the land marks as may be necessary to enable the oyster inspector to find and ascertain the boundary lines and limits of said natural oyster rocks, beds, and shoals as shown by the delineation on the maps and charts provided for in section one of this act. Said report shall be completed and transmitted to the board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries within three months after the completion of the said survey. The said board shall cause the same to be published in pamphlet form and transmit copies of the same to the clerk of the county court of the counties where the charts have been filed or directed to be filed as herein before provided for, the said report to be filed by the clerks of the said several counties; and the said survey and report when so filed shall be and be construed to be in all the courts of the commonwealth as conclusive evidence of the boundaries and limits of all the natural oyster beds, rocks, and shoals lying within the waters of the counties wherein such survey and report are filed, and shall be construed to mean in all of the said courts that there are no natural oyster beds, rocks, or shoals lying within the waters of the counties wherein such report and survey are filed other than those embraced in the survey authorized by this act: provided, that the said survey and report shall not be so construed in any pending trial or proceeding in any court upon any assignment made prior to the twenty-fifth day of February, eighteen hundred and ninety-two: provided, also, that not less than twenty-five residents of any county may, within four months from the filing of the said survey and report in such county, file in the clerk's office of the county court of said county a petition in writing under oath alleging that twenty-five or more adjacent acres of natural oyster beds, rocks, or shoals in such county have been omitted from said survey, describing the location of the same by a plat or as near as may be with reasonable certainty by such land marks as will locate and designate the rocks, beds, or shoals so omitted as aforesaid; but this proviso shall not apply where the ground claimed by the petitioners has been assigned prior to February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninetytwo. The said clerk shall docket the same in the county court. At the next term of the said court the judge thereof shall appoint three commissioners, who shall be persons other than the commissioners directed to be appointed by section four of an act entitled an act to protect the oyster industry of the commonwealth, approved February twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and by its order direct them to ascertain and report to court whether the facts contained in said petition be true.

The said commissioners shall view and examine the alleged oyster rocks, beds, or shoals, and to that end may employ a competent surveyor to survey the same at the same rates paid the county surveyer by law for similar services, administer an oath to and examine such witnesses as may appear before them, and make report to court. If the said commissioners shall report that less than twenty-five adjacent acres of natural oyster rocks, beds, or shoals have been omitted from the said survey the said petition shall be dismissed at the cost of the petitioners, but if the said commissioners shall ascertain and report to court that twenty-five or more adjacent acres of natural oyster rock, bed, or shoal in the said county have been omitted from the said survey they shall designate the same by plat or otherwise with reasonable certainty in their said report, which report shall be spread upon the records of the said court and by the clerk thereof certified to the board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries: provided, however, that in the tributaries of the rivers James, Elizabeth, York, Rappahannock, Potomac, and Mobjack bay the area to which exception may be taken by the twenty-five citizens shall be ten acres. Thereupon the said board shall direct a survey, under the direction of the said commissioners, of the area

designated in said report to be made by the United States coast and geodetic survey officer detailed for duty under section six of an act entitled an act to protect the oyster industry of the commonwealth, approved February twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, or by such person as the said board shall direct.

Such survey shall be filed in the clerk's office of said court as the original survey herein before provided for is required to be filed, and when so filed shall be conclusive evidence in all of the courts of this commonwealth that the area embraced therein is a natural oyster bed, rock, or shoal. The costs of the proceedings in the county court shall be paid by the commonwealth if the said commissioners shall report in favor of the petitioners. In those counties of the commonwealth where no survey and report are filed within three months after the completion of the survey of the natural oyster beds, rocks, and shoals of the commonwealth it shall be construed to mean in all the courts of the commonwealth that there are no natural oyster beds, rocks, and shoals in said county or counties, and that all area of the Chesapeake bay and its tributaries not embraced in the survey of the natural oyster beds, rocks, and shoals authorized by this act shall be construed to be in all the courts of the commonwealth barren area and disposable by the commonwealth for the purpose of planting or propagating oysters thereon under section twenty-one hundred and thirty-seven of the code of Virginia as amended and enacted by act approved February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two. All the work appertaining to and necessary to the completion of said survey shall be under the control and done under the direction of the board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries, which said board is hereby empowered to require the shell-fish commissioner herein before named to do all things necessary to the successful prosecution and completion of the said survey.

3. The said board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries shall have the control and management of any fund which may be appropriated to carry into execution this law, and the said board shall turn over to the shell-fish commissioner to be appointed under this act, at such times and in such amounts as they may deem necessary and proper, any portion of such appropriation, and said shell-fish commissioner shall disburse the same in defraying the proper and actual expenses of executing this law, and he shall make a true and detailed report of his disbursements to the said board. But before said commissioner shall perform any of the duties hereby imposed upon him or receive any money under this act he shall execute bond in the penalty of two thousand dollars, payable to the commonwealth of Virginia, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties.

