Chap. 363.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2131, 2133,
2184, 2135, 2137, 2148, 2151, 2153, and to repeal sections 2141, 2142,
2143, 2144, 2145 and 2147 of chapter 97 of the code of Virginia,
in relation to oysters, and to add independent sections thereto.

Approved February 25, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That sections twenty-one hundred and thirty-one, twenty-
one hundred and thirty-three, twenty-one hundred and
thirty-four, twenty-one hundred and thirty-five, twenty-
one hundred and thirty-seven, twenty-one hundred and
forty-eight, twenty-one hundred and fifty-one and twenty-
one hundred and fifty-three of chapter ninety-seven of
the code of Virginia, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows:

§ 2131. Inspectors of oysters ; appointment and removal,
term, qualification and bond.—The county court of each
county, or the judge thereof in vacation, in which oysters
are caught or planted, shall, on or before the first day of
May next, appoint for the county one or more inspectors
of oysters, whose term of office shall commence on May
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and who shall
continue in office for the term of two years, but may be
removed by the court for any malfeasance, misfeasance,
incompetency, or gross neglect of official duty, and such
removal shall be deemed a vacation of theoffice. All the
vacancies in the office shall be filled by the court, or the
judge thereof in vacation. Every inspector shall before
the court which appoints him, or the judge thereof in
vacation, take the oaths and give bond prescribed by
chapter thirteen of the code of Virginia. The bond shall
be in a penalty not less than two thousand dollars. The
clerk of the court shall transmit a copy of the bond to
the auditor of public accounts within thirty days after
its execution. An inspector appointed under this section
shall be skilled in and acquainted with the oyster industry.

§ 2133. Each inspector shall be allowed all the fees al-
lowed under this chapter to him and a commission of ten
per centum on what is collected by him under the follow-
ing section.

2134. He shall collect all fines and taxes imposed by
this chapter within the limits of which he is assigned ex-
cept the tax on planted. oysters, and to enable him to
collect the same, together with his fees, according to the
preceding section, he shall have the same power which a
county treasurer or other collectors of the state revenue
has for the collection of taxes.

§ 2135. Reports required of inspectors, to be recorded ;
when to pay what they owe; what entries to make in their
books.—He shall report quarterly on oath to the com-
missioner or commissioners of fisheries the amount of
fines, fees, rents and taxes collected by him and his depu-
ties during the preceding three months, and the names of
the persons from whom the same were collected, with the
respective dates of collection, and also the number of boats
registered under this act, whether tonger, patent tonger,
or dredger; also the number of acres of planting ground
rented and the location thereof. The commissioner or
commissioners of fisheries shal] examine the report, and,
if in due form and correct in other respects, shall certify
to the auditor of public accounts the amount due on ac-
count of such fines, fees, rents, and taxes by the inspector,
who shall, within thirty days thereafter, pay the same
into the public treasury, to the credit of the oyster fund.
These reports shall be transmitted by said commissioner
or commissioners of fisheries to the clerk of each county
in the waters of which there may be oysters, which said
reports shall be filed by the clerk of said court in his of-
fice, and shall be open at all times to public inspection.
The inspector shall give receipts for all fines, fees, rents,
and taxes collected by him, an entry for which shall be
made in a book to be kept by him for the purpose, which
receipts, in addition to other facts stated therein, shall
give the name of the county in the clerk’s office of which
his report is to be recorded. If any inspector fail to dis-
charge any duty imposed on him by this section, he shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction there-
of, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, and be re-
moved from office, and for the amount of said fine he and
his sureties shall be liable on his official bond.

