piscary

A common of piscary, or “a right to fish in common with certain other persons in a particular stream,” is usually found in manors, the commoners of which may have the right to enjoy it to an extent sufficient for the sustenance of their tenements; but they cannot, except by immemorial special prescription, exclude the lord of the manor therefrom, and have no rights over the soil itself.

Their rights of usufruct, grazing, pannage, estovers, turbary and piscary survived for many centuries before being terminated: first informally, later in wholesale acts of enclosure.

Gloucester, Mass. Boowoo & Ubum Sirs: Before leaving there I fished the upper Menam, the regal preserve to which I had been granted piscary.