the discretion of the Court before which such conviction may take place. One-half of the fine shall be paid to the informer, and the other half into the Treasury of the State. Whenever a fish sluice in any of the rivers aforesaid shall have been designated as aforesaid, any stoppage of the same shall be regarded as a public nuisance, and may be abated as such. yearly. SEC. 5. That the said Commissioner shall designate and lay out To be designated the fish sluices but once a year, and shall execute this duty on or before the first day of October, whenever he shall determine to change them in any year. SEC. 6. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to give authority to the said Commissioner to designate any fish sluice through any dam erected by public authority, for the improvement of the navigation of any of the said rivers, or to designate any fish sluice, through any dam erected by individuals for the purpose of propelling any machinery, where the owner of such dam shall leave. open a part of the river sixty feet wide, or where the dam extends entirely across the river, shall construct therein a sufficient fish sluice, sixty feet wide, and shall keep the same open for and during the months of February, March and April, in each year. Commissioner. 1827, VI, 341. No fish traps to the dams on any navigable stream. Ib.. 240; 1822, SEC. 7. That it shall not be lawful for any person whomsoever, at any time, to erect or keep up any fish trap or other device for be kept up near catching fish, or to fish with any net or seine, within eighty yards of any dam erected by the order or at the expense of the State across any stream intended thereby to be made navigable, in which IX, 521, § 29. dams there shall be left or constructed any sluice for the passage of fish; and all and every person or persons offending shall, for each and every offence, pay the sum of twelve dollars, to be recovered before the Court of General Sessions of the County where the offence may have been committed, one-half of which penalty shall go to the informer, and the other half to the support of the work to which the dam is attached; and all traps and other devices for catching fish, erected or kept up in violation of this Section, are hereby declared public nuisances, and may be abated as such. in Penalty for ob. structing nav trap. 1829, VI, 393, 22. SEC. 8. If any person shall keep, put, or cause to be kept, put, or placed by him, her or them, any fish trap, in or near any boat sluice, gation by fish any of the rivers within this State, so as thereby to injure or in the least obstruct the free navigation of said rivers, every such person or persons so offending shall forfeit, for each and every such offence, the sum of one hundred dollars, for the use of the State. SEC. 9. That any person who shall take and carry away from any fish trap in the waters of this State any fish caught and being in said trap, with intent to defraud and deprive the owner or owners of said trap of the said fish, shall be deemed guilty of a misde stealing from a fish trap; per alty. Ib., 1. Killing deer pro hibited at cer 1760, IV, 310, 21; 1788, IV, 541, 21. tain periods. 1 Servant offend of employer. Proviso. 1769, IV, 310, 1. meanor, and, on conviction thereof by indictment, shall be punished for said offence by fine, not exceeding two hundred dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months. Deer. SEC. 10. That it shall not be lawful for any person whatsoever to shoot or kill any doe or fawn, between the first day of January and the last day of July in any year; nor to shoot or kill any buck, between the first day of September and the last Friday of October, and between the first day of March and the last day of April, in any year; and if any person whatsoever shall presume to hunt, shoot or kill, or otherwise destroy, any buck, doe or fawn, running wild in the woods, within the times hereinbefore respectively limited, every person so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars for every buck, doe or fawn so killed or destroyed, the same to be recovered before any Trial Justice in the County where such offence shall be committed, upon conviction by the oath of one sufficient witness, or on confession of the party; such penalty to be applied and disposed of in the manner hereinafter directed. SEC. 11. If any servant, by command of his or her employer, shall ing by command so shoot or kill any deer, as aforesaid, the party giving such command shall be liable to the like penalties respectively: Provided, always, That it shall and may be lawful for any freeholder or housekeeper, at any time, to kill, or cause to be killed, any kind of deer in his enclosed grounds, without being liable to any penalty for so doing. Penalty for kill night time. SEC. 12. That any person or persons who shall hunt or kill any ing deer in the deer in the night time, except in their own enclosed grounds, for every such offence shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty dollars, to be applied and disposed of in the manner hereinafter directed. Ib., 311, 2. Penalty for killing does. SEC. 13. That any person or persons convicted of killing does at 1789, V, 125, ¿ 4. any time between the first day of March and the first day of September, shall be liable to the fines, forfeitures and penalties imposed by Section 16, to be recovered and applied in the manner directed by Sections 17 and 18 of this Chapter. Any person may SEC. 14. That nothing in this Chapter contained shall extend, or kili deer for food be construed to extend, to any person who shall kill, at any time, 1769, IV, 310, 1. any deer for food, for the necessary subsistence of himself or family, so at any time. as such person do not sell or dispose of the skin of any deer so killed; and in case any person shall be prosecuted for killing deer within the times prohibited by this Chapter, and such person shall allege that he killed such deer for food for the necessary subsistence of himself or family, the burden of the proof shall lie on the person so prosecuted. Hunting-General Provisions. SEC. 15. That if any person, at any time whatsoever, shall hunt or range on any lands whatsoever, without the consent of the proprietor, at a greater distance from his or her place of residence than seven miles, every such person so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars for every such offense. Persons not al lowed to buut further than 7 miles from their residence. Ib. Penalty for hunting with fire in the night time. Fines and forfeitures; how to be