The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at, 46-49, ch. 456, §§ 1-8
| dc.coverage.spatial | Pennsylvania | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-10-24T14:09:26Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-11-12T17:04:11Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-17T04:19:39Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1721 | |
| dc.description.abstract | 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. | |
| dc.description.lawtext | Whereas many disorderly people have made it a practice of hunting on the lands not yet purchased of the Indians, to their great damage and dissatisfaction, which may be attended with fatal consequences to the peace and welfare of this province by destroying that union and harmony which this government [has] lately restored and concluded with the Indians at a very great expense. And whereas many of the industrious inhabitants on the frontiers of this province are thereby discouraged from returning and settling upon the plantations which they were obliged to leave and evacuate during the [late] Indian incursions; therefore, to remedy the great mischiefs which may ensue from the continuance of this evil practice: [Section I.] Be it enacted by the Honorable James Hamilton, Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor under the Honorable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, true and absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania and counties of New-castle, Kent and Sussex upon Delaware, by and with the advice and consent of the representatives of the freemen of the said Province in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That if any person or persons whatsoever, either singly or in companies, after the passing of this act shall presume to hunt, chase or follow any deer, buck, doe, fawn or any other wild beast, wild fowl or game whatsoever or shall set traps for beaver or other beasts without the limits of the lands purchased of the Indians by the proprietaries of this province, such person or persons so offending and being thereof legally convicted in any court of quarter sessions of the county where such offender shall be apprehended (in which said court the same offense is hereby made cognizable) by the oath or affirmation of one or more witnesses or by the confession of the party, every person so offending shall forfeit and pay for every such offense the sum of fifty pounds or suffer twelve months imprisonment without bail or mainprise; one moiety of the above fine shall be paid to the prosecutor and the other moiety to the overseers of the poor of the township, where such offender shall reside, for the use of the poor of the said township, if resident within this province; [if] otherwise where he shall be apprehended. [Section II.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the constable of each respective township in every county of this province having any knowledge of any offenses against this act shall and he is hereby required, under the penalty of five pounds, to present on oath or affirmation, every such offense to some one justice of the peace of their respective counties or before the justices of the general quarter sessions of the peace for the same county, together with the name or names of all such offenders, that they may be tried agreeable to the directions of this act. [Section III.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons shall, after the publication of this act, hunt, chase or follow, with a design to kill, or shall kill or [destroy] any buck, doe or fawn within the lands already or hereafter to be purchased of the Indians at any other time or season excepting only between the first day of the month of August and the first day of the month of January, and shall be lawfully convicted thereof by the oaths or affirmations of one or more credible witnesses or the confession of the party before one or more justices of the peace for the respective county where such offense shall be committed, he or they shall forfeit and pay the sum of three pounds for every such offense to the uses aforesaid, provided such conviction be made within six months after such offense committed. And for the more certain convicting of offenders against this act: [Section IV.] Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every person in whose custody shall be found or who shall expose to sale any green deer skins, fresh venison or deer's flesh at any other time of the year than what is before excepted, such green deer skins, fresh venison or deer's flesh shall be deemed and taken as evidence of the guilt of the person in whose custody the same shall be found. Provided always, That nothing contained in this act shall be deemed or construed to extend to any free native Indians carrying guns, hunting, killing and having in their custody any skins or deer's flesh for their own use, anything in this [act] to the contrary notwithstanding. And whereas divers abuses, damages and inconveniences have arisen by persons carrying guns and presuming to hunt on other people's lands, for remedy whereof for the future: [Section V.] Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons shall presume at any time after the publication of this act to carry any gun or hunt on any inclosed or improved lands of any of the inhabitants of this province other than his own unless he shall have license or permission from the owner of such lands, or shall presume to fire a gun on or near any of the King's highways and shall be thereof convicted, either 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 forty shillings. [Section VI.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person whatsoever shall presume to shoot at or kill with a fire-arm any pigeon, dove, partridge or other fowl in the open streets of the city of Philadelphia, or in the gardens, orchards and inclosures adjoining upon and belonging to any of the dwelling-houses within the limits of the said city or suburbs thereof, or any of the boroughs or towns within this province upon the forfeiture of forty shillings for every such offense, to be convicted in manner aforesaid. [Section VII.] And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons shall hunt or kill any kind of game on the Sabbath day and shall be convicted thereof in manner last aforesaid, every such offender shall forfeit and pay the sum of forty shillings for every such offense. All which penalties and forfeitures not hereinbefore appropriated shall be paid, one moiety thereof to the informer and the other to the overseers of the poor of the township where such offense is committed for the use of the poor of the [said] township, but if convicted upon view of a justice of the peace the whole forfeiture shall be paid to the overseers of the poor of the said township for the use of the poor of said township; and if the offender refuse to pay, the same shall be levied by distress and sale of the offender's goods by warrant under the hand and seal of the justice before whom such offender shall be convicted, returning the overplus, if any, to the owner, the charge of distraining being first deducted; and for want of such distress he shall be committed to prison, where the forfeiture is three pounds, for the space of thirty days; and where the forfeiture is forty shillings, for the space of twenty days, without bail or mainprise; and if such offender be a negro or mulatto slave, he shall, instead of such imprisonment, be publicly whipped at the discretion of the magistrate, not exceeding thirty-one lashes, unless the master or mistress of such slave shall pay the fine or fines hereby inflicted. [Section VIII.] And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the act, entitled "An act to prevent the killing of deer out of season and against carrying of guns and hunting by persons not qualified," and the act, entitled "A supplement to the law, | |
| dc.description.summary | The law restricted hunting on Indigenous lands not purchased by Pennsylvania, imposing a £50 fine or 12 months’ imprisonment, and established seasonal limits on deer hunting with additional penalties for violations. It also prohibited hunting on others’ enclosed lands without permission, firing near highways, shooting birds in populated areas, and hunting on Sundays, generally punishable by a 40-shilling fine. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/5181 | |
| dc.relation.isreferencedbyGoogle | https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Statutes_at_Large_of_Pennsylvania_fr/HpoZAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 | |
| dc.subject | HUNTING REGULATION | |
| dc.title | The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801, at, 46-49, ch. 456, §§ 1-8 |