Chap. 64.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3225 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, in relation to assignment of oyster grounds. [H B 58]

Approved March 2, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
thirty-two hundred and twenty-five of the Code of Virginia, as here-
tofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 3225. All applications for assignment of oyster grounds
shall be in writing, and state as near as may be the number of acres ap-
plied for and definite location, with the name of one or more prominent
points or objects adjacent to said ground. A copy of said application
shall be posted by the inspector, for at least sixty days, at the courthouse
of said county and at two or more prominent places in the vicinity of
said ground, nor shall any assignment be made of more than ten acres
of oyster ground in any one assignment, until due notice of application
thereof, in addition to the posting hereinbefore required, shall be pub-
lished once a week for at least four weeks in some newspaper in the
county wherein the said ground lies, or if no newspaper be published
therein, in some newspaper having a general circulation therein. And
the inspector shall assign the same to such applicant or applicants ; pro-
vided, that where the planting of oysters or shells in any part of a
navigable stream would tend to obstruct navigation by lessening the
depth of water, such ground shall not be assigned for planting pur-
poses, if in the judgment of the Commission of Fisheries, it shall be
unwise to do so. The said survey and plat, as soon as practicable after
the completion, and after said ground shall have been assigned to said
applicant, shall be filed for record by the inspector in the office of the
Commission of Fisheries and in the clerk’s office in his county, there
to be forthwith recorded in a well-bound and substantial book and in-
dexed in the name of the assignee, and thereupon at once a written
memorandum thereof shall be posted by the clerk at the front door
of the courthouse, stating the names of the assignee, the date of the
recordation, the number of acres assigned, and the general location of
the grounds; provided, that except in the Chesapeake bay no such as-
signment shall exceed two hundred and fifty acres; provided, however,
that no person, partnership, or corporation shall own or operate more

than three thousand acres of oyster ground hereafter assigned under
this or any other provision of law in this State, whether acquired by
original assignment to the assignee, or sub-rented or assigned to him or
them by a lawful holder of said oyster ground; provided, further, that
should a person owning or operating three thousand acres of oyster
ground, be entitled to oyster ground, as heir or distributee, or by devise
or bequest he shall, nevertheless, have a right to lawfully hold the same
for and during the period of one year and shall have a legal right to
assign the same. Should he fail to assign the same within one year, the
oyster planting ground so acquired, in excess of three thousand acres,
shall revert to the Commonwealth of Virginia and may be applied for
by any person having a legal right so to do. For planting ground in the
Chesapeake bay in water from fifteen feet or more in depth the appli-
cation shall be made to the Commission of Fisheries, which shall have
the right to accept or reject any such application as it may deem best for
the public interest ; but the number of acres, if such assignment be made,
shall not exceed five thousand to any one applicant, provided always
that such assignment shall not interfere with established fishing rights
and the annual rental therefor shall be such amount per acre as the
Commission may fix upon, but in no case less than twenty-five cents
per acre. And any such applicant, other than riparian owners, shall
pay to the inspector for his service a fee of one dollar, and shall also
pay the annual rental for the said grounds at the rate of one dollar per
acre per annum, except as provided for Chesapeake bay and for bathing
grounds, due on the first day of September of each year after the date
of the assignment, and payable on or before December first following.
If not paid on or before December first, a five per centum fine shall be
added, and the inspector shall proceed to levy for rental and fine. And
any such applicant, other than those riparian or bathing grounds, shall
pay to the surveyor for his services one dollar per acre, or fraction
thereof, for three acres or less; fifty cents per acre, or fraction thereof,
for each acre more than three and up to and including ten acres ; twenty-
five cents per acre, or fraction thereof, for each acre more than ten and
up to and including thirty acres; fifteen cents per acre for each acre
more than thirty and up to and including fifty acres, and ten cents per
acre for all over fifty acres; and for drawing plat of ground, which
shall be in duplicate, shall be fifty cents per corner for each corner up
to and including four, and twenty-five cents per corner for all additional
corners over four, and the surveyor shall forward plat of survey to
the office of the Commission of Fisheries to be approved by the engineer
of the Commission within thirty days before same is assigned by the
inspector and shall have the same privileges and rights as to the col-
lection of his fees that the inspector has. The clerk of courts of the
county in which the said grounds lies, shall receive the said survey and
plat and record same, and shall be paid by the assignee for his service
the same fee he now receives for recording deeds or plats. After the
same is recorded, the assignee is entitled to withdraw the original from
the clerk’s office. Each county shall furnish the clerk with necessary
books for recording the same. The fees due the clerk for the recorda-

tion and filing of said surveys and plats shall be collected as his other
fees are collected. No person, after having had as much as two hun-
dred and fifty acres of oyster ground assigned to him under this section,
shall again make application for another assignment of oyster ground
within six months from the day his assignment was recorded and com-
pleted as the statute provided; and provided, further, that if any as-
signment be not made within ninety days after the application therefor
shall be matured by the posting hereinabove provided for, such applica-
tion shall, upon the expiration of said ninety days, lapse and become null
and void.

All assignments of oyster planting ground heretofore made, includ-
ing all renewals and reassignments thereof in force at the time this act
takes effect, are hereby ratified and confirmed, and nothing herein con-
tained shall in any way affect rights heretofore vested or acquired under
the provisions of this section or any other section relating to the lease
of oyster planting ground, or any renewal or reassignment thereof.