recovered and 1769, IV, 311, 3. SEC. 16. That any person or persons who shall hunt with fire in the night time, for every such offense shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding ten dollars, and for every deer so killed, a sum not 1789, V, 124, § 1. exceeding twenty-five dollars, and for every horse or head of neat cattle, or other stock of any kind, a sum not exceeding fifty dollars. SEC. 17. All the penalties and forfeitures mentioned in the preceding Section, shall and may be recovered before any Trial Justice in the County where any of the said offenses shall be committed, and disposed of. when received shall be divided and paid, one-half to and for the use of the poor of the County where the offense shall be committed, and the other half to the person who will inform for the same; and the oath of one credible witness, or the confession of the party accused, shall be allowed as sufficient evidence to convict the offender, by every Trial Justice before whom information shall be made of any of the offenses aforesaid: Provided, That where the owners of any lands shall prosecute for any unlawful hunting and ranging on his or her lands, the oath of such owner shall be sufficient evidence to convict the offender, but in that case the whole penalty shall go to the use of the poor of the County. offenders to be 21. SEC. 18. That in case any person or persons so convicted shall If fines not paid refuse or neglect to pay such fine, then it shall and may be lawful, imprisoned. and the Trial Justice, before whom he is convicted, is hereby re- 1; 1789, V, 124, quired to commit such person or persons to the common jail in the County where the offender or offenders shall have committed the said crime, there to remain without bail for a term not exceeding three months for unlawfully hunting with fire in the night time, and for a term not exceeding two months for violations of Sections 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 of this Chapter. to action by SEC. 19. That any person or persons who shall hereafter hunt Offenders liab'e with fire in the night time, or kill any horse or neat cattle, or other law. stock of any kind, the property of another person, shall be liable to 1789, V, 124, § 2. a civil action by the person so aggrieved, in addition to the above penalties. Reward for informing of fire SEC. 20. Any person who will give information to a Trial Justice of any fire hunter, shall, on his conviction, be entitled to thirty hunters. dollars, to be paid out of the public Treasury. 1778, IV, 411, 24. Non-residents not to hunt. SEC. 21. That it shall not be lawful for any non-resident of this 1855,XI1,406,21. State to use a gun, set a trap or decoy, or to employ any other de vice for killing or taking deer, turkeys, ducks or any other game, nor to set a trap, seine, or net, or draw or use the same, or any other contrivance for taking or killing fish, within the territorial limits of this State. Penalty. Non-residents may hunt by authority landlord. Ib., 3; Con., Art. VIII, 2. SEC. 22. Every person who shall offend against the provisions of the preceding Section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred dollars, nor less than one hundred dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding three months, nor less than one month, for each and every violation of any of the said provisions. SEC. 23. All persons shall be deemed and taken as non-residents, of within the meaning of the last two Sections, who shall not have had their actual domicil in this State for one year next preceding their use of any of the implements of the chase or fishery forbid den by the twenty-first Section of this Chapter. But nothing herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting any landholder from authorizing any person to hunt or shoot ducks or other game, or to fish within the boundaries of his own land. Penalty for stealing oysters SEC. CHAPTER LXXVIII. OF THE PROTECTION OF OYSTER BEDS. 1. Penalty for stealing oysters from 2. Penalty for using nets, dredges, SEC. SECTION 1. That if any person 3. Oyster shells may be carried off from certain lands. 4. Not to apply to fishing. or persons shall feloniously from beds. gather, remove, take, or steal, from any oyster bed, laying, or 1848, X1, 448, ¿ l. fishery, any oysters, or oyster brood, there growing, lying, or being, such oyster bed, laying, or fishery, being the property of any other person or persons, and cultivated and used by the proprietor or proprietors thereof, for the production, growing and improvement of oysters, and being sufficiently marked out, every person or persons so offending shall be deemed and held guilty of larceny, and he, she, or they, or his, her, or their, aiders, helpers, abettors, or accessories, being thereof convicted by due course of law, shall be punished as in cases of larceny. Fine for using Ib., 2. SEC. 2. If any person or persons shall unlawfully and willfully nets, &c. use any dredge, or any net, instrument or engine whatsoever, within the limits of any such oyster bed, laying or fishery, as aforesaid, for the purpose of taking oysters, or oyster brood, although none be actually taken, or shall, with any net, instrument, or enginè, drag upon the ground or soil of any such oyster bed, laying or fishery, every person or persons so offending shall be held and deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon being convicted thereof, shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both, as the Court may award, such fine not to exceed one hundred dollars, and such imprisonment not to exceed six months. SEC. 3. It shall and may be lawful for all and every person and persons to collect and carry off oysters and oyster shells, below highwater mark, from all lands for which warrants of survey have been taken out, and which have not been passed and confirmed by grants under the signature of His Excellency the Governor. SEC. 4. Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent any person or persons from catching, or fishing for, any swimruing or floating fish, within the limits of any oyster bed, laying or fishery with any net, instrument or engine adapted for taking swimming or floating fish. Persons may carry off oyster shells from cer tain lands. 1787, V, 39, § 4. Not to apply to Not to 1848, XI,448, § 2. SECTION 1. That if any person or persons shall play, at any Penalty for tavern, inn, store for the retailing of spirituous liquors, or in any tain playing at cerhouse used as a place of gaming, or in any barn, kitchen, stable or betting on the games or |