CHAPTER 249
Of Offences Against Public Policy.
AN ACT TO PREVENT THE TRANSPORTATION AND REMOVAL BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE OF DREDGINGS OR MATERIAL EXCAVATED FROM BENEATH THE WATERS OF SAID STATE IN PROSECUTING WORKS OF IMPROVEMENT OR MAINTENANCE OF CHANNELWAYS OR HARBORS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation knowingly and wilfully to transport or remove to any point or place of deposit beyond the territorial limits of the State of Delaware, by any process or in any manner, any dredging, earth, dirt, mud, soil, sand, silt or other material of any kind, either in a solid or liquid state, that may be taken, dug, dredged or excavated from under the waters of the bays, rivers, and creeks within the limits of said State, in the prosecution of works of improvement or maintenance of any channel-way or harbor within said State ; and every such act of transportation, removal, or attempt so to do is hereby made a misdemeanor, and every person, firm or corporation engaged in or who shall aid, abet, authorize, or instigate a violation of this section, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars nor more than twenty-five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a term of not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Section 2. That any and every master, pilot, and engineer, or person or persons acting in such capacity, respectively, on board of any boat, or vessel, who shall knowingly engage in towing any scow, boat, vessel, or other craft loaded with any such matter or substance described in Section one of this Act, to any point or place of deposit, beyond the territorial limits of the State of Delaware, shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this Act,, and shall, upon conviction, be punished as hereinbefore provided for offenses in violation of Section one of this Act.
Section 3. That any boat, vessel, scow, or other craft used or employed in violating any of the provisions of Sections one and two of this Act, shall be liable to the pecuniary penalties imposed thereby, and the said penalties shall be a lien upon said boat, vessel, scow, or other craft and may be enforced summarily by the Attorney General of this State in the name of be State of Delaware by way of libel in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
Section 4. That every person, firm, or corporation in any manner engaged in the work of dredging or excavating any earth, soil, dirt, mud, sand, silt, or other material of any kind, from any channel-way or harbor within this State, or of removing the same therefrom, in the prosecution of works of improvement or maintenance thereof, shall severally deposit and discharge all such earth, soil, dirt, mud, sand, silt, or other material of any kind, within the territorial limits of the State of Delaware ; and for every wilful violation of the provisions a this section every person, firm, or corporation so offending shall be guilty of an offense against this Act, and shall forfeit and pay to the State of Delaware the sum of five dollars for every cubic yard of earth, soil, dirt, mud, sand, silt or other material of any kind, which shall not be so deposited or discharged within the limits of this State.
Section 5. That this act shall not be construed so as to prevent any person, firm or corporation, from dredging, excavating or removing from this State, clay, sand or other mineral or substance intended to be used in building or any other art or trade.
Section 6. This act shall be deemed and taken to be a public act, and shall be published as such.
Approved March 31, A. D. 1909