Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-09-02

IN the Clerks Othce on Monday last,
the opinion of the Court being deliver
ed by Judge Goldsborough.
State In the Circuit Court for
rs. Worcester County. July
Jas. Workman Term, 81 Indictment, sc.
The Act of Assembly of 1880, chap
ter IA, repeats and rc-enacts m an
amended form sections and I of the
Act of 1870, chap. Ell. BY the 4th
section it is provided -" That It shall be
lawful for any citizen of Worcester
county to stake off not exceeding five
acres in any one place in the Synepux-
ent bay and its tributaries, except upon
the natural rocks of said bay and its
tributaries, and to plant and lay down
oysters III said waters so staked off and
that no person except the owner of said
planted or laid down oysters, or his
employe, shall work upon or among
said oysters, or in the waters so staked
off provided that that portion of the
said waters in which oysters are or are
intended to be planted or laid! down,
not exceeding five acres in any one
place, be kept plainly marked by means
of bushes, stakes or buoys and any
person willully or maliciously removing
said bushes. stakes or buoys shall be
liable 10 all the penalties of this section
| = ;: x x x
and any person violating the provisions
of this section or any of them shall be
liable to be sued as for damages 10 any
other property, and also to indictment
by the grand jury OF said county, and
upon conviction for any such violation
shall be fined not less than ten dollars
nor more than one hundred dollars,
| with costs, or imprisoned not less than
one month nor more than SIX months
in the county Jail, or both, at the dis
cretion OF the Court, for each offence
aud in any prosecution for violating
any of the provisions of this section, 1t
shall not be necessary, in order 10 con
vict, 10 prove that the offender was act
ually taking up oysters, but only that
he was at work in the waters SO staked
off by bushes. stakes or buoys is atore
said"
In pursuance Of this provision. VIII
liam Brimcr, citizen of " orccster
county, siakcd of body Of land not
exceeding five acres in rynepuxcnt
bay, and, together with John K. Fur
neil, also 4 ci.lzcn OF the county, plant
en- large quantity OF oysters thereon.
Ii was afterwards discovered that abou,
10 OF an acre within the stakes was
what is charged to De natural rock,
and the defendant, James " orknan,
in order 10 lest the law, openly went
upon said portion and, in the presence
OF witnesses, caught oysters with tongs.
For this he was indicted, the FIRST count
charging that he - uniawfuily did work
upon and among the said oysters plant
cd and laid down, as aforesaid, in the
waters so, as aforesaid, s,akcd off
Under the testimony, as applicable 10
the law, the Court had no difficulty in
acquiiting the defendant, which was
done, but inasmuch as the questions in
VOWED arc of far reaching interest TO
the citizens Of y Worcester county, W.
have thought it hes; TO express our
views in writing, aud more fully than
was done at the time of the trial, in
order that our construction OF the Act
OF 1850, chap. al, may DC plainly
understood.
The first and most important Of these
questions is what sort OF lands may be
sIaked off by individuals and held and
used for the planting OF oysters and
what lands are reserved for the use
OF tongmen-in other words, the pub
lie ? What is " natural rock, and IS
il " natural rocks " only that are for
bi.llen TO be staked off
The word crock " is defined by
Webster 10 be 40 il large mass OF stony
matter either imbeddeti in the earth or
resting on It's surface" BY all the ,es
tlmony in this case there is no such
formation in Synepuxent bay. The
word, therefore, IS used in the Act OF
1880, chap. PA, cannot have lis orli-
nary, general meaning, bu; must have
merely local Specification.
1t is name which has been applied
by the oyStermen of Synepuxcnt lay
and lis tributaries 10 certain accumula-
tons, beneath the water, Of shells and
gravel, resembling, to some extent,
stone in its hardness. The witnesses
both for the State and the defence al
most all agree in their description Of it,
They say that natural rock is a
mass Of shells and gravel, upon which
natural oysters usually grow, and
through which it is in many places diff
ficult and in Others impossible TO drive
a pole. They also state that around
the edges of these q natural rocks are
borders or edges of gravelly and shelly
bottom, not SO hard as the rock, bur
in process of becoming SO, upon which
also, there is usually growth of nat
ural oysters.
The Act of 1880, chap. 2I4, is a
local law for Worcester county, intro
duced by her representatives in the
Legislature, and passed at their in
stance, and we cannot doubt that in
the use of the term " natural rock !"