28 	The Compact of 1785

court, citing that the law of Virginia under which he was
indicted had never been adopted by Maryland as required
by the Compact, and that this law therefore was inopera
tive against him. Further, he said, even if the Virginia
statute could be held applicable to him as a citizen of
Maryland, he had a right under the Compact to be tried
in a Maryland Court. He went into Federal court seeking
a writ of habeas corpus against the sheriff of Accomac
County, and the case finally reached the Supreme Court
of the United States (153 U. S. 155) .

	Wharton based his case mainly upon the eighth article
	of the Compact:

	All laws and regulations which may be necessary
	for the preservation of fish, or for the performance of
	quarantine, in the river Potomac, or for preserving
	and keeping open the channel and navigation thereof,
	or of the river Pocomoke within the limits of Vir
	ginia, by preventing the throwing out of ballast, or
	giving any other obstruction thereto, shall be made
	with the mutual consent and approbation of both
	states.

	There is no ambiguity or obscurity in this language, said
	the Court. The only reference to the Pocomoke River is
	that of keeping open the channel for navigation, by pre
	venting the throwing out of ballast and other obstructions.
	"There is nothing in these provisions having any reference
	to fish of any kind in the Pocomoke River or in the
	Pocomoke Sound . . . . No Clause in the Compact having
	given any right to Maryland to fish in the Pocomoke River,
	there was no reason why Maryland should be allowed to
	interfere in any way by legislation or regulation for the
	preservation of its fish."

	On this construction the Supreme Court held that Whar
	ton's objections to the jurisdiction of the Virginia court
	were untenable, and that the judgment against him in
	Accomac County was a valid one. To give added weight
	to its decision, the Court went on to say that VJharton's