1882.]  . |= LAWS RELATING TO FISHERIES. 105 
any minor. The leases shall be executed by the selectmen as 
deeds of real estate, reserving to said town the rents for such 
grounds, and shall be recorded in the oyster records of the town, 
and the grounds shall be designated and staked out as other 
oyster grounds are; and any such lessee thereof shall, during the 
term of his lease, be the owner of all the oysters thereon, but 
shall not take any oysters therefrom in the night season, and, if 
he do, shall be fined not less than seven nor more than fifty dol- 
lars. 
Sec. 13. The preceding section shall not take effect unless 
approved by a majority of the legal voters of the town. 
Src. 14. No person, except the authorized committee or select- 
men, shall stake out or enclose any public grounds in navigable 
waters for the purpose of planting or cultivating oysters therein. 
Sec. 15. Any member of a committee or selectman who shall 
designate places for planting or cultivating oysters upon natural 
oyster beds or upon other places where it is by law prohibited 
shall forfeit not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than two 
hundred dollars, half to him who shall sue therefor and half to the 
town where the offense is committed. 
Src. 16. Any other person than the owner thereof who shall, 
in the daytime, unlawfully take and carry away any oysters law- 
fully planted or cultivated in any waters shall be fined not exceed- 
ing three hundred dollars or imprisoned not exceeding one year; 
and if such offense shall be committed in the night season he shall 
be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the 
common jail or State prison not exceeding one year. 
Sec. 17. Every person who shall, from the first day of March 
until the first day of November in each year, gather any oysters or 
oyster shells in or upon any of the flats, creeks, or banks of the river 
Thames, shall forfeit not less than seven dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars, half to him who shall prosecute therefor, and half to 
the town in which the offense is committed, or be imprisoned in 
the workhouse or common jail not exceeding thirty days, or both. 
Sec. 18. Every person who shall willfully injure any inclosure 
legally designated, marked out, and enclosed, or the oysters 
planted or cultivated therein, shall be punished for the first offense 
by a fine not exceeding seven dollars, or by imprisonment in a 
common jail or workhouse not exceeding thirty days; on a second 
conviction, by a fine not less than seven dollars nor more than 
twenty dollars, and by imprisonment in a common jail or work. 
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