water, breathes by means of gills, swims by the aid of fins, and is oviparous. FISH COMMISSIONER. A public of ficer of the United States, cieated by act of congress of February 9, 1871, whose duties principally concern the preservation and in crease throughout the countiy of fish suita ble for food. Rev. St. § 4395. FISH ROYAL. These were the whale and the sturgeon, which, when thrown ashore or caught near the coast of England, became the property of the king by virtue of his pre rogative and in recompense for his protecting the shore from pirates and robbers. Brown; 1 Bl. Comm. 290. FISHERY. A place prepared for catch ing fish with nets or hooks. This is com monly applied to the place oi drawing a seine or net. 1 Whart. 131, 132. A right or liberty of taking fish; a species of incorporeal hereditament, anciently termed "piscary," of which there are several kinds. 2 Bl. Comm. 34,39; 3 Kent, Comm. 409-418. A free fishery is said to be a franchise in the hands of a subject, existing by grant or prescrip tion, distinct from an ownership in the soil It is an exclusive right, and applies to a public naviga ble river, without any right in the soil 3 Kent, Comm. 329. A common of fishery is not an exclusive right, but one enjoyed in common with certain other per sons. 3 Kent, Comm. 329 A several fishery is one by which the party claiming it has the right of fishing, independently of all others, so that no person can have a co-ex tensive right with him in the object claimed; but a partial and independent right in another, or a limited liberty, does not derogate from the right of the owner. 5 Burrows, 2814. FISHERY LAWS. A series of statutes passed in England for the regulation of fish ing, especially to prevent the destruction of fish during the breeding season, and of small

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