Fugett v. State
Decision Date | 02 July 1945 |
Docket Number | 4386 |
Citation | 188 S.W.2d 641,208 Ark. 979 |
Parties | Fugett v. State |
Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Independence Circuit Court; S. M. Bone, Judge.
Affirmed.
Appellant pro se.
Guy E. Williams, Attorney General, and Oscar E Ellis, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Appellant was convicted by the lower court of violating § 5957 of Pope's Digest of the laws of Arkansas, which is as follows:
Appellant, a licensed commercial fisherman, was found in possession of a catfish less than 16 inches long. Sale of a fish of this size is forbidden by law (sub-division K, § 13, Act 146 of the General Assembly of Arkansas, approved March 4, 1943), and appellant was required (§ 5957, Pope's Digest) to throw it back into the water as soon as he caught it. It was stipulated in the trial below that the game warden found appellant in possession of a catfish under 16 inches in length, and that appellant did not intend to sell this fish. It is conceded by appellant that he violated the law requiring commercial fishermen to throw such a fish back into the water, but it is argued by him that this law is unconstitutional in that it denies equal rights, privileges and immunities to licensed commercial fishermen and non-commercial fishermen. He contends that, since non-commercial fishermen may catch and consume such fish, the privilege of doing so may not be denied to him simply because he has obtained license to fish for commercial purposes.
Fish and game, except those in privately owned ponds, are the property of the state (§ 5835, Pope's Digest), and it has been universally held that the state may regulate the taking thereof. The state, in promulgating these regulations, may not make any arbitrary discrimination against any class of citizens, but the state, in licensing commercial fishermen, has the power to attach to the license any reasonable condition or regulation as to the manner in which the fishing is to be done or the size and kind of fish to be taken from the waters of the state. Sherrill v. State, 84 Ark. 470, 106 S.W. 967; Fritz v. State, 88 Ark. 571, 115 S.W. 385; State v. Adams, 142 Ark. 411, 218 S.W. 845.
In the case of Tuttle v. Wood, 35 S.W.2d 1061, the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas had under consideration the validity of statutes which regulated, and in some cases prohibited, the exploitation of fish in certain waters in that state for commercial purposes. In upholding the challenged laws the court said:
A question somewhat similar to the one involved in the case at bar was considered by the Supreme Court of Louisiana in the case of State v Monteleone, 171 La. 437, 131 So. 291. In that case it was contended by Monteleone that the statute requiring a dealer in commercial fish to obtain license from the state was unconstitutional. In sustaining the constitutionality of the law the court said: ...
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