202 ARTICLE 1.

the Road Directors decide it is expedient that a road be opened under the
provisions of this section, they may contract with the owner or owners of
the land through which the road is intended to be run for the right of
way necessary for such roads, if he, she or they be competent, and in case
the said Road Directors shall so contract, they shall cause a plat of said
road to be made by the Roads Engineer and filed and recorded in the office
of the clerk of the Circuit Court for Allegany County, which said plat
shall be referred to and shall be part of the Land Records of said county,
and the lands so contracted for shall be conveyed to said Road Directors
and shall become henceforth the property of the county, in the same man-
ner and to the same extent as other county roads and no further; and when-
ever the Road Directors shall deem it expedient that examiners should be
appointed to view grounds for the purpose of opening, altering or closing
a road, they shall appoint three persons as examiners, who shall be free-
holders in the county and not interested in or holding land through which
the road is proposed to be opened, altered or closed, but the appointment of
the examiners shall not prevent the Road Directors from contracting with
the owner or owners as above provided; or said Road Directors may pro-
ceed to condemn the lands that may be necessary for the laying out of new
public roads or for altering of existing public roads under the provisions
of Sections 331 to 336, both inclusive, of Article 23 of the Code of Public
General Laws, title "Corporations," and any and all amendments thereto.
Symons v. Road Directors, 105 Md. 256. Brady v. Road Directors, 148 Md. 494.

1904, ch. 262, sec. 216L.

555. The examiners appointed under the preceding section, before they
proceed to act as such, shall take an oath to execute the trust reposed in
them faithfully and without favor, affection, or partiality, which oath shall
be endorsed on the order of appointment; said examiners or a majority of
them shall give notice of the time and place of meeting by publishing the
same once a week for two successive weeks in some newspaper or news-
papers published in Allegany County and by causing a copy of the same
to be delivered to the owner or owners through or along whose property
the proposed road is to pass, or be publicly posted on such property in
case the owner cannot be found at least five days before the day of meet-
ing; and in case the owner be an infant or non compos mentis, then a copy
of said notice shall be left with a parent or guardian of said infant, or
with the committee or person having charge pf the person alleged to be
non compos mentis; and at the time appointed the examiners or a major-
ity of them shall meet on the premises and proceed to examine and deter-
mine whether the public convenience requires that the road should be
open, altered or closed, as the case may be; but they shall have power to
adjourn from time to time. If the application be for opening, closing or
altering a road and if the said examiners shall determine that the public
convenience requires that the road be opened, closed or altered, they shall
proceed to locate the same in such manner as will in their judgment best