EDWIN WARFIELD, ESQ., GOVERNOR.

801

be the duty of the commission to appoint three examiners, one

to be selected by the petitioners, one to be a member of the

Commission, and the other to be the Roads Engineer of the

county, to examine into and report upon the need for such im-

provement and the cost thereof, and if the Commission shall

determine after such report thereon that such improvement

should be made, it shall determine the amount to be appropri-

ated from the road moneys of the county or district for such

improvement, and what portion of the cost shall be paid by

the petitioners and others interested in the work, such propor-

tion not to be less than fifteen per cent, or more than fifty per

cent, of such cost, and shall have the power to determine what

individuals are to be damaged and what individuals are to be

benefited thereby, and the amount of such individual damage

and benefit, and" to allow and assess the same; provided, the

amount of individual damage and individual benefit shall not be

finally fixed until notice shall be given to the person to be

affected and to have the opportunity to be heard, such person

to have the right to appeal from the final decision of the Com-

mission to the Circuit Court for the county. When all the

assessments for benefits made by the Commission shall have

Assessments

been paid into the county treasury, and not until then, the im-

for benefits.

provement petitioned for and determined upon shall be made.

199. Whenever any owner of property in Baltimore County

shall have opened, laid out or graded any avenue or road for

Dedicating pri-

the public convenience, and is willing to dedicate the same to

for public

public uses by a good and sufficient deed duly recorded, the

uses.

Highways Commission is authorized to accept the same, if, in

its opinion, the same be necessary and convenient for public

use; and upon such acceptance, which shall be endorsed upon

and recorded with the deed, said avenue or road shall be kept

in good order and repair as other county roads ; provided,

however, that previous to such acceptance said road shall not

be less than thirty feet in width and duly and properly graded

in the judgment of the Highways Commission; and provided,

further, that a plat of the road so dedicated shall be furnished

with and made a part of said deed and recorded therewith, and

a duplicate plat shall be furnished for preservation among the

records of the Highways Commission.

200. Whenever any road shall have been in use by the public

for twenty years, though the same may never have been con-

Declaring an

demned of granted as a public highway, the Highways Com-

old road a
public high-

mission, if it deems public necessity requires the adoption of

way.

the same as such, shall declare the said road to be a public