Legislative History	13

any of the rights and privileges enumerated and set
forth in the Compact between them entered into in
the year seventeen hundred and eighty-five, but that
the same shall remain to and be enjoyed by the said
states and the citizens thereof, forever.

A similar declaration was made by Virginia (ch. 135 of
1874) .

	The basic version of the present concurrent laws on the
	taking of oysters in the Potomac was passed by both states
	in 1884. Maryland enacted its law first, it being ch. 76 of
	1884. Sections 6 and 7 of that act are of particular interest:

	This act shall go into effect as soon as it is adopted
	by the State of Virginia, by an act of her General
	Assembly, and shall continue in operation until re
	pealed or altered by either state. Nothing in this act
	shall be construed in any way to impair, alter or
	abridge any rights which either state, or the citizens
	thereof, may be entitled to, either by, through, under
	or against the compact entered into between the States
	of Maryland and Virginia on the twenty-eighth day of
	March, seventeen hundred and eighty-five, or any ex
	isting law of either of the two states.

	The Maryland act was approved on March 7, 1884. Six
	days later, by ch. 405 of 1883-84, Virginia passed the same
	act, to become effective immediately and to continue in
	operation until repealed or altered by either state.

	At the present time Virginia's Potomac River Statute
	is found in Title 27, Ch. 129, secs. 3299-3305c (1942 Code).
	The Maryland version of the concurrent laws has been
	split into two Articles in the Code; the oyster laws are in
	Article 72, sec. 8 (as amended by ch. 929 of 1945) , and the
	laws as to fish and fisheries are in Article 39, secs. 65-74
	(1939 Code).

	The Potomac River laws now in effect in the two states
	are substantially the same, and generally use identical
	language. In a number of instances, however, there are
	differences, so that the standard of similarity set by the