110 
board, and they shall each give a bond to the State with sufii- 
cient surety for the faithful performance of their duties, and 
for the payment to the State treasurer of all money that may 
come into their hands nnder this actin the sum of $2,000, 
Suc, 8. The said Commissioners shall also be empowered, in 
the name and in behalf of the State, to grant by written in- 
struments, for the purpose ef planting and cultivating shell- 
fish, perpetual franchises in such undesignated grounds within 
said area as are not and for ten years have not been natural 
claia er oyster beds, whenever application in writing is made 
to them through their clerk by any person or persons who 
haye resided in the State not less than one year next preced- 
ing the date of said application, The said application and the 
said grant shall be in manner and form as shall be approved 
by the chiei justice of the State, and all such grantsmay be 
assigned to any person or persons w!to are or haye been resi- 
dents of the State for not less than one year next preceding 
such assionment, by a written assignment, in manner and form 
approved by said chief justice; and the said Commissioners 
shall keep books of record and record all such grants and _assign- 
ménts therein, and the same shall also be recorded in the 
town clerk’s office in the town bounded on Long Island Sound 
poe the meridian boundary lines of which said grounds are 
ocated. 
Sao, 4. When any such application is filed with the clerk of 
said Commissioners, he shall note on the same the date of its 
reception and shall cause a written notice, stating the name 
and residence of the applicant, the date of filing the applica- 
tion, the location, area, and description of the grounds applied 
for, to be posted in the office of the town clerk of the town 
bounded on the said Long Island Sound within the meridian 
boundary lines of which said grounds are located, where such 
notice shall remain posted for twenty days, Any person or 
persons objecting to the granting of the grounds applied for, 
as aforesaid, may file a written notice with the town clerk, 
stating the grounds of his or their objections, upon the pay- 
ment to said town clerk of the sum of twenty-five cents, and 
at the end of said twenty days the said town clerk shall for- 
ward all such written objections to the clerk of said commis- 
sion; and in cause such objections are so filed and forwarded to 
said Commissioners, or a majority, shall upon ten days’ notice 
in writing, mailed or personally delivered to all the parties 
interested, hear and pass upon such objections at the town in 
which such srounds are located as aforesaid, and if such 
objections are not sustained and the area of ground is not, in 
the opinion of the Commissioners, of unreasonable extent, 
they may for the actual costs of surveying and mapping of 
such grounds, and the further consideration of one dollar per 
acre, paid to the said Commissioners, to be by them paid over 
to the treasurer of the State, grant a perpetual franchise for 
the planting and cultivating shellfish in such ground or in any 
part of the same in the manner aforesaid, and where no such 
objections are made such grants may be made for the consid- 
eration hereinbefore named. At all hearings authorized by 
this act the said Commissioners may, by themselves or their 
piers, subposna witresses and administer oaths asin courts of 
aw. 
Sec. 5. The said Cominissioners shall, prone to the deliv- 
ery of any instrument conveying the right to plant or culti- 
yate shellfish on any of said grounds, make or cause to be 
made a survey of the same, and shall locate and delineate the 
same, or cause it to be located and delineated upon the map 
aforesaid, and upon receipt of said instrument of conveyance 
the grantee shall at once cause the grounds therein conveyed 
to be plainly marked out by stakes, buoys, ranges or monu- 
ments, which stakes and buoys shall be continued by the said 
grantee and his legal representatives, and the right to use 
and occupy said grounds for said purposes shall be and remain 
in said grantee and his legal representatives: provided, that 
if the grantee or holder of said grounds does not actually 
use and occupy the same for the purposes named, in good 
faith, within five years after the time of receiving such grant, 
the said Commissioners shall petition the Superior Court of 
the county having jurisdiction over the said grounds to ap- 
point a committee to inquire and report to said court as to 
the use and occupancy of such grounds in good faith, and said 
court shall in such case appoint 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 said grounds are not used and oc 
cupied in good faith for the purpose of planting or cultivating 
shellfish, the said court may order that said grounds revert to 
the State, and that all stakes and buoys marking the same be 
removed, the costs in said petition to be paid at the discretion 
of the court, 
Smo, 6. When, after the occupancy and cultivation of any 
grounds designated ag aforesaid by the grantee or his legal 
representatives, it shall appear to said Commissioners that said 
grounds are not suited for the planting or cultivation of 
oysters, said grantee, upon receiving a certificate to that effect 
from said Commissioners, may surrender the same or any part 
thereof, not less than one hundred acres, to the State, by an 
instrument of release of all his Nights and title thereto, and 
shall on delivery of such instrument to the said Commissioners 
veceive their certificate of said release of said grounds, the 
Jocation and number of acres described therein, which shall 
he filed with the State treasurer, who shall pay to the holder 
the sum of one dollar for every acre of ground described in 
said lease, where said sum has been paid therefor to the State. 
