United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Wampler v. LeCompte, 282 U.S. 172 (1930)

Wampler v. LeCompte

No. 402

Argued November 25, 1930

Decided December 8, 1930

282 U.S. 172

Syllabus

1. A state law for the conservation of water fowl and for the protection of persons engaged in shooting them, which provides that duck blinds in the public waters shall be at least 500 yards apart and gives the riparian owner a preferential right to select the position for a blind, but which forbids him to place one within 250 yards of the land of an adjoining owner without the latter's consent, does not violate the equality clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as a discrimination in favor of persons owning a water frontage of more than 500 yards and against those who own less. P. 282 U. S. 174.

2. That the law does not apply uniformly to all the waters of the state, in that, for some, the minimum distance between blinds is 250 yards and for others there are special exemptions, is not a ground for declaring it invalid in the absence of facts proving the classification unreasonable. Id.

159 Md. 222 affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Appeals of Maryland which upheld the validity under the federal Constitution of a state statute regulating the erection and maintenance of duck blinds in the waters of the state.