4. The county court of the counties in the waters of which there are any natural oyster beds, rocks, or shoals shall in term time or vacation appoint three commissioners for each of said counties respectively. These three commissioners shall act with the shell-fish commissioners in their respective counties. These three commissioners shall determine the question of what bottoms are natural oyster beds, rocks, or shoals, and the lines defining these limits shall be run by the shell-fish commissioner and the engineer as they direct. These commissioners shall receive for their services the sum of two dollars per day while actually so employed.

5. Said shell-fish commissioner shall be paid the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars per month for the time he is actually engaged in the execution of the work as hereinbefore set forth: provided, said work shall not consume a longer period than twelve months of actual work from its beginning, and when the survey and report herein before mentioned in this act have

Previous Amendment 1893-4, p. 847.

been completed the duties and the salary of the said shell-fish commissioner shall cease and determine.

6. The board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries shall avail themselves in executing this law of the assistance tendered by the United States coast and geodetic survey.

Sec. 2140 a. Section 2140 in effect repealed and superseded by chapter 965, page 991, of Acts 1897-'98, as follows:

Assessment of oysters for taxation; collection of tax.-It shall be the duty of each inspector of oysters on the first day of October annually to proceed to assess for taxation for state and county purposes all oysters planted or shells deposited for propagation of oysters in his county or district; he shall go upon and examine said oysters and shells and fix a valuation on the same, and make a full and complete list of the names of owners of said oysters and shells, where located, number of bushels of oysters, their value per bushel, giving the aggregate value of the full amount; names of owners of shells deposited, where located, and total value-which list, to be made out in the form to be furnished by the auditor of public accounts and sworn to before a magistrate, a notary public, commissioner in chancery, or clerk of the court, shall be filed on or before the fifteenth day of November in the clerk's office in the county where the inspector resides. If any person consider himself aggrieved by such assessment and valuation he may apply for correction of the same under the provisions of sections five hundred and sixty-seven and five hundred and sixty-eight of the code of Virginia providing for the correction of erroneous assessment of taxes. The inspector shall be summoned as a witness when the application is heard by the court. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the county forthwith to extend the amount on the return of the inspector of all taxes to be paid by each person for state, county, and school purposes on the same basis as other personal property is taxed, and the said clerk shall forthwith make out three copies of said assessment and return on or before the first day of December; to the inspector deliver one copy, one to the county treasurer, and forward the third to the auditor of public accounts. The inspector shall on the first day of December of each year proceed to collect said tax so assessed from the parties who are liable for said tax, and shall have all the powers now given to county and city treasurers for the collection of taxes; and said inspector shall on May first of each year settle in full. with the auditor of public accounts for all state revenue he has received, and also settle with the board of supervisors of each county and pay over to the treasurer of said county all money collected for county purposes when said board shall so order. The full compensation for the assessment of the property and the collecting of the taxes shall be ten per centum on full amount collected. The clerk shall be paid for his services as provided for in this section out of the amount of the county tax turned over by said inspector such sum as may be fixed by the board of supervisors. Any inspector or clerk failing to discharge any duty imposed by this section shall be fined not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars.

Sec. 2141. [Repealed. Acts 1891-'92, page 600.]

1897-8, p 745.

Amendments

Sec. 2148. Limitation as to time of taking oysters.-It shall not be As Amended lawful for any person to take or catch oysters from any of the natural Previous oyster beds, rocks, or shoals in any of the waters of this commonwealth Extra Session with tongs or in any other way from the twenty-fifth day of April to the 1887, p. 118 241. 1887-8, p. 486. first day of September, except in Broad bay, Long creek, Linkhorne bay, 1891-2, p. 598. or any of the tributaries thereof in the county of Princess Anne the pro1893-4, p. 843. hibited time shall be all of the year except the months of October and November; nor shall it be lawful for any person at any time to catch or take oysters on Sunday in any manner, or from one hour after sunset of any day to one hour before sunrise of the succeeding day: provided, that nothing in this act shall impair or in any manner affect an act of the general assembly of Virginia approved March fifth, eighteen hundred and ninetyfour, to regulate the taking of oysters in the Potomac river.

Any person violating the above provisions shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each offence.

This section shall not be construed as prohibiting the owner of planted oysters from working on or changing the location of said planted oysters or from shipping the same to market at any time at the option of the owner thereof. But no dredging to be permitted on his private oyster grounds even by the owner of said planted oysters at any time: provided, however, that nothing in this clause shall be construed to prevent the occupant of planting grounds in the Chesapeake bay, or the occupant or lessee of not less than one hundred contiguous acres in Tangier sound, Hampton roads, and James river from dredging his planted oysters during the lawful season for dredging in this state. It is further provided that if any person carry or attempt to carry any seed oysters out of this state at any time he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars for each offence.

