Potomac Sand and Gravel Company v. Mandel

No. 35 (Adv.) (Md. July 6, 1972)

Maryland's highest court affirms lower court judgment that a Maryland statute which 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 which it sanctions and is not void for vagueness.

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

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

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

[2 ELR 20466]

PER CURIAM:

On June 30, 1971, Potomac Sand and Gravel Company (Potomac Company) filed a bill for declaratory judgment in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County in which it requested that the Laws of Maryland (1971), Chapter 792; Code of Public Local Laws of Charles County (1969 Ed.), Article 9, section 337A (Chapter 792) be declared to be unconstitutional.

The decree, from which this appeal was taken, was signed by Judge Evans on March 3, 1972, and implemented an opinion filed several days earlier.

We adopt the excellent, careful and comprehensive opinion of the trial judge, which follows:

[The full text of the opinion of the trial judge appears at 2 ELR 20101 — ed.].