Common of piscary
A common of piscary allowed its owner to fish in another man’s water. It may be appurtenant to the possession of an ancient house in the manor or a new house that had been built on the site of an old house. It could also have been held in gross and as with all other rights originally made by a grant from the owner of the land. According to Williams it was uncommon.
There was never a [legal] general custom allowing the inhabitants of the manor to catch and take away the fish, for that was considered destructive of the fish as it would lead to over fishing. Curiously the owner of a right of piscary was able to take legal action against anyone who disturbed him, trespassed on the bank of the water or was just a nuisance whilst he was fishing.
When the right was attached to a tenement the fish had to be eaten in the house to which the grant had been attached and although it appears that some people abused the right,, and tried to take unlimited fish for sale elsewhere, this was considered illegal. Even when the right was held in gross it had to be exercised in a reasonable manner and according to local custom. It was acknowledged that there were places where fish were taken ‘reasonably’ and the custom had been to sell them but even so this was illegal.
The right could not attach to a sea shore or a tidal or otherwise navigable river and so was generally restricted to ponds, lakes and non-navigable rivers although I dare say that there was some debate as to the meaning of the latter. In any case where the two banks of the river were owned by different lords the right to fish extended only to the midline !
Categories: In Depth
John Martin of Evershot 