[355] Ibid., p. 39.
[356] Quoted in Times, December 18, 1830.
[357] Return of Convictions under the Game Laws from 1827 to 1830. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, February 14, 1831, p. 4.
[358] Hansard, June 9, 1817.
[359] Scotland was exempted from the operation of this statute, for whilst the Bill was going through Parliament, a case raised in a Scottish Court ended in a unanimous decision by the six Judges of the High Court of Justiciary that killing by a spring gun was murder. Hence the milder provisions of this Act were not required. See Annual Register, 1827, p. 185, and Chron., p. 116.
[360] That Coke of Norfolk did not err on the side of mercy towards poachers is clear from his record. His biographer (Mrs. Stirling) states that one of his first efforts in Parliament was to introduce a Bill to punish night poaching.
[361] P. 29 ff.
[362] Annual Register, 1827, p. 184.
[363] Edinburgh Review, December 1831.
[364] Parliamentary Register, February 25, 1782.