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.]