§ 2137. Assignment to riparian owners and others of lo-
cations for planting oysters; appeal from decision of in-
apector; locations to be marked with suitable stakes; pay-
ment of fees and rent to inspectors.—If any owner or oc-
cupant of land having a water front thereon suitable for
planting oysters, shall desire to obtain a location thereon
for planting oysters, he may make application to the in-
spector for the county or district in which the land lies,
who shall assign to him on such location as such owner or
occupant may designate in front of his land. No assign-
ment shall exceed one-half acre, and a survey and plat
whereof to be made by the county surveyor, which shall
indicate the metes and bounds, courses and distances,
starting from fixed and permanent objects on the shore,
as accurately, as may be, the same to be recorded as pro-
vided for recordation of other plats, the cost of survey and
plat, and recordation, to be paid by the riparian owner or
occupant. The surveyor’s fee shall be one dollar. It shall
be the duty of such owner or occupant to cause the loca-
tion to be marked with suitable stakes, according to the
assignment, and thereafter he shall have the exclusive
right to the use thereof for the purpose aforesaid, and the
privilege is accorded to the said owner in consideration of
the extra valuation ordinarily assessed upon such land for
the water privileges supposed to attach thereto. The in-
spector making the assignment of reservation shall be paid
by such owner or occupant a fee of fifty cents; said as-
signment to the riparian owner or occupant to pass with
the land to the subsequent owner or occupant. If any
portion of said water front herein reserved or provided for
said riparian owner or occupant of land, shall be occupied
by others with oysters actually planted thereon at the time
a location is made of said reservation, the person so occu-
pying the same shall have eighteen months to remove the
said oysters so planted. The residue of said water front in
excess of what is herein reserved for the riparian owner, and
the residue of the beds of the bays, rivers, and creeks, other
than natural oyster beds or rocks, may be occupied by any
persons for the purpose of planting or propagating oysters
thereon: provided, that no assignment hereafter made shall
exceed two hundred and fifty acres; but this limit shall
not affect assignments heretofore made, in excess of that
amount, and provided further, that nolimit herein provided
for shall affect assignments made in the Chesapeake bay.
It shall be the duty of any such person desiring to obtain
a location for planting or propagating oysters in any
portion of the water-fronts and beds aforesaid, not located
or reserved as hereinbefore provided for owners and occu-
pants of land aforesaid, to apply to the inspector of the
district in which the land lies, to have his location ascer-
tained and designated, and surveyed, and the same shall
be marked with suitable stakes, smooth and free from
inagsand spurs, or by other metes and bounds, courses and
distances, having their places of beginning and ending
designated by permanent objects on the shore, agreed upon
between the applicant and inspector, and he shall pay the
inspector for his services a fee of one dollar; and he shall
also pay to the inspector rent for the land assigned him
at the rate of one dollar per acre for each and every year
of his rental: provided, however, that on the ocean side of
the counties of Accomac and Northampton, he shall pay
a rental of fifty cents per acre, the same to be payable on
the first day of September of each year, and so long as he
continues to pay such rent, he shall have the exclusive
right to occupy said land for a period of twenty years,
subject to such rights, if any, as any other person or per-
sons may previously have acquired. If any portion of
said water-fronts or beds or bays, rivers and creeks, be
occupied with oysters actually planted thereon or held by
any person under proper assignment, evidenced by the
receipt or certificate of the inspector, at the time a loca-
tion is made or sought to be made, under this section, the
occupant shall have the prior right against all others to
have the land so occupied by him assigned to him by the
inspector: provided, the said occupant shall have the
land so occupied by him ascertained and designated, and
surveyed within thirty days from the time the inspector
is called on to locate the same. This section, so far as
the quantity of land to be assigned to and held by ripa-
rian owners is concerned, shall not apply to the counties
of Richmond, Northampton, Northumberland and West-
moreland; but section six of chapter two hundred and
fifty-four, acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-three and
eighty-four, shall continue in force as to the said coun-
ties: provided, that nothing in the said section which
restores to riparian owners in said counties one-fourth
of their respective water-fronts suitable for planting
oysters, shall be so construed as to permit the owners of
water-fronts to compel occupants of said fronts to remove
their oysters from any fourth of said shore, if the residue
of said shore be already in his (the land-owner’s) posses-
sion or be unoccupied; and provided further, that all
applications for assignments of oyster planting-grounds,
other than for the ground reserved for riparian owners,
shall be made to the oyster inspector of the county or
district in which said grounds are located, stating as near
as may be the number of acres applied for, the name of
the waters in which located, and the name of one or more
prominent points or places convenient to said ground;
thereupon the said inspector shall cause notices of said
applications to be posted for at least thirty days, at the
court-house of said county, and at two or more prominent
places in the vicinity of said grounds; said notices shall
contain the name or names of applicants, the probable
number of acres applied for by each, the name of the
waters where located, and the name of one or more promi-
nent points convenient to said grounds; after the expira-
tion of the thirty days’ notice as aforesaid, the inspector
shall proceed to survey and assign the ground so applied
for: provided, he ascertains it is not a natural bed, rock
or shoal within the meaning of this act.

