See CONFISCATE; FORFEITURE. FISH; FISHERY. 1. The right to take fish at a certain place or in particular waters is a "fishery." Common of fishery or piscary. A liberty of fishing in another's waters. Free fishery. The exclusive right of fishing in a public river. Several fishery. The owner of this is also owner of the soil, or derives his right from such owner; a separate fishery.3 A common of fishery is not an exclusive right, but is enjoyed in common with certain other persons. A free fishery is a franchise, obtained by grant or prescription, and is distinct from ownership in the soil. The right to take fish in waters upon the soil of a private proprietor, for one's own use, is not an easement, but a right of profit in lands. It can be acquired only by grant or prescription. But neither prescription, nor custom, nor dedication raises a general right in the public to enter upon private land to fish in the waters thereon.5 Each State owns the bed of all tide-waters within its jurisdiction, unless it has granted them away; also, the tide-waters themselves, and the fish in them, as far as capable of ownership while running. The ownership is that of the people in their united sovereignty. The title thus held is subject to the paramount right of regulating navigation, granted to the United States. The fisheries remain under the exclusive control of the State. The State has the right, in its discretion, to appropriate its tide-waters and the beds to be used by its people as a common for taking and cultivating fish [oysters], so far as may be done without obstructing navigation. Such appropriation is a regulation of the use by the people of their common property. The right in the people comes from citizenship and property combined. It is a property right, not a mere privilege or immunity of citizenship. As the State may grant the exclusive use of any part of its common property to one of its citizens, so it may confine the use to its own citizens. 1 Everett v. Carr, 50 Me. 330 (1871): 57 id. 523. fish. L. piscarius, relating to fishes or fishery: piscis, a [2 Bl. Com. 34, 39-40; 15 Op. Att. Gen. 663. 43 Kent, 329. See 1 Whart. 132. Cobb v. Davenport, 33 N. J. L. 225-26 (1868), Depue, J. See also Cole v. Eastman, 133 Mass. 67 (1882), Devens, Justice. • McCready v. Virginia, 94 U. S. 394-97 (1876), cases, Oysters are fish, within the meaning of a covenant not to retail fish.¹ Oysters which have been taken, and thus become private property, may be planted in a place subject to the flow of the tide and where there are none naturally, and remain private property.2 The owner has the same absolute property in oysters that he has in inanimate things or in domestic animals. Oysters planted in public waters will not be considered abandoned to the public unless planted where oysters naturally grow. If they interfere with the rights of navigation, they may be removed as a nuisance; but a private person, not the owner, may not convert them to his own use. 3 In the exercise of its police power, a State may grant to individual citizens the exclusive right to plant and to remove oysters under the public waters. See AQUA, Currit, etc. Fish commissioner. An act of Congress approved February 9, 1871, provides for the appointment of a commissioner of fish and fisheries, with power to preserve and increase food fishes throughout the United States.5 Some of the States have a board of commissioners, with like powers. An act approved January 20, 1888, amends the foregoing act so that it reads: There shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a person of scientific and practical acquaintance with the fish and fisheries to be a commissioner of fish and fisheries; that he shall receive a salary at the rate of five thousand dollars a year, be removable at the pleasure of the President, and shall not hold any other office or employment under the authority of the United States or any State. Fish laws. See GAME, 1; SEA. 2. Referring to a bill in equity or to interrogatories, "fishing" imports seeking to pry into the title or individual affairs of an adverse party. A "fishing bill" is a bill in which the plaintiff shows no cause of action, and endeavors to compel the defendant to disclose a cause in the plaintiff's favor. A bill in equity that seeks a discovery upon general, loose, and vague allegations is styled a "fishing Waite, C. J. See also Boggs v. Commonwealth, 76 Va. 989 (1882); M'Candlish v. Commonwealth, ib. 1004 (1882). 1 Caswell v. Johnson, 58 Me. 166 (1870). 2 Fleet v. Hegeman, 14 Wend. 42 (1835); State v. Sutton, 2 R. I. 434 (1853); Lowndes v. Dickerson, 34 Barb. 586 (1861). State v. Taylor, 27 N. J. L. 119 (1858), Green, C. J. See also Johnson v. Loper, 46 id. 321 (1884). * People v. Thompson, 30 Hun, 457 (1883). R. S. § 4395. 25 St. L. 1. 7 [Carroll v. Carroll, 11 Barb. 298 (1851), Mitchell, J.