LEGAL ANALYSIS 69 



cialist in door-to-door selling of his means of livelihood. But ... we think 

 that even a legitimate occupation may be restricted or prohibited in the 

 public interest. See the dissent in New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann . . . The 

 problem is legislative where there are reasonable bases for legislative 

 action."^- 



The decision in a 1957 case, Corsa v. Tawes,"^^ upheld a Mary- 

 land statute which, in effect, completely eliminated commercial men- 

 haden fisheries from the state's offshore waters. The statute in terms 

 merely prohibited the use of purse nets within Maryland waters, but 

 since it was shown that menhaden could be taken economically only 

 by purse nets, the prohibition was effective as a practical matter. 

 In the course of the trial of the case it was shown that the menhaden 

 is an inedible fish used chiefly for oil and meal and similar products 

 and, in the aggregate from all United States waters and adjacent 

 high seas areas, constitutes a very substantial fisheries resource. It 

 was also shown, however, that the legislature could have concluded 

 that edible fish in Maryland waters relied upon the menhaden at 

 least in some part as their source of food, and that Maryland enjoyed 

 a substantial sports fishery in these waters in the pursuit of the edible 

 fish and further that there was a large amount of economic activity 

 within the state supported by the sports fishery. The menhaden fisher- 

 men, who had depended upon their take from Maryland waters for a 

 substantial portion of their total catch, claimed that this complete 

 prohibition deprived them of their liberty and property without due 

 process. 



Thus, the opinion of the court dealt with two aspects of the 

 legislature's basis for action: (a) the administrative considerations 

 in the enforcement of the ban on purse nets as they might wrongfully 

 be used to take edible fish, and (b) the ability of the Maryland 

 legislature to base its determinations upon the desire to promote a 

 sports fishery, for the benefit of both the direct participants and 

 the economic activity supported by the sports fishery, even to the 

 extent of abolishing a commercial fishery in order to accomplish 

 these objectives. 



The opinion in this case was written by Judge Sobeloff of the 

 Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sitting as one member of 

 a three-judge court in the District of Maryland. This court is of a 

 special sort within the federal system designed to be convened 



42. /^, at 631, 632,633. 



43. 149F. Supp. 771 (D. Md. 1957); affd. 355 U. S. 37 (1957), 