§ 2148. Limitation as to time of taking oysters.—Here-
after it shall not be lawful for any person to take or catch
oysters from any of the natural oyster beds, rocks, or shoals,
in any of the waters of this commonwealth with tongs, or
in any other way, from the first day of April to the first
day of September, except that in the waters of the Poco-
moke sound, Tangier sound, and their tributaries, the pro-
hibited time shall be from the first day of May to the fif-
teenth day of September; and on the ocean side of Acco-
mac and Northampton counties, the prohibited time shall
be from the thirty-first day of May to the first day of Sep-
tember; and in Broad bay, Long creek, Linkhorn bay, or
in any of the tributaries thereof, in the county of Princess
Anne, the prohibited time shall be all of the year except
the months of October and November. Any person viola-
ting 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 mar-
ket at any time at the option of the owner thereof. But
no dredging to be permitted on their 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, and
Hampton Roads, from dredging his planted oysters during
the lawful season for dredging in this state. Itis further
provided, that if any person carry, or attempt to carry, any
seed oysters out of this state at any time, except from the
ocean side of Northampton county, he shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, be
fined not exceeding five hundred dollars for each offence.

§ 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 dol-
lars for each offence.

§ 2153. Natural oyster beds not to be used for planting
or depositing oysters or oyster shells.—It shall not be law-
ful 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 per-
son 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 ob-
structions 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 in-
spector at the cost of the offender, who shal! 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, twen-
ty-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 rocks, beds,
or shoals shal] apply to the inspector of the county or dis-
trict where he resides, on or before the first day of Sep-
tember 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 dis-
trict, he shall cause to be plainly marked or stamped upon
the prow of said boat. For each registration annually,
the owner of the boat shall pay to the inspector a fee of
fifty cents. Any boat used or engaged on the oyster rock,
as above named, after the first day of September next
not registered, shall be taken in charge by the inspector,
and if the owner can be found, he shall be fined not leas
than five nor more than twenty dollars, to be recovered
before a justice of the peace; if the owner cannot be
found, the inspector is directed and hereby authorized to
advertise said boat for thirty days, and if no person
claims said boat, the inspector is authorized to sell said
boat at public auction, and turn over the proceeds of sale,
less the costs of advertising and expenses of sale, to the
auditor of public accounts, together with a report of his
action in the matter.

4, For the purpose of registering boats as aforesaid,
the oyster portion of the state shall be laid off into dis-
tricts so that when a boat is properly registered, the reg-
istration can be recognized by all the inspectors in the
state. The districts shall be as follows: Accomac, num-
ber one to number seven inclusive; Elizabeth City, num-
ber eight; Essex, number nine; Gloucester, number ten;
Isle of Wight, number eleven; James City, number
twelve; King George, number thirteen; King and Queen,
number fourteen; King William, number fifteen; Lan-
caster, number sixteen; Mathews, number seventeen;
Middlesex, number eighteen; Nansemond, number nine-
teen; New Kent, number twenty; Norfolk county, num-
ber twenty-one; Norfolk city, number twenty-two; North-
ampton, number twenty-three; Northumberland, number
twenty-four; Portsmouth city, number twenty-five; Prin-
cess Anne, number twenty-six; Richmond county, number
twenty-seven; Warwick county, number twenty-eight;
Westmoreland, number twenty-nine; York, number thirty.
The inspector of each district shall, with a stamp, place
on the prow of each boat the number of boats registered,
and under the number of the boat the number of his dis-
trict, for example —— shows that the boat is numbered one,
and registered in district number one in Accomac.

