ART. 24.] OYSTERS AND FISH. 2157

vided, 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 wilfully or maliciously
removing said bushes, stakes or buoys, shall be liable to all the
penalties of this section; and provided further, that nothing in
this section shall affect the rights of owners of land to the ex-
clusive use of any creek, cove or inlet within their said lands, not
exceeding one hundred yards in width at its mouth; and any
person violating any of the provisions of this section, shall
be liable to be sued as for damages to any other property,
and also to indictment by the grand jury of said county, and
upon conviction of any such violation shall be fined not less
than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, with costs,
or be imprisoned not less than one month nor more than six
months in the county jail, or both, in the discretion of the court,
for each offence; and in any prosecution for violating any of
the provisions of this section it shall not be necessary in order to
convict, to prove that the offender was actually taking up oysters,
but only that he was at work in the waters so staked off by
bushes, stakes or buoys as aforesaid.

1884, ch. 804.

176. Any person, except the owner or his employee, who
shall take or remove any oysters from the waters of the Syne-
puxent bay or its tributaries in Worcester county, staked off and
kept plainly marked by means of bushes, stakes or buoys, as pro-
vided in the preceding section, shall bo guilty of a felony and!
liable to indictment by the grand jury of said county, and on.
conviction thereof shall be sentenced to the penitentiary for a
term not less than one year nor more than two years, in the
discretion of the court.

Ibid.

177. In order to convict, it shall riot be necessary to allege in
the indictment, or to prove, that the owner of the oysters taken
or removed, as stated in the preceding section, is the same person,
who staked off and kept plainly marked by means of bushes
stakes or buoys, the waters of the said Synepnxent bay, or its
tributaries, from which the said oysters were taken or removed ;
and the fact that one person staked off and kept plainly marked,