Idem. she comes to land without any person in her; yet she is not a wreck, but shall be restored to the owners. 55. By the common law all wrecks belong to the King, in consequence of the dominion he has over the seas; for being sovereign thereof, and protector of ships and mariners, he is entitled to the derelict goods of merchants. This is the more reasonable, as it is a means of preventing the barbarous custom of destroying persons who in shipwrecks approach the shore, by removing the temptations to inhumanity. This right however may, and often does, belong to Vol. 2. 452. lords of manors, having the franchise of wreck, by grant from the Crown, or by prescription. Cases and 2 Inst. 166. 5 Rep. 106 a. 56. The right to wreck is confirmed by the statute of Westminster the first, which enacts, that where the ship or goods are deemed a wreck, they shall belong to the King, and be seized by the sheriffs, coroners, or bailiffs; and shall be delivered to them of the town, who shall answer before the justices of the wreck belonging to the King: and where wrecks belong to another than the King, he shall have it in like manner. 57. Flotsam is where a ship is sunk, or otherwise perished, and the goods float on the sea. Jetsam is when the ship is in danger of being sunk; and to lighten her, the goods are cast into the sea, and afterwards the ship perishes. Lagan, or rather Ligan, is when the goods are so cast into the sea, and afterwards the ship perishes; and such goods are so heavy that they sink to the bottom; and the mariners, to the intent to have them again, tie to them a buoy or cork, or such other thing that will not sink, so that they may find them again. Et dicitur ligan a ligando. None of these goods which are called Jetsam, Flotsam, or Ligan, are called wreck, so long as they remain in or upon the sea; but if any of them, by the sea, be put upon the land, then they shall be deemed wreck. 58. If a person has a right, either by grant or Anon. prescription, to wreck thrown upon another's land, of 6 Mod. 149. necessary consequence he has a right to a way over the same land to take it: and the very possession of the wreck is in him that has such right, before any seisure. 59. An estray is a beast that is tame, found within Estray. a manor, owned by no one; in which case, if it be proclaimed according to law, at the two next markettowns, on two market-days, and is not claimed by the owner within a year and a day, it becomes the property of the lord of the manor, if entitled to this species of franchise. 60. If the beast strays into another manor within the year, after it has been an estray, the first lord cannot retake it; for till the year and day be past, and proclamations made, he has not acquired a property in it; therefore the possession of the second lord is good against him. Bro. Ab. Estray, pl.11. contra 12 Rep. 101. 879. 61. If the beast be not regularly proclaimed, the 1 Roll. Ab. owner may take it at any time. And where a beast is proclaimed as the law directs, if the owner claims it within the year and day, he shall have it again, upon paying for its keep. 62. If the beasts of an infant, feme covert, or 5 Rep. 108 b. person in prison, or beyond sea, stray, and are proclaimed according to law; if none claim them within a year and a day, they shall be all bound, and become the property of the lord. 888. 63. If any animal belonging to the King strays 1 Roll. Ab. into the manor of a subject, it will not be liable to forfeiture: for the grant of the King cannot be sup Cro, Ja. 148. Treasure Trove. 3- 132. posed to intend farther than his prerogative, which is, to take the cattle of common persons. 64. A beast estray is not to be used in any manner, except in case of necessity, as to milk a cow; but not to ride a horse. 65. Treasure trove is where any money is found 2 Inst. 577. hid in the earth, and no one knows to whom it belongs; in which case it becomes the property of the lord of the manor, having this franchise. But if the owner may any ways be known, it belongs to him. As to the place where the finding is, it seems not material, whether it be hidden in the ground, or in the roof or walls, or other part of a castle, house, building, ruins, or elsewhere. Idem. 2 Hawk. P. C. 67. Royal Fish. Goods of 66. Nothing is said to be treasure trove but gold and silver and it is the duty of every person who finds any treasure of this kind, to make it known to the coroners of the county: for the concealing of it is punishable by fine and imprisonment. 