5. The inspector shall, moreover, require each and
every tong-man in his district to state to him, on oath,
at the time of receiving his registration and number, that
he will not, during the ensuing season, violate any of the
laws of this state in regard to taking of oysters from
their natural beds, rocks, or shoals, and that he will make
such true and accurate returns as are hereinafter provided
for. The inspector shall require each tong-man registered
in his district to make to him, on the Saturday of each
week, or within three days thereafter, during the lawful
season, a true and accurate return of the amount of sales
made by him during the week preceding; and the in-
spector shall collect from said tong-man on the aggregate
amount of said sales for that week an amount equal to the
amount of tax that may be levied by the state on any
other species of property; but if at the time of register-
ing his boat, any tdng-man shall prefer, and elect to pay,
and pay to the inspector the sum of two dollars, the in-
spector shall give him a receipt therefor, in which he
stratl state that the said payment is a discharge of his
obligation under this section for the entire season for
which his boat is registered, so far asthe weekly returns
and the amount to be paid thereon, is concerned: pro-
vided that this section shall not apply to the ocean side
of Accomac and Northampton. If any tong-man shall
fail to make such report as is provided in this section, he
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con-
viction thereof he shall be fined not less than ten dollars
nor more than fifty dollars.

6. Any resident of the state who is now occupying
oyster-planting grounds, or desires to occupy any oyster-
planting ground, shall notify the inspector of his desire
to continue to occupy, or his desire to occupy, certain oys-
ter-planting grounds, and the inspector shall notify the
county surveyor, or his deputy, who shall survey said
ground, and make a plot of the same—the surveyor to re-
ceive for surveying and making plot twenty-five cents per
acre up to thirty acres, and fifteen cents per acre over thir-
ty to fifty acres, and ten cents per acre for all over fifty
acres—the cost of survey and plot to be paid by the rentor
—this survey and plot to remain good so long as the rent
is annually paid, and the ground occupied by the party
paying for survey and plot. The said survey and plot
shall indicate the metes and bounds, courses and distances,
having their beginning and ending marked by fixed and
permanent objects on the shore, as accurately as may be,
and the same, as soon as possible after completion, shall
be filed by the inspector in the clerk’s office of his county,
then to be forthwith recorded in a well-bound and substan-
tial book, and indexed in the name of the assignee, and
thereupon, at once, a written memorandum thereof to be
posted bY the clerk at the front door of the court-house,
stating the name of the assignee, the date of the record, the
number of acres assigned, and the general location of the
grounds.

7. Any person holding oyster-planting ground, who has
not had it assigned, or paid any rent for the same, shall
forthwith apply to the inspector of his county to have said
ground surveyed, assigned, and pay the rent; and if he
fail to do so, the inspector shall serve notice on said occu-
pant, giving him thirty days to comply with the law, and
then if he fail or refuse to rent as the law directs, the in-
spector shall rent out said ground to the first applicant.

8. It shall not be lawful for any person to rent oyster-
planting ground and afterwards sub-rent or sub-let the
same to another person. Any person violating this section
shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than one hun-
dred dollars, and the ground sub-rented or sub-let shall
be taken away from him by the inspector.

