Chap. 496.—An ACT to provide for the making of a correct list of rented oyster
planting grounds, and record thereof. [S B 325]

Approved March 26, 1928

Whereas, section thirty-two hundred and seventy-one of the Code
of Virginia, relating to marking plots of oyster planting ground “aban-
doned” has not been complied with in the past, and failure to do so
has caused the records in the several tidewater counties of the State
in which are oyster planting grounds to become obsolete, in that,
numerous pieces of oyster planting grounds have been assigned, by
inspectors, and put to record and later abandoned by the assignee
without notifying the clerk of the county in which said assignment is
recorded, and later on, these same pieces have been assigned to other
persons, and the assignments put to record thereby making the county
clerks records confusing; and,

Whereas, the office of the commission of fisheries did not keep a
check on the rented planting ground in the State until the year nine-
teen hundred and twenty-three, when a master copy was made of all
ground in the State assigned for oyster planting purposes, and the
rental thereon being paid, yearly, the said master copy representing a
list of all oyster planting grounds in the State upon which annual
rental thereon is being paid; and,

Whereas, no person is a legal renter of planting grounds unless and
until his rent is paid yearly, due September first of each year; now,
therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
commissioner of fisheries shall, within ninety days after the taking ef-
fect of this act, make out a full list of the parcels of oyster planting
ground, as shown on the records of the commission of fisheries, as
of July one, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, for each tidewater
county in the State in which there is oyster planting ground rented,
giving names of renters, number of acres, and location of same. This
list shall be posted at the courthouse of the county or city, in the waters
of which such oyster planting ground as is listed thereon is, and at three
public places on the shores near to such planting grounds for sixty
days and which list shall contain a notice calling on all parties who
hold planting ground in the area covered thereby and whose names do
not appear on such list, to come forward and pay their rent and assert
their claims, if they have any; and, after the expiration of sixty days,
the commissioner of fisheries shall certify to the clerks of such coun-
ties, a list showing the names of renters, number of acres, and location
of their grounds, within their respective counties, as appears on the
records of the commission of fisheries; and, the clerk of such county
shall mark abandoned, all assignments of oyster planting ground, on
his records, not appearing on said list; and, the said list shall be con-
strued to be a list of all oyster planting ground rented from the State
of Virginia in the said county, as of July first, nineteen hundred and
twenty-eight. Should any person show to the circuit court of the
county in which is any planting ground owned by him, and which has
been omitted from the list herein mentioned, within twelve months
after the date of posting of such list, that his name and oyster plant-
ing ground was erroneously, left off such list, the court shall enter
that fact upon its record; and the clerk of such court shail send to
the commissioner of fisheries a certified copy of such record, where-
upon the record of the commissioner of fisheries shall be made to ac-
cord therewith.