Chap. 441.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3225 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended, in relation to oyster grounds. [H B 191]

Approved March 26, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion thirty-two hundred and twenty-five of the Code of Virginia,
as 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 otf
acres applied 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 until due notice of application thereof, ir addi-
tion to the posting hereinbefore required shall be published once a
week for at least four weeks in some newspaper published in the
county wherein the said ground lies, or if no newspaper be pub-
lished therein, in some newspaper having a general circulatioh there-
in. And the inspector shall assign the same to such applicant or
applicants; provided, that where the planting of oysters of shells
in any part of a navigable stream would tend to obstruct naviga-
tion by lessening the depth of water, such ground shall not be as-
signed for planting purposes, 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 completion, and after said ground shall
have been assigned to said applicant, shall be filed by the inspector
in the clerk’s office in his county, there to be forthwith recorded
in a well-bound and substantial book and indexed in the name of
the assignee, and thereupon at once a written memorandum there-
of 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 Chesapeake bay no such assignment 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 dis-
tributee, 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 Chesa-
peake bay in water from fifteen feet or more in depth the applica-
tion 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 an
assignment be made, shall not exceed five thousand to any one ap-
plicant, provided always that such assignments 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
icres; 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 fitty
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 have the same privileges and rights as to the
collection of his fees that the inspector has. The clerk 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 recordation 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 hundred and fifty acres of oyster
ground assigned to him under this section, shall again make ap-
plication for another assignment of oyster ground within six months
from the day his assignment was recorded and completed as the
statute provides. |

All assignments of oyster planting ground heretofore made, in-
cluding all renewals and reassignments thereof in force at the time
this act takes effect, are hereby ratified and confirmed, and nothing
herein contained 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.