July 1300
No man who owns a fish-house is to hire it out to a stranger
for purposes of fraud or collusion, or he shall pay [a
fine of] 6s.8d per last of the said fish-house's capacity. If
the owner lacks the money to pay, then the fish-house shall be
confiscated by the community, as security for payment.
[A fish-house was where fish were hung for drying and
smoking. An ordinance on the same subject in
1491 seems to imply that the
concern may have been competition with the curing activities of burgesses.
However, the reference to "fraud and collusion" is mystifying, unless there
was an additional problem of the owners of the fish-houses misrepresenting
the outsiders' fish as their own when it came time to sell them.]