9. Any assignment made by the inspector shall in all pro-
ceedings and for all purposes whatsoever, be, and be con-
strued to be, an absolute final adjudication that the ground
assigned is not a natural oyster bed, rock, or shoal, unless
within two months after the survey and plot are recorded as
required by section six, some person or persons shall file a
writing in the clerk’s office of the county court where the re-
cord is, stating that the ground assigned is a natural oyster
bed, rock, orshoal. Upon such writing being filed, the clerk
shall forthwith issue a rule against the assignee requiring
him to appear in said court and show cause why the said as-
signment should not berevoked. If said writing is filed ten
days before the term of the court the rule shall be return-
able at such term, otherwise at the term next following.
The court, without a jury, shall try and determine whether
the ground assigned is a natural oyster bed, rock or shoal,
and the person or persons who filed the writing aforesaid
shall be regarded as the plaintiff or plaintiffs, and the as-
signee as the defendant in the issue. The clerk shall no-
tify the inspector, who shall attend the trial. The judg-
ment of the court shall be final, and no appeal, writ of
error, or supersedeas shall lie thereto. If the judgment is
against the assignee, any rent paid by him shall be re-
turned to him by the inspector; and when any inspector
shall be overruled by the county court three times he shall
be removed from his office. If the owner of any boat de-
sires to use on said boat the new (patent) oyster tongs on
the natural oyster beds, rocks or shoals, he must pay to
the tmspector of his district the sum of five dollars annu-
ality for each pair of patent tongs used on said boat, to be
by said inspector paid over to the auditor of public ac-
counts, and one dollar annually as a fee to the inspector
for his servitos. ~ff any one boat is registered for two pur-
poses, the inspector shall also have have a stamp for reg-
istering the boat using patent tongs, and that stamp shall
be “P. T., and the number of boat registered, and under
the number of the boat the number of his district; for ex-
ample, “ P. T._—”’ shows that the boat is registered for
patent tongs number one, and registered in district num-
ber one, in Accomac county, and this must also be stamped
on the prow of the boat.

- 10. If any person, other than a resident of this state,
take or catch oysters or other shell fish in any of the
waters of the state, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be
fined five hundred dollars.

11. All oysters taken from any natural rock, bed, or
shoal in the waters of this state, except on the eastern
side of Accomac and Northampton counties, shall be
culled upon their natural bed, rock, or shoal as taken,
and all oysters whose shells measure less than two and
one-half inches in length, measuring from hinge to mouth,
and all shells shall be included in said culling, and re-
placed upon said rock, bed, or shoal: provided that where
small oysters gre adhering so closely to the shell of the
marketable oyster as to render its removal impossible
without destroying the young oyster, then it shall not be
necessary to remove it. Any person violating the provis-
ions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be fined not less
than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.

12. When the purchaser or any other person shall have
reason to believe that any cargo of oysters has been
brought to market in violation of this law, the inspector
shall be called in to ascertain the fact, and he shall there-
upon cause the contents of every fiftieth tub or measure
to be dumped in any convenient place to be agreed on be-
tween the vendor and purchaser, and the same shall be
kept away, and separate from other oysters, or oyster
shells, and after the whole cargo, vessel load, or quantity
of oysters so sold shall have been measured, and the quan-
tity ascertained, the inspector shall, in the presence of the
vendor, or his duly authorized agent, or employee, proceed
to separate from the oysters so set aside all shells and
small oysters less than two and one-half inches in length,
and he shall proceed to measure the shells and small oys-
ters set aside, as hereinbefore provided, and if said
shells and small oysters so set aside, after being so sepa-
rated from the marketable oysters, shall be found to
exceed five per centum of the whole quantity so set aside
as aforesaid, then the vendor shall be deemed to have vio-
lated this section, and on conviction thereof shall be fined
not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.

18. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act,
be, and the same are hereby, repealed: provided however,
that this act shall not be so construed as to affect in any
way the riparian rights of any owner or owners of land
on the east side of the Elizabeth river lying south of the
north line of the property of the Lambert’s Point water
front company, or to affect in any way the present juris-
diction of the board of harbor commissioners of the port
of Norfolk and Portsmouth, nor shall this act be con-
strued to repeal in any way chapter ninety-six of the
code of Virginia.

14, This act shall be in force from its passage.