Chap. 94.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3225 of the Code of Virginia
as last amended by chapter 441 of the acts of assembly of 1928, in relatios
to assigning oyster grounds. [H B 87

Became law without the signature of the governor March 4, 1930.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec.
tion thirty-two hundred and twenty-five of the Code of Virginia, a:
last amended by chapter four hundred and forty-one of the acts of
assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 3225. All applications for assignment of oyster ground:
shall be in writing, and state as near as may be the number of acres
applied tor and definite location, with the name of one or more promi-
nent points or objects adjacent to said ground. A copy of said appli-
cation 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, in addition to the posting herein-
before 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 published therein, in some newspaper hav-
ing a general circulation therein. And the inspector shall assign the
same to such applicant or applicants; provided, that where the plant-
ing 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 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 the 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 re-
corded in a well-bound and substantial book and indexed 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 Chesapeake bay no such assignment shall exceed two
hundred and fifty acres; provided, however, that no person, partner-
ship, or corporation shall own or operate more than three thousand
acres of oyster ground hereafter assigned under this or any other pro-
vision 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 dur-
ing 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 an assignment
be made, shall not exceed five thousand to any one applicant, pro-
vided 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 ser-
vices 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 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 re-
cording 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
application for another assignment of oyster ground within six months
from the day his assignment was recorded and completed as the
statute provided; and provided. further, that if any assignment be
not made within ninety days after the application therefor shall be
matured by the posting and publication hereinabove provided for, such
application shall, upon the expiration of said ninety days, lapse and
become null and void.

. 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.