692 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [Ch. 490]

CHAPTER 490.

AN ACT to provide for transfers of property on the property
books of Harford county before deeds conveying the same are
recorded.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That no deeds conveying real estate or chattels real,
located in Harford county, shall be admitted to record among
the Land Records of the Circuit Court for said county until
the property thereby conveyed or assigned has been duly trans-
ferred upon the property books in the County Commissioners'
office of said county to the grantee or assignee unless such a
description thereof be furnished, under oath, to the Clerk of
the Circuit Court as will enable the Clerk of the County Com-
missioners to transfer the same intelligently upon said property
books.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted. That if the transfer be made
upon said property books before said deed is offered foi; record,
the Clerk of the County Commissioners shall endorse the fact
of said transfer on the deed, and if said deed be offered for
record without such endorsement, the Clerk of the Circuit
Court before receiving the same for record shall require one
of the parties thereto, or some other person having personal
knowledge of the facts, to state, under oath, in whose name the
property transferred stands on the property books of said
county, the number of acres therein (or if a town lot,
the number or other intelligible description thereof), the
improvements thereon, the number of acres, arable or wood-
land, and such other facts as will with certainty enable the
Clerk of the County Commissioners to locate the same on said
property books, and intelligently make the transfer, and all
such sworn statements shall be on each Monday morning
returned by said Clerk of the Circuit Court to the County Com-
missioners and the transfers shall be forthwith made by the
Clerk of the County Commissioners upon said property books.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That the County Commissioners
shall, immediately upon the passage of this act, have printed
and furnished to the Clerk of the Circuit Court, blank forms
showing in detail the information to be obtained by said clerk
from persons offering deeds for record.

SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That if the Clerk of the Circuit
Court shall receive for record any deed without requiring the
provisions of this act to be complied with, he shall forfeit and
pay the sum of fifty dollars ($50) for each deed so recorded.