Scottish Court of Session Decisions

In 1894 William Junor, a lessee of salmon-fishings on the river Ness, was interdicted, at the instance of Charles Fountaine Walker, the proprietor of the fishings in the said river, from fishing for salmon or grilse by means of a bag net or other fixed net, engine, or machinery in the river Ness or the estuary thereof.

In 1895 Walker brought a petition and complaint against Junor alleging breach of the said interdict. This petition was settled by a joint-minute, in which Junor admitted that he had committed a breach of interdict, explained that it had been done inadvertently by two of the men in his employment, and undertook that it should not happen again.

In June 1903 Walker brought the present petition and complaint, in which he set forth that Junor had again committed a breach of interdict, in respect that he, or one of the men in his employment, had used a trawl net as a hang or fixed net in Rosemarkie Bay in the estuary of the Ness.

No answers were lodged, but counsel for the respondent appeared and produced a medical certificate to the effect that it would be dangerous to the respondent's health to appear at the bar of the Court or to undergo a sentence of imprisonment. He explained that the breach of the interdict was due to the inadvertence of one of the men in the respondent's employment, and undertook that precautions would be taken against any such breach in future. He moved that the Court should not insist on the attendance of the respondent at the bar, and should impose a fine, and in support of this proposal cited Hamilton v. Caledonian Railway Company, November 12, 1847, 10 D. 41; Anderson v. Conacher, December 20, 1850, 13 D. 405.

Counsel for the complainer stated that he did not desire the imprisonment of the respondent, but would be satisfied with a fine.