And the said release shall befrecorded by the said Comimis- 
sioners in their record books, and in the town clerk's office in 
the town adjacent to and within the meridian boundary lines 
of which said grounds are located, Yor all purposes relating 
to judicial proceedings in criminal matters, the jurisdiction of 
justices of the peace of the several towns bordering on Long 
sian Sound shall extend southerly by linesrunning due south 
by true meridian from the southern termini of the boundary 
lines between said towns to the boundary line between the 
States of Contecticut and New York. 
Sine. 7, Said Commissioners shall provide, in addition to the 
general map of said grounds, sectional maps, comprising 
all grounds located within the meridian boundary lines of 
several towus on the shores of the State, which maps shall be 
lodged inthe town clerk’s office of the said respective towns, and. 
said Commissioners shall also provide and lodge with said town 
clerks blank applications forsuch grounds and record book 
for recording conveyances of the same, and all conveyances of 
such grounds and assignments, reversion, and releases of the 
same shall ba recorded in books of said Commissioners, and in 
‘the town clerks’ offices of the towns adjacent to and within 
tha meridian boundary of which said grounds are located, in 
such books as are provided by said Commissioners, subject to 
legul fees for such recording, and the cost of all such maps, 
blank books, surveys, and all other expenses necessary for the 
carrying out of the provisions of this act, shall be audited by 
the comptroller and paid for by the treasurer of the State, 
and the said Commissioners shall each receive for their service 
fiye doljars per day for the time they are eae employed, 
as provided for in this act; their accounts for such service to 
be audited by the comptroller and paid by the treasurer of the 
State. 
Suc, & AW designations and transfers of oyster, dlam, or 
mussel grounds within the waters of Long Island Sound here- 
tofore made (except designations made of natural oyster, 
Glam, or mussel beds), are hereby validated and confirmed, 
Sec. §. Ali the provisions of the statutes of this State re- 
lating te the planting, cultivating, working, and protecting 
shellfisheries upon grounds heretofore designated under said 
laws, except as provided for in section eight of this act and as 
are inconsistent with this act, are hereby continued and made 
applicable to such designations as may be made under the 
provisions of this act, 
Sac, 10. When it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the 
said Commissioners that any uatural oyster or clam bed has 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Srey 4, 1884. 
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 commit- 
tae fo inquire into and report to the said court.the facts as to 
such grounds, and the said court shall in such case appoint 
such committee, who after twelve days’ notice to the petition- 
ers and respondents shall hear such petition and report the 
facts thereon to said court; andif it shall appear that any 
natural oyster or clam beds, or any part thereof, have been 
so designated, the said court muy order that said grounds may 
revert to the State, after a reasonable time for the claimant 
of the same to remove any shellfish he may have planted or 
cultivated thereon in good faith, and said court may further 
order that all stakes and buoys marking the same may be re- 
moyed, the costs in said petition to be taxed at the discretion 
of the court. 
