ELTHU E. JACKSON, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

505

twenty dollars nor more than fifty dollars, or imprisoned in jail

for not less than thirty days nor more than ninety days, or both

fined and imprisoned in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect from

Effective

the date of its passage.

Approved April 3, 1890.

CHAPTER 471.

AN ACT to direct the attorney-general of the State to take such

steps as are necessary, to obtain a decision of the supreme court

of the United States, as to the scope and effect of the "com-

pact " of seventeen hundred and eighty-five, and to employ ad-

ditional counsel, with approbation of the governor, and to ap-

propriate a sum of money therefor.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,

That the attorney-general of the State be and he is hereby au-

thorized and directed to take such steps as may be necessary and

proper to obtain, as soon as possible, a decision of the supreme

court of the United States, as to the scope and effect of the "com-

pact" of seventeen hundred and eighty-five, signed at Mt. Vernon,

between the commissioners of Maryland and Virginia, whether or

not it applies to that body of water/ now called " Pocomoke sound,"

through which the boundary line between Maryland and Virginia

now passes, and whether or not the citizens of Maryland have a

right to take oysters in said waters jointly with the citizens of the

Md. and

State of Virginia, a right which the citizens of Maryland have

Va. bound-

enjoyed from date of said " compact," until about the year eigh-

ary line.

teen hundred and eighty-three, without molestation, and with the

assent of Virginia, as agreed upon in the said compact, and which

is now denied them by the oyster police force of that common-

wealth, acting under the laws of the same, and that he is hereby

authorized to employ additional counsel to assist in a suit for that

purpose, and that the sum of fourteen hundred dollars remaining

from the sum appropriated for this purpose by the act of eigh-

teen hundred and eighty-four, chapter three hundred and fifty-

four, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be and is hereby

appropriated for the payment of the expenses, and fees of said
counsel, to be determined by the governor and attorney-general,

on whose joint certificate the comptroller shall issue his warrant

on the treasurer for the same, or any-part thereof.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect from

Elective

the date of its passage.

Approved April 3, 1890.