The lords of the manor, however, had no need of any precise title, or any concession on the part of the King, for the exercise of the right of regulating the weights and measures to be used by their vassals in all fairs and markets held upon the manor. It was enough for the right to be founded upon custom and constant possession. Our authors say that all the Kings, who, one after the other, were desirous of re-establishing uniformity in the weights and measures, failed in the attempt. Matters had been allowed to remain at the same point where they were when the old coutumes were drawn up.
Chemins. (Rights exercised by the lords of the manor upon roads.)—The high roads, called ‘Chemins du Roi’ (King’s highway), belonged, in fact, to the sovereigns alone; their formation, their reparation, and the offences committed upon them, were beyond the cognisance of the Seigneurs or their judges. The by-roads, to be met with on any portion of a Seigneurie, doubtless belonged to such Seigneurs as were Hauts Justiciers. They had all the rights of voirie and police upon them, and their judges took cognisance of all the offences committed upon them, except in Royal cases. At an earlier period the Seigneurs had been obliged to keep up the high roads passing through their seigneurie, and, as a compensation for the expenses incurred in these repairs, they were allowed the dues arising from tolls, settlement of boundaries, and barriers; but, at this epoch, the King had resumed the general direction of the high roads.
Eaux.—All the rivers, both navigable and floatable (admitting the passage of rafts), belonged to the King, although they flowed through the property of lords of the manor, and in spite of any title to the contrary. (See Ordinance of 1669.) If the lords of the manor levied any dues upon these rivers, it was those arising from the rights of fishing, the mills, ferry-boats, and bridge-tolls, &c., in virtue of concessions emanating only from the King. There were some lords of the manor who still arrogated to themselves the rights of jurisdiction and police upon these rivers; but this manifestly only arose from usurpation, or from concessions improperly acquired.
The smaller rivers unquestionably belonged to the Seigneurs through whose property they flowed. They possessed in them the same rights of property, of jurisdiction, and police, which the King possessed upon the navigable rivers. All Seigneurs Hauts Justiciers were universally the lords of the non-navigable rivers running through their territory. They wanted no other legal title for the exercise of their claims than that which conferred the right of haute justice. There were some customs, such as the Coutume du Berri, that authorised private individuals to erect a mill upon the seignorial river passing through the lands they occupied, without the permission of the Seigneur. The Coutume de Bretagne only granted this right to private personages who were noble. As a matter of general right, it is very certain that the Seigneur Haut Justicier had alone the right of erecting mills throughout every part of his jurisdiction. No one was entitled to erect barriers for the protection of his property without the permission of the judges of the Seigneur.
Fontaines.—Puits.—Routoirs.—Étangs.—The rain-water that fell upon the high roads belonged exclusively to the Seigneurs Hauts Justiciers; they alone were enabled to dispose of it. The Seigneur Haut Justicier possessed the right of constructing ponds in any part throughout his jurisdiction, and even upon lands in the possession of those who resided under it, upon the condition of paying them the price of the ground put under water. Private individuals were only able to make ponds upon their own soil; and, even for this, many coutumes require that permission should be obtained of the Seigneur. The coutumes, however, thus requiring the acquiescence of the Seigneur, establish that it is to be given gratuitously.
La Pêche.—The right of fishing on navigable or floatable rivers belonged only to the King, and he alone could make grants of this right. The Royal Judges alone had the right of judging offences against the right of fishery. There were many Seigneurs, however, who exercised the right of fishing in these streams; but they either possessed by concession made by the King, or had usurped it. No person could fish, even with the rod, in non-navigable rivers without permission from the Seigneur Haut Justicier within whose limits they flowed. A judgment (dated April 30th, 1749) condemns a fisherman in a similar case. Even the Seigneurs themselves, however, were obliged, in fishing, to observe the general regulations respecting fisheries. The Seigneur Haut Justicier was enabled to give the right of fishing in his river to tenants in fief, or à cens.
La Chasse.—The right of the chase was not allowed to be farmed out like that of fishing. It was a personal right, arising from the consideration that it belonged to the King, and that the nobles themselves could not exercise it, in the interior of their own jurisdiction, without the permission of the King. This doctrine was established in an Ordinance of 1669 (par. 30). The judges of the Seigneur had the power of taking cognisance of all offences against the rights of the chase, except in cases appertaining to bêtes rousses (signifying, it would appear, what were generally called ‘grosses bêtes’—stags, does, &c.), which were considered Royal.
The right of shooting and hunting was more interdicted to the non-noble than any other. The fee fief of the non-noble did not even bestow it. The King never granted it in his own hunt. So closely observed was this principle, and so rigorous was the right considered, that the Seigneur was not allowed to give any permission to hunt. But still it did constantly occur that Seigneurs granted such permissions not only to nobles but to non-nobles. The Seigneur Haut Justicier possessed the faculty of hunting and shooting on any part of his own jurisdiction, but alone. He was allowed to make regulations and establish prohibitions upon matters appertaining to the chase throughout its extent. Every Seigneur de Fief, although not having the feudal power of judicial courts, was allowed to hunt and shoot in any part of his fief. Nobles who possessed neither fief nor jurisdiction were allowed to do so upon the lands belonging to them in the immediate neighbourhood of their dwelling-houses. It was decided that the non-noble possessing a park upon the territory of a Seigneur Haut Justicier was obliged to leave it open for the diversion of the lord. But this judgment was given as long ago as 1668.
Garennes.—Rabbit-warrens could not be established without title-right. Non-nobles, as well as nobles, were allowed to have rabbit-warrens; but the nobles alone were allowed to keep ferrets.
Colombiers.—Certain coutumes only give the right of colombiers à pied (dovecots standing apart from a building) to the Seigneurs Hauts Justiciers; others grant it to all holders of fiefs. In Dauphiny, Brittany, and Normandy, no non-noble was allowed to possess dovecot, pigeon-house, or aviary; the nobles alone were allowed to keep pigeons. The penalties pronounced against those who killed the pigeons were extremely severe: the most afflictive punishments were sometimes bestowed.