delinquent levies, and of such sales of delinquent lands, shall be made out for the county treasurer by the clerk of said county. 2. The owner of any land so sold, his heirs or assigns, or any Time limited for redemption person acting for him, or any person having a right to charge such land for a debt, may, at any time before the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, redeem the same by the payment to the purchaser thereof, his heirs or assigns, or to the clerk of the county, in the manner provided for in the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of chapter thirty-eight of the Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, the sums therein required, together with such additional expenses as said purchaser shall have incurred under the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth sections of said chapter, and by the further payment to the county treasurer of all such taxes for county purposes as said land was properly chargeable with at the passage of the act of April second, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and such proportion of the charges and expenses incurred under this act as shall be chargeable to such parcel of land. 3. If said land shall not be so redeemed before the first day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, the purchaser thereof, his heirs or assigns, may thereupon proceed to perfect his title by the payment to the county treasurer of the taxes for county purposes, charges, and expenses, specified in the preceding section;. and upon the payment thereof at any time before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, the title of such purchaser shall be cured of all defects and irregularities arising from the non-compliance with the law in conducting or making return of said sale; and all the right, title and interest, vested in the party assessed with the taxes on said land, on the day of said sale, shall be thereafter fully and completely vested in the purchaser thereof, his heirs or assigns; saving, however, to infants, and all other persons under disabilities, all rights and remedies now provided by law. When title may be perfected to treasurers 4. The same compensation shall be allowed the treasurers, under Compensation this act, as for like services in proceeding to sell delinquent lands under chapter thirty-eight of the Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and seventy-three. sold, &c., 5. Should said lands not be redeemed, and should the purchasers Boards of supervisors may thereof not pay the county taxes for which said lands were delin- redeem lands quent as aforesaid, by or before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, the boards of supervisors shall have the same right to redeem the same as is now provided by law for the owner or person having the right to charge said land for a debt; and the said boards of supervisors, upon the redemption of said lands, may, through the treasurers of their respective counties, sell the same for delinquent county levies and the costs of redemption, Repealing clause Commencem't in conformity, as near as may be, with the laws regulating the sales of delinquent lands by the treasurers for state taxes. 6. So much of the act approved twenty-eighth day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, as provides additional sections thirty-eight and thirty-nine for the thirty-eighth chapter of the Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and seventy-three, is hereby repealed.* 7. This act shall be in force from its passage. Acts 1874, ch. 214, p. 238 AN ACT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF OYSTERS AND TO OBTAIN REVE- Approved April 18, 1874. State property in oysters. 1. All the beds of the bays, rivers, and creeks, and the shores of the sea within the jurisdiction of this commonwealth, and not conveyed by special grant or compact according to law, shall continue and remain the property of the commonwealth of Virginia, and may be used as a common by all the people of the state for the purposes of fishing and fowling, and of taking and catching oysters and other shell fish, subject to the reservations and restrictions hereinafter imposed. 2. No grant shall hereafter be issued by the register of the land office to pass any estate or interest of the commonwealth in any natural oyster bed, rock or shoal, whether the said bed, rock or shoal shall ebb bare or not. Rights of land owners.. 3. If any creek, cove or inlet makes into or runs though the land of any person, and is comprised within the limits of his lawful survey, such person or other lawful occupants shall have the exclusive right to use said creek, cove or inlet for sowing or planting oysters and other shell fish, notwithstanding the reservation herein before made. By the act of April 28, 1874, section 36 of chapter 38 of the Code was repealed,. and, therefore, the additional sections provided and described in said act as sections 37, 38, and 39 became sections 36, 37, and 38 of said chapter 38 of the Code. This section must then be meant to repeal the said sections 38 and 39 of the act of April 28, 1874, which became sections 37 and 38 of said chapter in consequence of the repeal of section 36. See Code 1873, ch. 38, § 36, p. 387; Acts 1874, ch. 271, §§ 2 and 3, p. 388; Revenue Laws, 1874, §§ 36, 37, 38, p. 178; 1875, §§ 36, 37, 38, p. 172; 1876, §§ 36, 37, 38, p. 152; 1877, §§ 36, 37, 38, p. 150; 1878, §§ 36, 37, 38, ante p. 152-3. 4. The rights of the owners or occupants of land on any of the Acts 1874, ch. 214, p. 238 other shores, bays, rivers, or creeks within the jurisdiction aforesaid, shall extend to ordinary low-water mark; but it is not intended hereby to deprive them of the privilege extended to others by the first section of this act. 5. It shall be the duty of the township assessor, when he assesses the other property of his township, to require all persons depositing or planting oysters or shells, to state (upon oath) the cash value of all such oysters or shells deposited or planted during the preceding year ending on the first day of February, or remaining in their possession from the planting of former years, which amount shall be entered by the assessor in his books in a separate column, and the person thus depositing or planting such oysters or shells shall pay a tax upon their assessed value equal to the tax imposed upon other species of property, and the said tax shall be collected by the treasurer or collector of the county, township, or corporation as other taxes are collected. The treasurer of such county or corporation shall report to the auditor of public accounts the amount so colletted. Any person failing to comply with the provisions of this section, shall be fined in a sum not less than ten nor more than five hundred dollars. Planting oysters; what to be paid for the privilege. 