FRC Jurisdictions Portal

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This top community organizes Firearms Research Center holdings by jurisdiction. It provides separate collections for U.S. states, territories, the District of Columbia, and the federal jurisdiction, spanning the territorial period to the present.

Scope of Content

Legal sources: statutes and session laws, administrative code, attorney general opinions, appellate decisions, and selected municipal ordinances.
Historical materials: newspapers, photographs, maps, catalogs, company records, and oral histories tied to specific places and periods.
Research outputs: FRC reports, datasets, and interpretive materials that contextualize legal and technical developments.

How to Use

Browse: open a jurisdiction collection to view items for that state, territory, DC, or the federal jurisdiction.
Search: use keywords and filter by Jurisdiction, Date Issued, and Category. Record any Exceptions noted for applicability.
Cite: use the item’s identifier and provided links (Original Source and Duke reference) when available.

Metadata & Standards

Items are described using Dublin Core with standardized fields for Jurisdiction, Date Issued, Category, and Exceptions to support precise discovery and comparison.

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For questions about coverage, rights, or submissions, contact the Firearms Research Center (firearmsresearchcenter.org).

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Now showing 1 - 17 of 17

1 Albert G. Hodges, A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky 787 (1834)
(1738)
Designated deer hunting seasons and penalties for out-of-season harvests.
1657, Va. Acts 437
(1657)
Act 13: If any planter or person shall hunt or shoot upon or within the limits or precincts of his neighbor or others' dividends without leave first obtained for his so doing and having been warned by the owner of the land, to forbear hunting and shooting as aforesaid: He or they so offending shall forfeit for every such offense four hundred pounds of tobacco . . .
1642 Va. Acts 248
(1642)
Act 11: Whereas the rights and interests of the inhabitants are very much infringed by hunting and shooting of diverse men upon their neighbors lands and dividends contrary to the privileges granted to them by their patents, whereby many injuries do daily happen to the great damage of the owners of the land whereon such hunting or shooting is used, It is therefore enacted and confirmed that if any planter or person shall hunt or shoot upon or within the precincts or limits of his neighbor or other divident without leave first obtained for his so doing, and having been warned by the owner of the land to forbear hunting and shooting as aforesaid, he or they so offending shall forfeit for every such offence four hundred pounds of tobacco . . .
1639 Va. Acts 228
(1639)
Act 21: Not to shoot or hunt on other men's land that is seated and bounds marked under penalty of 40s. but may pursue deer and shoot on their own land.
5 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 62 (1819) (enacted 1738)
(1738)
Ch. 14, § 8: "That whosoever shall, hereafter, use any firehunting, or the killing of any deer by such means on any patented land; every person present at such fire hunting, shall forfeit and pay twenty shillings for every such offence: And if any Indian be found fire-hunting, as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful, for the owner of such land, or his or her overseer, to take away the gun of such Indian, and the same to keep to his own use.'"
5 William Waller Hening, Stat. at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia 61 (1819) (enacted 1738)
(1738)
Ch. 14, § 2: "That from and fter the passing of this act, it shall not be lawful for any person whatsoever, to hunt, shoot or kill, any bark, between the first day of December, and the last day of July, which shall be in any year; nor to hunt, shoot, or kill, any doe or fawn, between the first day of January, and the last day of September, in any year. And if any person whatsoever shall presume to hunt, shoot, or kill, or destroy, any such bucks, doe, or fawn, running wild in the woods, within the times herein before respectively limitted; or shall buy or receive the samee of any Indian, or other person; every such person so offending s?II forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings current money, for every buck, doe, or fawn, so killed, bought, or received;"
The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at, 46-49, ch. 456, §§ 1-8
(1721)
