578 FREDERICK COUNTY. [ART. 11.

act of incorporation, passed in the year eighteen hundred and
thirty-one, chapter one hundred and eleven.

195. The free white male citizens of Mechanicstown, of the age
of twenty-one years and upwards, who have resided ip said town
twelve months next preceding the election, and who are free-
holders within said town, or tenants of som& freehold within the
town, for one year preceding the election, shall on the first Mon-
day of April, annually, at such place as shall be designated by the
burgess and commissioners, elect a burgess and three commia-
sionors for the said town, who shall have resided in said town
twelve months next preceding the election, and who shall each
be the proprietor of a house and lot of ground within the town,
and upwards of twenty-one years of age.

196. All elections shall be held and conducted as shall from
time to time be directed by the ordinances of the corporation,
not inconsistent with the provisions of this charter.

197. If during the year for which they may be elected, the
burgess, or any of the said commissioners, shall die, resign, re-
move from said town, or be non compos or displaced, an election
to fill such vacancy shall be held, and all persons qualified to vote
at a general shall vote at such special election.

198. The burgess shall qualify as required by section 6 of article
sixty-eight of the code; each commissioner, before he acts, shall
make oath before the burgess, that he will faithfully and honestly,
to the best of his skill and judgment, exercise the powers given,
and discharge the duties required of him as a commissioner of
MechanioBtown, impartially, and without favor or resentment to
any, and without delay.

199. The burgess and commissioners shall meet from time to
time, as often as occasion may require, upon the business of the
town, and not less than once in every six months; the burgess
shall preside at all meetings, and shall sign all ordinances passed
by the oommisaionera, or a majority of them.

200. The commissioners, or a majority of them, may appoint a
elerk, and allow him such compensation as they may think
proper; all ordinances passed by the commission era, or a majority
of them, shall be entered, by their clerk, in a book to be kept by
him for that purpose, and shall be open to the inspection of any