Dec.26,1771, 5 Bush 69, 70-71
* * * * *
[§7] AND BE IT ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person or Persons, within this Colony, shall set any Trap or other Device whatsoever, larger than what is usually and commonly set for Foxes and Muskrats, such Person, setting such Trap or other Device, shall pay the Sum of Five Pounds, and forfeit the Trap or other Device, shall suffer three Months Imprisonment, and shall also be liable to make good all Damages any Person shall sustain by setting such Trap or other Device; and the Owner of such Trap or other Device, or Person to whom it was lent, shall be esteemed the Setter thereof, unless it shall be proved, on Oath or Affirmation, what other Person set the same, or that such Trap or other Device was lost by said Owner or Person to whom it was lent, and absolutely out of his Power; and if the Setter of the Trap or other Device be a Slave, and it be his own voluntary Act,he shall (unless the Master or Mistress shall pay the Fine) in lieu of such Fine, be publickly whipped with thirty Lashes, and committed till the Costs are paid; and that the said Trap or other device shall be broken and destroyed in the View and Presence of the Justice of the Peace before whom they are brought: And if any Person or Persons shall have Possession of, or there shall be found in his or their House, any Trap or Traps, Device or Devices whatsoever, for taking of Deer, such Person or Persons shall be subjected to the same Penalty as if he or they were convicted of setting such Trap or Traps, or other Device.
* * * * *
[§17] PROVIDED ALWAYS, That the seventh Section of this Act shall not be construed to affect any Native Indian; and that Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the Inhabitants of Essex, Bergen, Morris, and Sussex, from making, having in their Houses, or setting Traps of Five Pounds Weight or more, for Bears, Wolves, Foxes, or any other wild Beasts, Deer only excepted.