Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States
Nicoulin v. O'Brien
Nicoulin v. O'Brien, 248 U.S. 113 (1918)
- Type
- Opinion
- Court
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Date
- 1918-12-09
- Topic
- general
Memorandum opinion by Me. Justice McReynolds. Plaintiff in error was adjudged guilty of violating the prohibition of a Kentucky statute by seining for fish in the Ohio River south of low-water mark on the Indiana side. 172 Kentucky, 473. We are asked to hold that by reason of the Virginia Compact (13 Hening’s Statutes at Large, c. 14, pp. 17, 19), Kentucky had no power to regulate fishing in the river at that point without Indiana’s concurrence. The provision relied upon is this: “Seventh, that the use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the territory of the.proposed state, or the territory which shall remain within the limits of- this Commonwealth lies thereon, shall be free and common to the citizens of the United States, and the respective jurisdictions of this Commonwealth and of J;he proposed state on the river as aforesaid,'shall be concurrent only'with the states which may possess the opposite shores of the said river.” The territorial limits of Kentucky extend across the river to low-water mark on the northerly shore.
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Memorandum opinion by
Me. Justice McReynolds.Plaintiff in error was adjudged guilty of violating the prohibition of a Kentucky statute by seining for fish in the Ohio River south of low-water mark on the Indiana side. 172 Kentucky, 473. We are asked to hold that by reason of the Virginia Compact (13 Hening’s Statutes at Large, c. 14, pp. 17, 19), Kentucky had no power to regulate fishing in the river at that point without Indiana’s concurrence. The provision relied upon is this: “Seventh, that the use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the territory of the.proposed state, or the territory which shall remain within the limits of- this Commonwealth lies thereon, shall be free and common to the citizens of the United States, and the respective jurisdictions of this Commonwealth and of J;he proposed state on the river as aforesaid,'shall be concurrent only'with the states which may possess the opposite shores of the said river.”
The territorial limits of Kentucky extend across the river to low-water mark on the northerly shore. Indiana y) Kentucky,. 136 U. S. 479, 519. And We think it clear no limitátion upon the.power of that Commonwealth to protect fish within her own boundaries by proper, legislation resulted from the mere establishment of concurrent jurisdiction by the Virginia Compact. See Wedding v. Meyler, 192 U. S. 573; Central R. R. Co. v. Jersey City, 209 U. S. 473;Nielsen v. Oregon, 212 U. S. 315; McGowan v. Columbia River Packers’ Assn., 245 U. S. 352.
The judgment below is
Affirmed.