ELR Citation: ELR 20466
No(s). 35 (Adv.) (Md. Jul 6, 1972)

Maryland's highest court affirms lower court judgment that a Maryland statute that prohibits dredging of all marshlands in one county of the state, including those privately owned, is a valid exercise of the police power to regulate private property and is not a taking of property without compensation. Although more restrictive than the statute applicable to the rest of the state, which establishes a permit authority for dredging, the statutory prohibition does not deny equal protection of the law, because it is consistent with evidence before the legislature of the importance of marshlands to the state's water resources. The statute is sufficiently definite to give fair notice of the behavior that it sanctions and is not void for vagueness.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
James J. Doyle Jr.
John B. Jaske
10 Light Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

Counsel for Defendants
Henry R. Lord Deputy Attorney General
Warren K. Rich Asst. Attorney General
One South Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

Hammond, C.J.; Barnes, McWilliams, Smith, Proctor, Kenneth, C. (specially assigned), JJ.