6. If any owner or occupier of land, having a water front thereon suitable for planting oysters, shall be desirous of obtaining a location thereon for planting them exclusively for the use of his family, he may make application to any inspector for the county in which he resides, who shall assign to him, on such location as such owner or occupant may designate, in front of his land, a quantity sufficient for the said purpose, to be judged by said inspector, subject to appeal to the judge of the county court of the county in which land is located, either in term time or vacation, who is hereby authorized to take cognizance of the same and make such assignment as shall seem proper: provided that the said assignment shall not exceed one-half of an acre: and provided further, that the privilege thus accorded to the riparian owner may, at any time, be revoked at the pleasure of the general assembly. It shall be the duty of such owner or occupant to cause the same to be marked with suitable stakes, according to the assignment, and thereafter he shall have the exclusive right to the use thereof for the purposes aforesaid; and this privilege is accorded to said owner or occupant in consideration of the extra valuation ordinarily assessed upon such land for the water privilege supposed to attach thereto: provided, however, that if said owner or occupant shall sell any oysters from said reservation, he shall pay a tax Acts 1874, ch. 214, p. 239 of fifty cents on every one hundred dollars' worth so sold by him. The inspector making the assignment of reservation shall be paid by such owner or occupant a fee of one dollar. Tonging interest and tax thereon. 7. Any person being a resident of this state who shall be desirous of catching or taking oysters or other shell-fish, with ordinary oyster tongs or other like instruments, for sale, shall apply to one of the inspectors for the county in which he resides, for registration. He shall furnish the inspector, on oath, with his name, place of residence, township, and county, the water-courses in which he designs to oyster, the kind of boat, vessel or craft to be used or employed, and the culler or persons who are to aid him in his occupation. Thereupon the inspector shall register him, and prescribe for his boat a number corresponding with the number of applicants registered, which number he shall cause to be plainly marked or stamped upon the prow of his boat, vessel or craft. 8. The inspector shall require every tongman to state to him, moreover, on oath, the probable amount of oysters taken and to be sold by him per day, and the probable amount of his sales for the succeeding three months, computing the time from the first day of September, annually, and in conformity to such estimate shall pay to such inspector an amount, in currency, upon each one hundred dollars' value thereof, equal to the tax imposed by law in this state, for that year, upon one hundred dollars' value of land, the said amount to be considered as an advance of the tax to be levied, until the actual sales shall be ascertained. On the first day of December, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the said tongman shall make, or cause to be made to said inspector, a return, on oath, of the actual amount of oysters sold and the price obtained therefor. The inspector shall thereupon levy the tax upon that amount, correcting any error that may have occurred between the said estimate and the actual sales, refunding to said tongman any overplus that may have been paid by him, and requiring the payment of any deficiency that may appear against him. The like estimates and the like advance shall be made by said applicant, and the like corrected settlement shall be made by the inspector at the recurrence of the next three months. 9. If any tongman, after registration, shall permit any other person not registered, to take or catch oysters in his said vessel or oyster craft, besides himself and culler, he shall include in his return to the inspector, at the expiration of each three months, the amount of oysters so taken and sold by such person, as if they were caught and sold by himself, and the actual sales therefor; and it shall be the duty of the inspector to assess upon such amount the tax herein imposed upon the like value. If he shall hire his vessel or craft to any registered tongman, or permit him to use the same for tonging, such registered person shall make return of the Acts 1874, ch. 214, p. 240 amount of sales made by him during the use of such vessel or other craft, as if he had been using his own vessel or craft. 10. If any tongman who shall catch and sell oysters shall fail to apply for registration, or to comply with the requisitions herein made, or shall fail to pay the tax herein imposed, he shall be fined for each offence not less than five dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars. Dredging; what to be paid for the privilege. 11. It shall be lawful hereafter for any resident of this state to take and catch oysters or other shell-fish with dredges, or instruments other than ordinary oyster tongs, in Tangier and Pocomoke sounds, and the Potomac river, and the Chesapeake bay; but this privilege shall not extend to Hampton Roads or Mobjack bay, nor west of a line drawn from the light-house on Rappahannock spit to the light-house on Windmill point, and thence west of a line running southeast to the shoals off the eastern entrance of Milford haven, nor to any inlet, river, or creek, nor the mouths thereof (except the siver Potomac). But no dredge shall be used of greater capacity than what is commonly known as the thirteen-tooth dredge, nor shall the bar of any scrape or other instrument be over four feet in length. Any resident thus desiring to dredge or scrape for oysters, shall make application to any inspector of the county or corporation in which he resides, and shall furnish him with a statement on oath containing the name of his vessel, the owner or owners thereof, the commander or person in charge or having control of her, and the tonnage at which she is rated. Such statement shall further show the township and county in which the said owner or owners reside, that they are the bona fide owners and have been residents of this state for twelve months next preceding such application; that no non-resident owns in whole or in part said vessel, and that she is not held with any intention or under any agreement to return her at any subsequent time to a non-resident. Upon being satisfied of these facts, the inspector shall register such vessel, and furnish him two numbers, twenty-two inches long, in black, painted on canvass or domestic, which shall be placed on the sails, as herein prescribed; the number on his mainsail to be placed above the balance reef in the centre of the sail, half-way between the gaff and said reef; on the jib, above the bonnet in the centre of the jib, and on the opposite of that on the mainsail. For such registration he shall pay to the inspector a fee of one dollar. 12. Every owner, master, or commander of any vessel or other craft, who is a resident of this state, desiring to take oysters with dredge, scraper, or other instrument than ordinary oyster tongs, shall obtain a license so to do, and shall pay three dollars for every hundred cubic feet capacity of the vessel or other craft so used or |