LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1829.

977

plement, whether penalty or dispute, shall be decided and ad-
judged by the said board within three days after application by
the complainants.

SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That every master of a vessel who
shall refuse, when the same is required by the first applicant
below the Horseshoe as aforesaid, or other pilot of the same
company, or where no such applicant appears, by the first other
applicant, to conduct his vessel as aforesaid, to give information
of the tonnage thereof, by shewing her register or license, as
the case may be, shall for every such offence, forfeit and pay
the sum of thirty dollars, to be recovered in the name of the
state, in the same manner as small debts are recoverable! one-
half for the use of the said state, and one-half for the use of the
informer.

Penalty for
neglect
of duty,

SEC. 5. And be it enacted, That nothing in this act contained
shall be construed to authorize any pilot to conduct or pilot any
vessel of greater actual draught than is expressly authorized by
his warrant.

Explanatory

SEC. 6. And be it enacted, That the board of examiners be,
and they are hereby authorized and required to refuse a warrant
to any applicant who may be, in their opinion, incompetent
from drunkenness, or any other depravity, to discharge the
duties of pilot, any thing in the original act to the contrary not-
withstanding *, and for like causes to suspend the warrant of
any pilot who may have obtained the same.

Warrant
may be
refused to.

CHAPTER 87.
AN ACT to promote the Preservation, Improvement, and increase of Shell
Fish in this State.
Other laws are, 1830, ch. 58; 1831, ch. 249j 1832, ch. 265, 276; 1833,
ch. 254; J834, ch.311; 1835, ch. 216, 260, 337; 1836, ch. 186; 1837,
ch. 310.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That it shall be lawful for any citizen of this state to locate and
appropriate, in any of the bays, sounds, rivers, creeks, or coves,
any area, not exceeding one acre in extent, for the purpose of
depositing, bedding or sowing any oysters, or other shell fish,
either for domestic use or exportation ; and all oysters or other
shell fish, so deposited, bedded or sowed, or contained therein,
or upon the bottom of such area or superficies, shall be deemed

Location of
oyster beds
authorized.

and held in law as the proper estate and rightful property, of
the person who caused the same to be so located or appropriated
and deposited, bedded or sowed therein, as aforesaid ; Provided
however, that the same location or appropriation shall be indi-
cated and distinctly defined by stakes, bushes, or other proper
marks, or metes and bounds ; which indication and defination
123

Made
individual
property,
Must be
staked off,
recorded.