THE OYSTER FISHERY OF CONNECTICUT. 
495 
to grant by written instruments, for the purpose of planting and cultivating shellfish, perpetual 
franchises in such undcsiguated grounds within said area as are not and for ten years have not been 
natural clam or oyster beds, whenever application in writing is made lo them through their clerk by any 
person or persons who have resided in the State not less than one year next preceding the date of said 
application. The said application and the said grant shall be in manner and form as shall be approved 
by the chief justice of the State, and all such grants maj^ be assigned to any person or persons who are 
or have been residents of the State for not less than one year next pi ecediug such assignment, by a writ- 
ten 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 assignments therein, and the same shall also be 
recorded in the town clerk’s office in the town bounded on Long Island Sound within the meridian 
boundary lines of which said grounds are located. 
Skc. 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 application, the location, area, and description of the ground 
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 20 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 ob- 
jections, upon the payment to said town clerk of the sum of 25 cents, and at the end of said 20 days the 
said town clerk shall forward all such written objections to the clerk of said commission ; and in case 
such objections are so filed and forwarded the said commissioners, or a majority, shall upon 10 days’ 
notice in writing, mailed or personally delivered to all the parties in interest, hear and pass upon such 
objections at the town in which such grounds are located as aforesaid, aud 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 .fl 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 considerations hereinbefore named. At all hearings authorized by this act the said commissioners 
may, by themselves or their clerks, subpcena witnesses aud administer oaths as in courts of law. 
Sec. 5. Tbe said commissioners shall, previous to the delivery of any instrument conveying the 
right to plant or cultivate 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 monuments, which stakes 
ancLbuoys shall be continued by the said grantee and his legal representatives, and tlie right to use 
and occupy said grounds for said purposes shallbe aud remain in said grantee and his legal represent- 
atives : Provided, That a the grantee or holder of said grounds does not actually use aud occupy the 
same for the purposes named, in good faith, within 5 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 appoint a committee to iuquire'aud report to said court as to the use and occupancy of 
such grounds in good faith, aud said court shall in stich case appoint such committee, who, after 12 
days’ notice to petitioners and respondents, shall hear such petition aud report the facts thereon to 
said court, aud if it shall appear that said grounds are not used and occupied 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. 
Sec. 6. When, after the occupancy and cultivation of any grounds designated as 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 100 acres, to 
the State, by an instrument of release of all his rights and title thereto, aud shall, on delivery of such 
instrument to the said commissioners, receive their certificate of said release of said grounds, the loca- 
tion aud number of acres described therein, which shall be filed with the State treasurer, who shall 
pay to the holder the sum of .fl for every acre of ground described in said release where said sum has 
been paid therefor to the State. And the said release shall be recorded by the said commissioners in 
their record books, and in the town clerk's office in the town adjacent to aud within the meridian 
