The Ground Game Act 1880 (''
43 & 44 Vict.'') is a law that was passed by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
in 1880 by
Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
's government, as a result of many complaints over many decades about the intolerable amount of damage that farmers' crops were suffering from damage by wild
rabbits and
hares and landowners not allowing farmland occupiers to kill them because of
game preservation
Game preservation is maintaining a stock of game to be hunted legally. It includes:
*Preventing poaching
*Preventing losses due to attack by predators.
*Encouraging breeding, and sometimes captive breeding for release.
Britain
Until hand-held gun ...
.
This law gives land occupiers the
inalienable right
Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights, natural rights and legal rights.
* Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government, and so are ''universal'', ''fundamental'' and ...
to kill rabbits and hares on the land which they occupy.
External links
*{{UK-LEG, path/ukpga/1880/47, title=Ground Game Act 1880, type=ukpga
Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom
Environmental law in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1880
1880s in the environment
Hunting legislation