United Kingdom House of Lords Decisions

The river Forth takes its rise a considerable way to the west of the town of Stirling, where there is a bridge to which the tide flows; and the river is there navigable for small vessels; from thence it runs eastward for twenty-four miles by many windings, to the town of Alloa, which is only four miles distant by land; here it becomes navigable for large ships, and runs, increasing in breadth, mixed with salt water, until it is joined on the south bank by the River Carron, where it is lost in the sea, or Firth of Forth.

Royal Charters, 1620, 1699, 1741.

The appellant, Lord Erskine, was entitled by royal grants, “to the salmon fishings and other fishings whatsoever, in and upon the river of Forth, descending from the Abbey Boat of Cambuskenneth, to the mouth of the river Carron.” This includes the space of twenty-five miles of the river, or thereabouts.

Jan. 4, 1598.

Sasine 1618.

The other appellant, Mr Erskine, stood infeft in the lands of Poppletrees, lying in the barony of Cowie, and shire of Stirling, “together with a stoup-net and fishing therewith, upon and in the water of Forth, in the places used and wont, or thereabouts, within the bounds of the said lands.”

The respondents stated that, an Act of Parliament passed in 1698, against pock-net fishing upon the water of Forth, which prohibited all salmon fishing whatsoever in the Firth of Forth by such pock-nets, herrywater nets, or other engines, and appointed the Sheriff-principal of the county of Stirling, and the bailie of the water of Forth, to suppress said unlawful fishing.

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