Previous

Sec. 2150. Sale of oysters in shell to be by stave measure.—It shall As Amended not be lawful at any time for any person to buy or sell oysters in this state 1893-4, p. 844. in the shell by any other than the metallic measure adopted by the state of Virginia and bearing the official seal as hereinafter provided, and in the measurement of oysters the tubs must be filled with a slight rise above the 1887-8, p. 241.

top.

It shall be the duty of the board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries as soon as possible after the passage of this act to have made by contract metallic oyster measures of such metal and according to such specifications as they may adopt and publish, the said measures to be of the following dimensions: The bottom to be sixteen and a half inches across from inside to inside, the top to be eighteen inches across from inside to inside, and twenty-one inches diagonal from the inside chine to the top; half-tubs to be twelve and a half inches from inside to inside at bottom, thirteen and three-quarter inches from inside to inside at top, and sixteen and a half inches diagonal from inside chine to top.

Each measure to bear a stamp or seal distinctly marked on it, said seal to be of such design as may be agreed on by the board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries. The board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries shall cause such metallic measures to be distributed to all the oyster inspectors of the state, who shall offer them for sale and sell them to the public at a price not exceeding such per centum over their contract price as may in the judgment of the said board on the Chesapeake and its tributaries be sufficient to fully defray all the expense of procuring and delivering such measures to the public. Any person violating this section shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars for each offence.

Amendments Extra Session 1887, p. 118.

1893-4, p. 347.

As Amended 1891-2, p. 599

As Amended 1891-2, p. 599. 93 Va. 780.

As Amended 1893-4, p. 845. Previous

Amendment 1893-4, p. 569,

Sec. 2150 a. Penalty under section 2150.-It shall be unlawful for any person to imitate or counterfeit the metallic measure provided for in section two thousand one hundred and fifty of this act or use the same knowing it to be imitated or counterfeited. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than three years, or at the discretion of the jury confined in jail not more than twelve months or fined not exceeding five hundred dollars.

Sec. 2151. Sale out of shell to be by wine measure.—When oysters are bought or sold out of the shell it shall be by wine measure according to the standard prescribed for such measure by section nineteen hundred and eleven of the code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven. Any person violating this section shall upon conviction thereof be fined not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars for each offence.

Sec. 2153. Natural oyster beds not to be used for planting or depositing oysters or oyster shells.-It shall not be lawful for any person to stake in or use for the purpose of planting oysters or shells or for depositing oysters while making up a cargo for market any natural oyster bed, rock, or shoal, or any part thereof, nor shall any person who may have occupied and staked off such natural bed, rock, or shoal continue to occupy the same; and any person violating this provision shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than one thousand dollars for each offence. Each inspector shall require any such person within his district to remove all stakes, watch-houses, or other obstructions from said natural beds, rocks, or shoals, and if after notice such person refuses to remove his stakes or other obstructions the same shall be removed by the inspector at the cost of the offender, who shall also be fined for failure to remove such stakes, watch-houses, or other obstructions not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.

2. That sections twenty-one hundred and forty-one, twenty-one hundred and forty-two, twenty-one hundred and forty-three, twenty-one hundred and forty-four, twenty-one hundred and forty-five, and twenty-one hundred and forty-seven of the code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, be and the same are hereby repealed.

3. Any resident of this state owning a boat to be used in taking or catching oysters from the natural oyster rocks, beds, or shoals with ordinary oyster tongs shall apply to the inspector of the county or district where he resides on or before the first day of September of each year and have said boat registered. The inspector shall register said boat and prescribe for said boat a number corresponding with the number of boats registered, which number of boats and number of district he shall cause to be plainly marked or stamped upon the prow of said boat. For said registration annually the owner of the boat shall pay to the inspector a fee of fifty cents. Any resident of this state owning a boat to be used in taking or catching oysters from the natural oyster rocks, beds, or shoals with patent oyster tongs shall apply to the inspector of the county or district where he resides on or before the first day of September of each year and have said boat registered. The inspector shall register said boat and prescribe for said boat a number corresponding with the number of boats registered for working patent tongs, which number of boats and number of district he shall cause to be plainly marked or stamped on the prow of said boat; that stamp or mark shall be P. T. and the number of boat registered, and under the number of the boat the number of his district. For example, "P. T. " shows that the boat is registered for patent tongs number one and registered in district number one in Accomac county. For said registration an