130 FISH-CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. ; 
hereby continued and made applicable to such designations as may be 
made under the provisions of this act. 
SEc. 10. When it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the said com- 
missioners that any natural oyster or clam bed has been designated by 
them to any person or persons, the said commissioners shall petition 
the Superior Court of the county having jurisdiction over the said 
grounds to appoint a committee to inquire and report to the said court 
the facts as to such grounds, and the said court shall in such case ap- 
point such committee, who after twelve days’ notice to the petitioners 
and respondents shall hear such petition and report the facts thereon 
to said court; and if it shall appear that any natural oyster or clam 
beds, or any part thereof, have been so designated, the said court may 
order that said grounds- may revert to the State, after a reasonable 
time for the claimant of the same to remove any shell-fish he may have 
planted or cultivated thereon in good faith, and said court may further 
order that all stakes and buoys marking the same be removed, the 
costs in said petition to be taxed at the discretion of the court. 
SEC. 11. Any commissioner who shall knowingly grant to any per- 
son or persons a franchise as hereinbefore provided in any natural 
oyster or clam bed, shall be subject to a fine of not less than one hun- 
dred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and if such franchise 
is granted the grant shall be void, and all moneys paid thereon shall 
be forfeited to the State; and the said commissioners shall in no case 
grant to any person or persons a right to plant or cultivate shell-fish 
which shall interfere with any established right of fishing, and if any 
such grant is made the same shall be void. 
SEC. 12. The Superior Court of New Haven county, on the applica- 
tion of the selectmen of the town of Orange, and the Superior Court of 
any county, on the application of the oyster-ground committee of any 
town in said county, shall appoint a committee of three disinterested 
persons of the town within the boundaries of which any natural oys- 
ter, clam, or mussel beds exist, to ascertain, locate, and describe by 
proper boundaries, all the natural oyster, clam, or mussel beds within 
the boundaries of such town. Said committee so appointed shall first 
give three weeks’ notice, by advertising in a newspaper published in 
or nearest to said town, the time and place of their first meeting for 
such purpose, they shall hear parties who appear before them, and 
may take evidence from such other sources as they may. in their dis- 
cretion deem proper, and they shall make written designations by 
ranges, bounds, and areas of all the natural oyster, clam, and mussel 
beds within the boundaries of the town they are appointed for, and 
shall make a report of their doings to the Superior Court, and such re- 
