Odger's English Common Law

22 PRIVATE RIGHTS.
A special rule applies where horses are stolen and then sold in market
overt to a bond fide purchaser for value. In the sixteenth century horse-
stealing was common, and stolen horses were easily disposed of at markets
and fairs. So statutes were passed 1 (and they are still in force 2 ) which
provide that, for the purchaser to get a good title, the horse must have
been exposed in the open market for one hour between 10 a.m. and sunset,
and a minute description of the purchaser, the seller, the horse and the
terms of the contract must be entered in the book-keeper's hook. And
even then, if the horse had been stolen, the owner can recover it within
six months of the sale by tendering the purchaser the price which he paid
for it.
Lastly, it may be mentioned that there are some things
which are incapable of private ownership. Wild animals,
when alive, and water, which is running along its natural
channels over or under the surface of land, are the property
of no one. But the owner of the land where they are is
entitled to kill the animals, if he wishes, and to use and
enjoy the running water; and the animals, when dead,
and the water, when confined in pipes, tanks and cisterns,
become private property. But a person merely by wounding
or killing a wild animal does not reduce it into his possession.
If a wild animal has been killed or wounded by one person,
and is taken by another before it comes into the actual posses-
. sion of the person who killed or wounded it, such a taking is
not deemed a theft. 3
1 2 & 3 P. & M. c. 7 ; 31 Eliz. c. 12.
2 See 66 & 57 Vict. c. 71, B . 22 (2).
8 S. v. Roe (1870), 11 Cox, 554, 557.,