Case Name: Westfall against Van Anker and others
Court: New York Supreme Court of Judicature
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1815-10
Citations: 12 Johns. 425
Docket Number: 
Parties: Westfall against Van Anker and others.
Judges: 
Reporter: Johnson's Reports
Volume: 12
Pages: 425–425

Head Matter:
Westfall against Van Anker and others.
clearing out » a river doesnot sive right of fishery.
IN ERROR, on certiorari, to a justice’s court.
The defendants in error brought an action of trespass in the ■.court below, against Westfall, for fishing with a seine in the .Delaware, in the town of Minisink, in Orange county. The defendant pleaded the general issue; and it was proved that about six or seven years before the trial, they cleared out the fishing place, part of which was in Orange county, and part in the state of Pennsylvania; and that the defendant had drawn his seine from the Pennsylvania shore, so as to sweep over part of the fishing place on this side of the river, but without touching the shore in Orange county. The plaintiffs below offered no ..evidence of title or possession in themselves, other than the clearing out the fishing place; and it was not pretended that they owned any land upon the banks of the river, The justice gave judgment for the plaintiffs below.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
Injustice has been done. There is no evidence to warrant a recovery by the plaintiffs, and the judgment must be reversed;
Judgment reversed