SEC, 11. Any Commissioner who shall knowingly grant to 
amy person or persons a franchise as hereinbefore provided in. 
any natural oyster or clam hed, shail be subject to a fine of 
not less than one hundred dollavs nor more than five hundred 
dollars, and if such franchise is granted the same 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 per- 
son or persons aright to plant or cultivate shellfish which 
shall interfere with any established right of fishing, and if amy 
such grant is made the same shall be void. ; 
Suc. 12, The Superior Court of New Haven county, on the 
application 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 oyster, clam, or mussel 
beds exist, to ascertain, locate and describe by proper bound- 
aries, 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 ot 
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 discretion 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 far, and shall 
make a report of their doings to the Superior Court, and such 
report, when made to and accepted by said court, and recorded 
in the records thereof, shall be a final and conciusive determin- 
ation of the extent, boundaries, and location of such natural 
beds at the date of such report. It shall be the duty of the 
clerk of the court to transmit to the town clerk of each of said 
fown a certified copy of said report so accepted and recorded, 
in relation to the beds of such town, which shall be recorded 
by said town ¢clerk in the book kept by him for the record of 
applications, designations, and conyeyance of designated 
grounds. Such public notice of said application to the Superior 
Court, and of the time and place of the return of the same, 
shall be given by said selectmen or oyster ground committee 
as any judge of the Superior Court may order. It 
shall be the duty of the selectmen of the town of 
Orange, and of the oyster committees of other towns, upon 
a written request so to do, signed by twenty electors of 
their respective towns, to make such application to the Supe- 
rior Court within thirty days after receiving a copy of such 
written request, and said applications shall be privileged and 
shall be heard and dispesed of at the term of said court to 
which such application is returned in preference to other 
causes, All expenses properly incurred by such selectmen 
and oyster-ground committees in said erento and the 
doings thereunder, and the fees of said committees so ap- 
pointed by court, shall be taxed by the clerk of said court and 
paid by the State upon his order. Any designation of ground 
for the planting or cultivation of shellfish, within the areas so 
established by such report of said committee, shall be yoid, 
Sue, 13. The selectmen of the town of Orange and the com- 
mittees of other towns shall, at the expense of their respective 
towns, procure and cause to be lodged and keptin the office 
of the town clerk of each town respectively, accurate maps 
showing the boundary lines of their said towns in the navyi- 
gable waters of the State, and all designations of ground for 
the cultivation of shellfish heretofore made and that shall 
hereafter be made within such boundaries, and shall number 
said designations on said maps, and shall cause to be desivna- 
ted on said maps all natural oyster, clam and miissel beds 
lying within their several towns respectively, as the same 
shall be ascertained by said committee recorded in said towns 
as hereinbefore provided. 
Sec. 14, All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are 
hereby repealed. but this act shall not affect any suit now 
nding. 
Approved April 14, 1851. 
T will be important to recollect hereafter that while this 
act was approved April 14, 1881, yet by a general act of the 
same Legislature, it did not take effect until May 1, 1881, and 
as there was on the part of the oystermen a bitter opposition 
to the new Commission, a grand scramble commenced to secure 
from the town committees all the good grounds possible, 
before the act should take effect. In this way about 40,000 
acres were designated by town committees before May 1, and 
as this was necessarily dove in the most hurried manner, preat 
confusion arose as to the titles of many of the designations. 
The newly appointed Commissioners immediately established 
an office in the city of New Haven, secured a clerk, and soon 
after am engineer, who, with his two assistants does all the 
surveying required by the Commission. The first work of the 
Dominission was to establish the line known as the eye-sight 
line, which is demanded by the first section of the act, and 
which extends from headland to headland along the whole 
shore of the State. All the ground lying north of this line 
remains as formerly in the jurisdiction of the towns, and all 
south of it to the New York lineis under State jurisdiction. 
The line as established with one or two amendmentsin certain 
pace ee was ratified and confirmed by the Legislature April 
ma) ie 
Section 8 of the the act authorized the Commissioners, in be- 
half of the State, to grant perpetual franchises for the plant- 
ing and cultivation of she fish, in any undesignated grounds 
within the jurisdiction of the State, which were not and had 
for ten years been naturai clam or oyster beds, to any person 
who had lived in the State one year next preceding the date of 
application. The application and grant were required to bein 
a form approyed By the chief justice of the State, and all 
grants were to be recorded in books kept for the purpose, 
Notices of applications were to be sent to the town clerk of 
the town within the meridian lines of which the grounds were 
located, and if after twenty days’ posting, no objections were 
made, the application was returned to the office, and the Com- 
missioners for $1.10 ay acre granted a ceed to the applicant. 
