Huntsmen will be allowed to 'search' for foxes and won't have to prove their hunting is exempt, after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to appeal last month's controversial High Court judgment on the hunting ban.

The CPS said it would now review the outstanding cases against accused huntsmen, including that against the Devon and Somerset Staghounds and the Heythrop in Gloucestershire, but warned this did not mean the Hunting Act was dead.

Instead, the Director of Public Prosecutions last night pledged to continue to enforce the Hunting Act – where there is sufficient evidence for a 'realistic prospect' of conviction.

But the decision not to appeal to the House of Lords over last month's decision is another victory for hunters, who said it was 'an admission the law is in a mess'.

Exmoor huntsman Tony Wright is now officially innocent – one of the two aspects of the High Court ruling covered his drawn-out case. He was the first huntsman prosecuted in court under the hunt ban.

The long-term implications of the High Court ruling remained controversial last night.

Anti-hunt campaigners said the law still stood, and was clear that using dogs to hunt foxes and deer was illegal.

They have called for the police to enforce the hunt ban.

And the DPP said the law was still in force.

"The fact that the CPS has decided not to take this to the House of Lords does not mean that there will be no more prosecutions under the Hunting Act," said DPP Keith Starmer QC.

"On the contrary, where there are allegations that the law has been broken, the CPS will continue to work with the police to build cases and decide whether there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute, as we normally do," he said.

"We have considered the High Court judgement carefully and sought counsel's advice and have decided that the rulings should be accepted and no further appeal be made.

"Having made this decision, we will now be reviewing those cases going through the system which have been waiting on the High Court judgement to see what impact, if any, it may have," he added.

Two of the three most prominent cases involve West hunts. Four leaders of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds are accused of illegal hunting, and their case was directly linked to the High Court ruling – they no longer have to prove they were hunting under one of the ban's exemptions, and it is now for the CPS to prove they weren't.

Heythrop hunt master Julian Barnfield faces two different cases, and one of those is thought to be affected by the ruling.

"The decision not to appeal is an admission that the law is in a mess," said Simon Hart, chief executive of The Countryside Alliance .

"We are now left in a situation where insinuation and allegations will continue but, as the CPS itself admits, prosecutions will rarely if ever be viable.

"This is an unhappy state of affairs that promotes nothing but confusion and brings the law as a whole into disrepute. The only sensible option is to get rid of this badly drafted, unfair and illiberal piece of legislation.

"Even anti-hunting MPs are now admitting that the Act has failed and there is increasing support from politicians of all parties for the repeal of the Hunting Act," he claimed.