The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-06-05 00:00:00

THE HARES AND RABRITS BILL.

The following is the text of the Bill for the better protec-
tion of occupiers of land against injury to their crops from
hares and rabbits, prepared and brought in by Mr. Gladstone,
Secretary Sir William Harcourt, Mr. Dodson, Mr. Attorney
General, Mr. Shaw Lefevre, and Mr. Arthur Peel :

Whereas it is expedient in the interests of good
husbandry, and for the better security for the capital
and labour invested by the occupiers of land in the
cultivation of the soil, that further provision should be
made to enable such occupiers to protect their crops
from injury and loss by ground game:
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this
present Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of the same as follows :

_
Every occupier of land who is not otherwise entitled
to kill and take ground game thereon shall by virtue
of this Act have, as incident to and inseparable from
his occupation of the land, the right to kill and take
ground game thereon, but only by himself and his
agents duly authorised in writing, and concurrently
with any other person who may be entitled to kill and
take ground game on the same land.
Where the occupier of land is entitled otherwise
than in pursuance of this Act to kill and take ground
game thereon, it shall not be lawful for him wholly to
part with or divest himself of such right; and if he
shall give to any other person a title to kill and take
ground game on the land in his occupation, he shall
nevertheless retain and have, as incident to and in-
separable therefrom, the right concurrently with such
person to kill and take ground game thereon.
Every agreement, condition, or arrangement which
purports to divest or alienate the right of the occupier
as declared, given, and reserved to him by this Act, or
which gives to such occupier any advantage in conside-
ration of his forbearing to exercise such right, or im-
poses upon him any disadvantage in consequence of his
exercising such right, shall be void.
The occupier and his agents duly authorised in
writing shall not be required to obtain a licence to
kill game for the purpose of killing and taking ground
game, and the occupier shall have the same power of
selling any ground game so killed by him or his
authorised agent as if he had a license to kill game.

Where at the date of the passing of this Act the
right to kill and take ground game on any land is
vested by reservation lease, contract of tenancy, or
other contract in some person other than the occupier,
the occupier shall not be entitled under this Act,
until the determination of that contract, to kill and
take ground game on such land. And in Scotland
when the right to kill and take ground game is vested
by operation of law or otherwise in some person other
than the occupier, the occupier shall not be entitled
by virtue of this Act to kill or take ground game
during the currency of any lease or contract of tenancy
under which he holds at the passing of this Act.
For the purposes of this Act, a tenancy from year to
year, or a tenancy at will, shall be deemed to deter-
mine at the time when any such tenancy would by law
become determinable if notice or warning to deter-
mine the same were given at the date of the passing
of this Act.

For the purposes of this Act—the words "ground
game "mean hares and rabbits. The word " agents "
means any member of the household of the occupier
habitually resident upon the land in his occupation,
or persons in his service on such land, or bon4 fide
employed by him for reward for the taking and de-
struction of ground game.
Section 12 of the Act of the session of the first and
second years of the reign of King William the Fourth,
chapter 32, whereby it is provided that where the
lessor, landlord, or any person whatsoever other than the
occupier, has the right to the game in exclusion of the
occupier, the occupier shall be liable to a penalty for
killing or taking it, shall be repealed in so far as it is
inconsistent with this Act.

This A.ct may be cited for all purposes as the Ground
Game Act, 1880.