If, on the other hand, objections were made, the parby object- 
ing paid to the town clerk twenty-five cents, Hled his written 
objections, and, at the end of twenty days, the alae a and 
objections were returned to the Commissioners, who then gave 
all parties interested ten days’ notice of a hearing im the 
matter. If the objections were sustained nothing further was 
done, but if nob the grant was made as before. 
By section 5, the Commissioners are required to have all 
designations mapped and surveyed, and the ‘grantee is re- 
quired to have the ground at once plainly marked out by 
“stakes, buoys, ranges or moniiments,” The same action 
provides that if the grantee does not use and oceupy the 
grounds for the cultivation of oysters within five years, the 
Commissioners shall apply to the Superior Court to appomt a 
committee to examine and report, and if said committee atter 
twelve days’ notice to petitioners and respondents, om a hear- 
ing of the case, finds that the grounds have not been used in 
good faith for the purpose of cultivating or planting shellfish, | 
the court may order that said grounds revert tothe State, and 
that all stakes, and buoys marking the same be remove 
the cost_in said petition to be paid et the discretion of the 
court. On the other hand, section 6 provides that if after 
occupancy and cultivation of any ground designated, it shall 
appear that said grounds are nof suited for the planting or 
cultivation of oysters, the grantee, upon receiving a certifi- — 
cate to that effect from the Commissioners, may surrender to 
the State the same or any part thereof, not less than one 
hundred acres, and receive one dollar for each acre from the ' 
treasurer. 
Section 8 provides that all designations and transfers of 
oyster, clam or mussel grounds within the waters of Lone 
Island Sound heretofore made (except designations made of 
natural oyster, clam or mussel beds) are hereby validated and 
contrmed. Itis under the authority of this section that so 
many designations were made by town committees between 
April 14 and May 1, 1881, 
Section 10 provides that if the Commissioners unintention- 
ally designate a natural clam or oyster bed, they shall apply 
to the Superior Court of the county haying jurisdiction over 
said grounds to appoint a committee of investigation, and if 
said committee find that any natural oyster bed has been so 
designated, the court may order said grounds to revert to the 
State, after the claimant has had a resonable time to remove 
any shellfish he may haye planted or cultivated thereon in 
good faith, 
Section 11 provides that, “Any Commissioner who shall 
knowingly stant to any person a franchise in a habural clam 
or oyster bed, shall be subject to a fine of not less than one 
hundred nor more than five hundred dollars, the grant shall 
be void, and all moneys paid thereon shall be forfeited to the 
State,” Section 2 provides that the Commissioners shall make 
or cause to be made a survey and map of all the grounds 
within the jurisdiction of the State in Long Island Sound, 
which have been or maybe designated for the planting or 
cultivation of shellfish, and also cause a survey of all the 
natural oyster beds in said area, and shall locate and 
delineate the same on a map, The same seetiomr pro- 
vides that the Commissioners shall report to the next 
session of the Legislature a plan for an equitable taxation of 
the property in said fisheries, make an annual report and give 
a bond for the faithful performance of their duties, One of 
the first things to be done under the law was to designate the 
natural oyster beds of the State, and after long and patient 
hearings and consultations with the oystermen, all of the nat- 
ural oyster beds have been mapped, except one about which 
there has been much litigation, and as one question in refer- 
ence to its location is now in the hands of the Supreme Court 
of the State for decision, the mapping has been delayed until 
this question shall be decided, Wightin all haye been described 
to the satisfaction of every one, and they comprise 5,498 acres. 
Surveying and mapping the designations made by the town 
committees has been exceedingly difficult, caused by the fact 
that in many cases the survey was done hurriedly, and in 
many more by incompetent persons who seem never to have 
pretended to do more than guessat the work, The consequence 
is that frequently a person has a deed described in words, an 
accompanying map of the ground, and isin oceupation of a 
plot of ground which corresponds with neither; the map and 
description also being found utterly irreconcilable. Now as 
his next neighbor is in 4 similar predicament, and the ground 
has become valuable, it is easy to see that ill feeling and pro- 
longed litigation are almost inevitable. 
in order to meet this difficulty, the Legislature April 26, 1582, 
enacted a law relating to disputes about boundaries. 