That if any person or persons shall presume, at any time after the sixteenth day of November, in this present year on thousand seven hundred and twenty one, to carry any gun or hunt on the improved or inclosed lands of any plantation other than his own, unless he have license or permission from the owner of such lands or plantation, and shall thereof convicted ether upon view of any justice of the peace within this province, or by the oath or affirmation of any one or more witnesses, before any justice of the peace, he shall for every such offense forfeit the sum of ten shillings.
1715-55 N.C. Sess. Laws 36
(1729)
An Additional Act to an Act for Appointing Toll-Books, and for Preventing People from Driving Horses, Cattle, or Hogs to Other Persons' Lands, ch. 5, § 7: Prohibited "slaves" to hunt on any person's land besides their master's with any weapon.
1715-55 N.C. Sess. Laws 69
(1745)
An Act to Prevent Killing Deer at Unseasonable Times: That it shall not be lawful for any person to kill or destroy any deer, running wild in the woods or unfenced grounds in this government, by guns, or any other ways or means whatsoever, between the fifteenth day of February, and the fifteenth day of July, yearly, and in each year, after the ratification of the said act; and that any person convicted of the same, shall forfeit and pay the sum of five pounds, current money . . .
E.B. O'Callaghan, Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, 1638-1674, at 138 (1868); N.Y. Col. MSS, XVI. 31
(1652)
Ordinance Of The Director And Council Of New Netherland Against Firing At Partridges Or Other Game Within The Limits Of New Amsterdam: Therefore the Honorable Director General and Council, in order to prevent accidents, expressly forbid and interdict all persons henceforward firing within the jurisdiction of this city or about the Fort, with any guns at Partridges or other Game that may by chance fly within the city, on pain of forfeiting the gun and a fine at the discretion of the Judge, to be applied one-third to the Poor, one-third to the Church and one-third to the Officer.
1717 Mass. Acts 336
(1717)
An Act For The Better Regulation Of Fowling: That if any person or persons shall, at any time after two months from the publication of this act, make use of any boat, canoe, float, raft or other vessel, wherewith to approach to, and shoot at any waterfowl, in any part of this province, he or they so offending, shall each of them forfeit and pay, for every such offence, the sum of forty shillings to the informer. And every such offender shall be, and hereby is prohibited and restrained from using a gun to shoot at waterfowl for the space of three years next after his offence, upon the like penalty of forty shillings for each time he shall presume so to offend, to be disposed of in manner as the forfeiture aforementioned.
28 Archives of Maryland 349 (1745)
(1745)
prohibits firehunting by non-residents
3 Archives of Maryland 255
(1648)
licenses previously issued for "killing of Wild Hoggs [e]mploying Indians to kill deere with Gunnes" both to residents and non-residents of Maryland "hath occasioned some inconvenience & hath given great offence to divers of the Inhabitants of this Province," all existing licenses were repealed
Law of King Canute A. D. 1016-1035. Secular Dooms, Cap. 80
(1035)
Allowed individuals to hunt on their own lands. Anyone caught hunting on the King's lands would suffer "the full penalty."
2 Bernard Bush, Laws of the Royal Colony of New Jersey 1703-1745, at 293 (1977) (passed May 5, 1722)
(1722)
An Act to Prevent the Killing of Deer out of Season, and Against Carrying of Guns and Hunting by Persons not Qualified: That if any Person or Persons shall presume, at any Time after the Publication hereof, to carry any Gun, or Hunt on the Improved or Inclosed Lands in any Plantation, and on other than his own, unless he have Lisence or Permission from the owner of such Lands or Plantation, and shall be thereof Convicted, either upon the View of any Justice of the Peace within this Province, or by the Oath or Affirmation of any one or more Witnesses, before any Justice of the Peace, he shall, for every such Offence, forfeit the Sum of Fifteen Shillings, with Costs attending such Conviction.
9 Geo. 1, c. 22 (1723)
(1723)
An act for the more effectual punishing wicked and evil-disposed persons going armed in disguise, and doing injuries and violences to the persons and properties of his Majesty's subjects, and for the more speedy bringing the offenders to justice: Prohibited anyone going armed with sword, fire-arms, or other offensive weapons while having their faces blacked or disguised in any forest, chase, park, paddock, grounds inclosed with any wall, pale, or fence? or in any high road, open heath, common or down, or to wilfully hunt unlawfully. Violators guilty of a felony, and shall suffer death.
The Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer, circa 1080, Book 1,§ 12
(1080)
Prohibited hunting in the forests of the king.

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