1186

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. 711

beds, bars and rocks, as established by said survey, and
they shall take true and accurate notes of said survey in
writing, and make an accurate report of said survey, setting
forth such a description of land marks as may be necessary
to enable the said board, or their successors, to find and
ascertain the boundary lines of the said natural oyster beds,
bars and rocks, as shown by a delineation on the maps and

Report to be
completed
within
ninety days
after survey.

charts provided in this Act; said report shall be completed
and filed in the office of the board in the city of Annapolis,
within ninety days after the completion of the survey of any
county. Said commissioners shall cause the same to be
published in pamphlet form, and transmit copies of the same
to the clerks of the Circuit Court for the respective counties,
where the charts have been filed or directed to be filed as
hereinafter provided; the said report to be filed by the clerks
of the several counties in a book kept for that purpose. And
the said survey and report, when filed, subject to the right

Conclusive
evidence of
boundaries
and limits of
natural
oyster beds,
etc.

of appeal hereafter provided for in this Act, shall be taken
in all the courts of this State as conclusive evidence of the
boundaries and limits of all natural oyster beds, bars and
rocks, lying within the waters of the county wherein such
survey and report are filed, and shall be construed to mean
in all of the said courts that there are no natural oyster beds,
bars or rocks lying within the waters of the counties wherein
such report and survey are filed, other than those embraced
in the survey authorized by this Act, and that all areas of
the Chesapeake bay and its tributaries within the State of
Maryland, not shown in the survey to be natural oyster beds,
bars or rocks, shall be construed in all the courts of the
State to be barren bottoms, and open for disposal by the
State for the purpose of private planting or propagation of

Proviso.

oysters thereon, under the provisions of this Act; provided,
that the said survey and report shall not be so construed as
to affect in any manner the holdings by citizens of this State
in any lot which may have been appropriated or taken up
under the laws of this State prior to the approval of this Act.

Section 90. The said board, in defining the natural beds

Judgment to
be exercised
liberally.

and bars, shall exercise its judgment liberally in favor, of
the natural beds and bars, and allow a reasonable margin of
the barren bottoms, rather than encroach on a natural bed or
bar. The natural beds or bars shall be bounded by straight,
lines, even though some portions of barren bottoms may
thus be necessarily 'included within such lines.