1052 OYSTERS—LOCATING LOTS. [ART. 72.

sloops and vessels shall be required to visit the tributaries and
streams of their respective districts at least once in two weeks,
between the first day of May and the first day of October, and at
any other time when notified by citizens or others of violations;
and they shall arrest and bring to trial all persons found violating
any sections of this article, and cause them to be tried and pun-
ished as provided by law.

1886, ch. 296, sec. 42.

38. The commander of said force shall have the control and

direction of said force, under the supervision of the board of
public works, with power to direct their movements, and shall
have an office in the city of Annapolis, to which place all
complaints, applications for assistance and reports from deputy
commanders shall be addressed, and shall be permitted to have
one clerk at a salary of six hundred dollars per year.

Locating Oyster Lots.

1886, ch 296, sec. 44 1888, ch. 505.

39. The owner of any land bordering on any of the navi-

gable waters of this State, the lines of which extend into and

are covered by said waters, shall have the exclusive privilege of
using the same for protecting, sowing, bedding or depositing

oysters or other shell-fish within the lines of his own land; and
any owner of land lying and bordering upon any of the waters
of this State shall have power to locate and appropriate in
any of the waters adjoining his lands one lot of five acres for
the purpose of protecting, preserving, depositing, bedding or

sowing oysters or other shell-fish; and any male citizen of full
age of this State, shall have power to locate and appropriate and
hold one lot of five acres, and no more, in any waters in this
State not located or appropriated; provided, thirty days' notice,
in writing, shall be given the owner or occupant of land bor-
dering on said waters proposed to be located, that the owner or
occupant may have priority of claim; and if such owner or occu-
pant shall fail to locate or appropriate the water mentioned in

said notice within thirty days after receiving the same, then it

shall be open and free to any one, under the provisions of this