Legal Term: FISH

Definition: An animal which inhabits the water, breathes by the means of gills, and swims by the aid of fins, and is oviparous.

2. Fishes in rivers and in the sea, are considered as animals ferae naturae, and consequently no one has any property in them until they have been captured, and, like other wild animals, if having been taken, they escape and. regain their liberty, the captor loses his property in them. Vide Ferae Naturae. The owner of a fishery in the lower part of a stream cannot construct any contrivance by which to obstruct the passage of fish up the stream. 5 Pick. R. 199.

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