Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 172

FISH, OYSTERS AND GAME – GAME

AN ACT to amend Chapter 74 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware, being an Act for the protection of muskrats and the owners or lessees of muskrat marshes and lands, and providing a penalty for violation thereof.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in, General Assembly met:

Section 1. That Chapter 74 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware, be and the same is hereby amended by inserting immediately after paragraph 2388 of said Code and Section 31 of said Chapter the following:

"2388A. Sec. 31A. MUSKRATS; NAILING; UNLAWFUL; PENALTY: shall be unlawful to take, capture or kill, at any time, within the State of Delaware, any muskrat or muskrats, by the method commonly known as NAILING; or to dig into, tear down, remove, interfere with, destroy, or damage in any way any muskrat house, nest, den, lair or refuge.

Whoever shall in any way violate any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before any Justice of the Peace, shall be fined a sum not less than Twenty-five Dollars nor more than One Hundred Dollars for each muskrat house, nest, den, lair or refuge, dug into, torn down, removed, interfered with, destroyed, or damaged in any way, and in default of the payment of the said fine and costs shall be imprisoned in the County Jail in the County wherein the offense is committed for one day for each dollar of the total fine and costs imposed and defaulted.

"2388B. Sec. 31B. MUSKRAT MARSHES AND LAND; TRESPASSING THEREON; PENALTY: Whoever shall enter into, upon, or trespass upon the ways, marshes, lands or premises of another within this State, without first obtaining the consent of the owner or lessee thereof, for the purpose of taking, trapping, capturing or killing any muskrat or muskrats in any manner whatsoever shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before any Justice of the Peace shall be fined a sum not less than Fifty Dollars nor more than One Hundred Dollars, and the Costs, for each offense, and in default of the payment thereof shall be imprisoned in the County Jail or Workhouse for not more than thirty days. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or affect the jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace under Chapter one hundred and twenty-two, or to affect the right of the party injured, to his civil action for damages, as in cases of trespass.

Approved March 15, A. D. 1921.