Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1871-04-14
D~In another column will be found the

- Ao Soosoet column Will % found the
Opinion Of Attorney General Jones upon the
construction Of the Act Of Assembly Of 1860,
in reference to Fishing in the Potomac, to
which ~ invite attention. The subject is q
most important one to large class of our
citizens and now that the opinion of the law
odiesf Of the STATE has been given. sustaining
10 substance the position taken BY Captain
Davidson in the notice published in our last,
We suppose that officer will 10 . few days
undertake its enforcement ~ thus construed.
Under this construction, bona eide citizens
"msy continue to 6sh with gill-nsts1 the
shores they own or occupy" ~ they were in
she habit Of doing pssvious to the passage Of
ths aet Of 1860. In other words, the law in
!, vssls tho shorss with certain rights and ap-
fpfstsnsnoss which the party. wishing to use
the shore must prove has attached thereto
b custom or usage prior to 1860. In case
Of failure to prove that this right attached
70 certain shore previous to the year above
named, Il would ssem that even an actual
owner could not avail himself of the privilege
1t fishing in the river 10 . certain way, to
wit: with gill-nsts. II this b. %, the law
'bscona ct onse onsrous, unjust and oppres-
sive. and the sooner steps are taken to contest
il constitutionality before proper tribunals
the better il will b for The landed proprietors
who have never 6shed With large seines, and
only gill-nets, sincs 1se0-bus for others, bona
6ds citizens, whose operations upon sths river
this season must necessarily b greatly ham
psred BY the most lsnisnt snforcemsnt Of the
law ~ construed BY the Attorney General
The frsmsrs Of the Law Of 1860 doubtless in-
ssndsd nothing more than to define, in ex-
press terms, certain rights and privileges Of
the propristors Of large seines; for instance, to
protect them 10 their "watsr bounds," or
bsrths, and not to restrict the rights Of bons
6ds citizens to fish - they had hitherto done.
Il other words, the right to 6sh With nets. by
such persons, was restricted only by the pro-
htbition Of the 18th ssction-which prohibit
"a sderoschnent upon the beach of regu-
larry hauled shor6.. Even this construction,
which limited such light 70 bon. eide citizens,
/ - dot beea bstetoiore placed upon the act.
and owners Of shore, from that. time down;
havs bssn in the habit of rsnting to non-rssi-
dsnsA who thereby became invested with
the ssms rights - The bona 6ds cisizen.-
We believe such hes bsen The practice ever
sinss' tbs pe.ase q the law and We do not
know Of sinsls case 10 which such right to
1entsto s.v one has bssn intsrisrsd With. We
p NOT contend that this practice is warranted
s. > fair construction Of the law. Yet We
know that Il has been almost universally
done. Any law which would rid Us Of nom
rssidsnts and not necessarily abridse or inter-
fire with our own citizens will, We believe,
= heartily sndopsed BY our people. Bot the
operation Of the kw under ths Attorney
Generals construction will undossssdly en-
tail great embarrassment il not actual hard
ship upon our own citissns. Again, no notice
hss bssu given and the time SLOWED j too
short to obtain the necessary permits without
undue intsrfsrsncs With fishing operations.