Waifs. 54. To every court leet is annexed the view of frank pledge; which means the examination or survey of the frank pledges, of which every man, not particularly privileged, was anciently obliged to have nine, who were bound that he should always be forthcoming to answer any complaint. 55. Waifs are goods that have been stolen and waived, or left by the felon, on his being pursued, for fear Foxley's case, of apprehension. Thus, if a felon, who is pursued, 5 Rep. 109. 5 Rep. 109 a. 3 Hawk. P. C. 450. 5 Rep. 109 a. waives the goods; or thinking that he is pursued, flies away, and leaves the goods behind him; the King's officers, or the bailiff of the lord of the manor, having the franchise of waif, may seize the goods, to the King's or the lord's use, and keep them; unless the owner makes a fresh pursuit after the felon, and sues an appeal of robbery within a year and a day; or gives evidence against him, whereby he is attainted, &c. in which case the owner shall have restitution of his goods so stolen and waived. 56. The reason that waifs are forfeited, and that the person from whom they were stolen shall lose his property in them, is on account of his default in not making fresh suit to apprehend the felon; for which the law has imposed this penalty on the owner. 57. Though waif is generally spoken of goods stolen; yet if a person be pursued with hue and cry, as a felon, and he flies, and leaves his own goods, these will be forfeited as goods stolen. But they are properly fugitive's goods; and not forfeited till it be found before the coroner, or otherwise by record, that the owner fled for the felony. 58. If the thief had not the goods in his possession when he fled, there is no forfeiture; for if a felon steals goods, hides them, and afterwards flies, there is no forfeiture. So where he leaves stolen goods any where, with an intent to fetch them at another time, they are Cro. Eliz. 694. not waived. And in these cases the owner may take his goods where he finds them. Constable's 106. 59. Wreck signifies such goods as are cast upon land Wreck. after a ship has been lost; for they are not wrecks as case, 5 Rep. long as they remain at sea, within the jurisdiction of the admiralty. And by the statute of Westminster 1. 2 Inst. 166. 3 Edw. 1. c. 4. it is enacted, that where a man, or any living creature, escapes alive out of a ship that is cast away, whereby the owner of the goods may be known, the ship or goods shall not be a wreck. 60. If a ship is pursued by an enemy, and the mari- 7 167. ners come ashore, leaving her empty, and she comes to land without any person in her; yet she is not a wreck, but shall be restored to the owners. 61. By the common law all wrecks belong to the Id. 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; and 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 temptation to inhumanity. This right Cases and Opihowever may, and often does, belong to lords of manors, 452. having the franchise of wreck, by grant from the Crown, or by prescription. nions, Vol. II. 62. The right to wreck is confirmed by the statute 2 Inst. 166. of Westm. 1. which enacts, that where the ship or goods are deemed a wreck, they shall belong to the King; and be seised 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. 63. Flotsam is where a ship is sunk, or otherwise 5 Rep. 106 a. perished, and goods float on the sea. Jetsam is when a ship is in danger of sinking; 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 bot An. 6 Mod. 149. Estray. Bro. Ab. Estray, 12 Rep. 101. contra. 1 Roll. Ab. 879. 5 Rep. 108 d. 1 Roll. Ab. 188. tom; and the mariners, to the intent to have them again, tie to them a buoy or cork, or such other thing as will not sink, so that they may find them again; et dicitur ligan a ligando. But none of these are called wreck, as long as they remain in or upon the sea: if, however, any of them be carried on shore by the sea, they will then be deemed wreck. 64. If a person has a right, either by grant or prescription, to wreck thrown upon another's land, he has, of necessary consequence, a right of way over the same land to take it; and the very possession of the wreck is in him that has such right before any seizure. 65. An estray is a beast that is tame, found within a manor, and owned by no one, in which case if it be proclaimed according to law, at the two next market towns, 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. 66. 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. 67. If the beast be not regularly proclaimed, the 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. 68. If the beasts of an infant, feme covert, or per son in prison, or beyond sea, stray into a manor, 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. 69. If any animal belonging to the Crown strays into the manor of a subject, it will not be liable to forfeiture; for the grant of the King cannot be supposed to intend farther than his prerogative, which is to take the cattle of common persons. 70. A beast estray is not to be used in any manner, Cro. Ja. 148. except in case of necessity, as to milk a cow; but not to ride a horse. trove. 71. Treasure trove is where any money, or gold Treasure or silver, is found hid, and no one knows to whom it 2 Inst. 577. belongs; in which case it becomes the property of the 3-132. 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, outbuildings, ruins, or elsewhere. 72. Nothing is said to be treasure trove but gold 1. 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 concealment of it is punishable by fine and imprisonment. 2 Hawk. P. C. 67. 73. Royal fish consist of whale and sturgeon, to Royal fish. which the King, or those entitled to this franchise by grant from the Crown, or by prescription, have a right; when either thrown on shore, or caught near the coast. felons. 5 Rep. 110. b. 74. Goods of felons, who fly for felonies, are for- Goods of 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 a 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. Hale P. C. c. 220. 75. Where a person comes to a violent death by Deodands. mischance, the animal or thing, which was the cause 32. 1 Salk. of his death, becomes forfeited, and is called a deodand; as if given to God, to appease his wrath. This for-. feiture accrues to the King, or to the lord of the manor, Hawk. P. C. c. 67. § 7. Idem, § 8. having this franchise by grant from the Crown, or by prescription. 76. If the person wounded does not die within a year and a day after receiving the wound, nothing will be forfeited; for then the law does not consider the, wound to have been 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 mean time. 77. Nothing can be forfeited as a deodand, nor be seised 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. A free fishery. 78. A free fishery, or exclusive right of fishing in a public river, is a royal franchise which is now frequently vested in private persons, either by a grant from the Crown, or by prescription. This right was probably first claimed by the Crown upon the establishment of the Normans here, and was deemed an usurpation by the people; for by King John's Magna Charla it is enacted that where the banks of a river had been first defended in his time, they should be laid open. And in the Charter of King Henry III. c. 16. it is enacted that no banks shall be defended from thenceforth but such as were in defence in the time of King Henry II. by the same places, and the same bounds as they were wont to be in his time. And although it is said in the Mirror that this statute is out of use, yet Sir W. Blackstone observes that in consequence of it, a franchise of free fishery ought now to be at least as old as the reign of King Henry II. 2 Inst. 29. 2 Comm. 39. Hargrave's tracts 19. 79. It is laid down by Lord Hale in his treatise De Jure Maris that though prima facie an arm of the sea be, in point of propriety, the King's, and common for every subject to fish there; yet a subject may, by usage, have a several fishery there, exclusive of that |