67. Royal fish consist of whale and sturgeon, to which the King, or those entitled by grant from him, or by prescription, have a right, when either thrown on shore, or caught near the coast. This right is declared by the stat. 17 Edw. II. c. 11. De prerogativa Regis. 68. Goods of felons who fly for felonies, are for5 Rep. 1106. feited to those lords of manors who have royal franchises; when the flight is found on record. These are usually called goods of persons put in exigent: for where a person is appealed or indicted of felony, and withdraws or absents himself for so long time that an exigent is awarded against him, he forfeits all the goods and chattels which he had at the time of the exigent awarded; although he renders himself on the exigent, and is acquitted: 3 Inst. 57. 5 Rep. 110 b. c. 32. 69. Where a person comes to a violent death by Deodands. mischance, the animal or thing which was the cause of his death becomes forfeited, and is called a deodand, Hale P. C. as if given to God to appease his wrath. forfeiture accrues to the King, or to the lord of the manor, having this franchise, by grant from the King, or by prescription. This 70. If the person wounded does not die within a Hawk. P. C. year and a day, after receiving the wound, nothing c. 67. § 7. will be forfeited; for the law does not look on such a wound as the cause of the person's death. But if the person dies within that time, the forfeiture shall have relation to the time when the wound was given: and cannot be saved by alienation, or other act whatever, in the meantime. 71. Nothing can be forfeited as a deodand, nor be Idem, § 8. seized as such, till found by the coroner's inquest to have caused the death of the person. But after such inquisition, the sheriff is answerable for the value of it, and may levy the same on the vill where it fell; therefore the inquest ought to find its value. 2 Roll.Ab.73. 72. A hundred is a franchise consisting of a right A Hundred. to hold a hundred court or wapentake, which of com- 1 Vent. 403. mon right belongs to the King. But a subject may 2 P. Wms. have it by grant immemorial from the Crown; or by prescription in him and his ancestors. 399. 73. It was resolved, in a modern case, that the Ailesbury v. Pattison, lord of a hundred, or wapentake, had not the power Doug. 28. of granting a deputation to a gamekeeper, as a lord of a manor has. Markets. 74. Another franchise frequently annexed to a Fairs and manor, is the right of holding a fair, or market, which is derived from the royal prerogative in the same manner as other franchises. But where the King grants a patent for holding a fair or market, it is usual 3 Lev. 222. 2 Vent. 344. Rex v. Butler, to have a writ of ad quod damnum executed and returned for though fairs and markets are a benefit to the public, yet too great a number of them may become a nuisance; and if the patent be found to be ad damnum of the neighbouring markets, it will be void. 1 Roll. Ab. 140. Fitz. N. B. 184. note. 75. If a person levies a fair or market in a vill next to one in which a fair or market has been long held, to be on the same day, by which the ancient fair or Yard v. Ford, market is impaired, it is a nuisance. And if a new 2 Saund. 172. market be erected without patent in a town, near one where there is an ancient market, it may be a nuisance, though holden on different days. Holcroft 400. 76. Where a grantee of a market, under letters patent from the Crown, suffered another to erect a market in his neighbourhood, and to use it for the Vide 2 Saund. space of 23 years, without interruption, it was adR.175a.note. judged, that such user operated as a bar to an action on the case for a disturbance of his market. 77. Where the King grants a fair or market, the grantee shall have, without any words to that purpose, a court of record, called the Court of Piepowders, as incident thereto : because it is for the advancement and expedition of justice, and for the support and maintenance of the fair or market. 78. Owners and governors of fairs and markets are to take care that every thing be sold according to just weight and measure. For that and other purposes they may appoint a clerk of the fair or market, who is to mark and allow all such weights; and for his duty therein is entitled to just and reasonable fees. 79. A right of taking toll is usually annexed to a fair and market; though in many instances no toll is due; in which case it is called a free fair or market: |