Christy v. Clark

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal is from a decree sustaining a demurrer to a bill of complaint and dismissing the bill, which sought an injunction to restrain the appellees from enforcing the provisions of Article 72, Section 4 (c) of the Code (1947 Supp.). Section 4, subsection (b), known as the “cull law”, makes it unlawful “for any person to have oysters in his possession which contain more than five percent. (5%) of shells and oysters less than three inches from hinge to mouth * * *.” Subsection (c) provides that “all of the provisions of this Article relating to the inspection and culling of oysters and the imposition of penalties for the violation of the cull law shall apply to oysters in the shell found anywhere within the State, whether afloat or ashore, and whether said oysters have been caught within the waters of this State or shipped or brought into Maryland from other states.” The bill alleges that appellants are licensed oyster packers in Crisfield; that due to depletion of the Maryland supply, in order to operate they have been forced to purchase oysters from private planters in other states; that many of these oysters measure less than three inches from hinge to mouth, although, due to the selective method of their production and cultivation, their meats are of such quality and size as to meet the classifications under the Food and Drug Administration of “selects” and “standards”; that these oysters are not game or ferae naturae, nor are they natural resources of the State of Maryland, but are articles of commerce of a high nutritional value.

Section 4(c) is attacked as unconstitutional and an illegal interference with interstate commerce. It is alleged that enforcement of the law will cause irreparable damage to appellants. ⁶⁸ The appellants concede that the State has a right to regulate and control the killing, possession and sale of game within its borders. Dickhaut v. State, 85 Md. 451, 37 A. 21 , 36 L. R. A. 765, 60 Am. St. Rep. 332 .

In that case it was held that the Act did not cover game taken outside the State. But in Stevens v. State, 89 Md. 669 , 43 A. 929 , the court sustained a conviction under a statute that made it unlawful to possess or offer for sale in the closed season game birds or animals, whether caught in this or another state. In Tyler v. State, 93 Md. 309, 313 , 48 A. 840, 842 , 52 L. R. A. 100, while the court held that the cull law of 1900 was not intended to apply to oysters taken outside the State, it was clearly stated: “It would certainly have been an appropriate and efficient aid to the effectual enforcement of the culling of the oysters