ROBERT M. McLANE, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

417

Chapter 304.

AN ACT for the better Protection of Planting Oys-

ters in Synepuxent bay and its tributaries, in Wor-

cester county.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly

of Maryland, That any person, except the owner or

his employee, who shall take or remove any oysters

from the waters of the Synepuxent bay or its tribu-

taries, in Worcester county, staked off and kept

plainly marked by means of bushes, stakes or buoys,

as provided by section four of chapter two hundred

When guilty of
felony.

and fourteen of the acts passed by the general assem-

bly at the January session thereof, in the year eigh-

teen hundred and eighty, shall be 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 two years, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That it shall not be

necessary, in order to convict, to allege in the indict-

ment, or to prove, that the owner of the oysters taken

or removed, as stated in the first section of this act, is

the same person who staked off and kept plainly

marked by means of bushes, stakes or buoys, the

waters of the said Synepuxent bay or its tributaries,

Not necessary
to allege.

from which the said oysters were taken or removed,

and the fact that one person staked off and kept

plainly marked, by means of bushes, stakes or buoys,

the said waters from which said oysters were taken

or removed, and another person owned the oysters

taken or removed therefrom, shall afford no defence

to the accused.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That if any person other

than the owner or his employee shall be found

working upon or among oysters laid down or planted

in the waters of the said Synepuxent bay or its trib-

utaries, in said county, staked off and kept plainly

Presumptive

marked by means of bushes, stakes or buoys, or in

evidence.

the waters so staked off as provided for by section

four of chapter two hundred and fourteen of the

aforesaid acts passed by the general assembly in the

year eighteen hundred and eighty, and shall at the

same time have in his possession oysters, the presump-

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