CHAPTER CXXTY. 
AN ACT PERTAINING TO SHELLFISHERY GROUNDS WITHIN THE 
EXCLUSIVE JURIDICTION OF THE STATE. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatine in, 
General Assenbly convened: 
Section 1, All questions and disputes totiching the owner- 
ship, titles, buoys, boundaries, ranges, extent, or location of 
any shelliishery grounds within the exclusive jurisdiction of 
the State may be referred to and settled by the Commissioners 
of Shellfisheries, who are hereby empowered, on petition of 
any person interested therein, to stimmon all parties in inter- 
est, So far as such parties may be made known to them, to 
appear before them at a time and place in the summons named, 
such summons to be signed by the clerk of said Commission- 
ers, and served by him or such other person as the Commis- 
sioners may direct; whereupon, at siich time and place named, 
or any other time and place to which the hearing may be 
from time to time adjourned, the party petitioner shall file 
asworn statement of the facts as claimed by him, to which 
any interested party may respond by filing a sworn counter 
statement of the facts as claimed by him; and after hearing 
all the parties interested with their witnesses and counsel, the 
Commissioners shall make their decision in writing as soon as 
convenient thereafter, which decision shall be recorded in the 
books of record in their office, and the same shall be binding 
on all the parties in interest so summoned or appearing, unless 
an appeal! shall be taken from such decision to the Superior 
Courtin and for the county where the town is situated, be- 
tween whose méridian lines any portion of said ground may 
be, within ten days after such decision shall be filed by said 
Commissioners with their clerk aforesaid, and unless such 
appeal shall be prosecuted to judgment, and said decision re- 
versed by said Superior Court. Said appeal may be taken 
jn the same manner as appeals in civil cases from justice 
courts. 
Sno, 2, Every person filing a petition, statement or counter 
statement, asin the foregoing section provided, shall, at the 
time of such filing, deposit ten dollars with the Commission- 
ers ot Shellfisheries, who shall return to the prevailing party 
the sum so deposited by him, and shall retain the money so 
deposited by the defeated party as a forfeit to pay the ex- 
penses of the investigation, which money so retained shall be 
accounted for and paid to the State treasurer for the benefit 
of the State. : 
Suc. 8. All applications, designations, papers and maps per- 
taining to any allotment or designations of shellfishery grounds 
within the area of the exclusive jurisdiction of the State, here- 
tofore made by town officers, and all assignments of such 
srounds or of parts thereof which haye not heen recorded in 
the office of the town clerk or of the Shellfish Commissioners 
shall be left by the owner or owners, Claimant or claimants 
thereof for record, and shall be recorded in the office of the 
Shellfish Commissioners, or in the office of the town clerk 
of the town between whose meridian lines said grounds 
or any part thereof are situated, and they shall be so left 
within three months after a copy of this section shall he 
posted in the town clerk's office of the town where stich 
grounds are situated; and upon failure to leave such evidences 
of title within such time for record, the Commissioners of 
Shellfisheries may order the alleged owner or owners, claim- 
ant or claimants, to appear before them at a time and place in 
such order named and show cause why said grounds should 
not be deemed as property of the State; and if such parties or 
any of them fail to appear as ordered, or, on appearing, shall 
fail to produce any evidence of the title which they may have 
or claim to have, or shall refuse to have the same recorded, or 
if they shall fail to produce any evidence of title, or shall fail 
to show any reason for such failure to produce the same, the 
grounds shall be treated, as against such alleged owher or 
owners, claimant or claimants, as undesignated grounds 
belonging to the State, and said Commissioners may thereupon 
designate the same or any part thereof as provided by statute. 
Suc, 4, The same fees shall be paid for recording or copy- 
ing panes and maps in the offite of the Commissioners of 
Shellfisheries as are charged by town clerks for like services; 
and all fees so paid shall be accounted for and paid to the 
treasurer of the State for the henefit of the State; and one of 
‘ 
. aes ——— -.— eee eee OES = |! lhl 
