180 COMPTROLLER. [ART. 19

ARTICLE XIX.

COMPTROLLER.

37. Authorized to settle claims of State against debtors and their sure- ties ; compromise by abating in- terest; provisos. Supervision of Expenditures of Cor- porations Receiving Ap- propriations. 43. Affidavit required of use of funds.

44. Appropriations to institutions title to which is not in State, only to be paid when mortgage condi- tional upon land or buildings be- ing used for other purposes, is given State.

1904, art. 19, sec. 37. 1888, art. 19, sec. 37. 1884, ch. 116, sec. 1. 1888, ch. 537.

1892, ch. 83. 1894, ch. 300. 1896, ch. 77. 1898, ch. 205. 1900, ch. 556.

1902, ch. 537. 1904, ch. 494. 1906, ch. 351. 1930, ch. 445

(p. 63). 1912, ch. 574. 1914, ch. 676.

37. The Comptroller is authorized and empowered to1 adjust and
settle the claims of the State 'against all collectors, sheriffs, clerks of
courts, registers of wills, and other collectors or receivers of public money
and their sureties, and against corporations and individuals who may be
indebted to the State in all cases where said claims accrued prior to and
including the year 1912, and whether said claims be in the form of judg-
ment or otherwise; and for the purpose of closing all such cases the
Comptroller is fully authorized to compromise the same by abating the
interest that has accrued, or any portion thereof, or any part of the prin-
cipal debt, in his discretion, so as best to subserve the interest of the'
State, and shall grant discharge to said parties and their sureties upon
the payment into the Treasury of the amount required by him to be paid
in settlement as aforesaid; the Comptroller shall be satisfied after thor-
ough examination into the claims that the same could not be collected
by the State by legal process; and further, that the Governor and Treas-
urer for the time being shall each approve in writing any such abate-
ment before the same shall be effective; and provided, further, that no
discharge or acquittance under this section shall be effective unless the
party or parties to be benefited shall first pay the attorneys who shall
have the case in hand the legal fees and fees of clerks and sheriffs.

See article 6, and article 2, section 18, of the Md. Constitution.