ART. 72] OYSTER CULTURE. 785

within the territorial limits of any County of this State, to be described
in said petition have been excluded from the surveys or resurveys of
natural beds or bars of this State, such petition to be attested by the
several oaths of the petitioners, and to be filed in the Circuit Court for
the County in which or nearest to which the area in question is located.
Upon the filing of such petition, the Clerk of the Circuit Court shall
docket a suit at law in which the petitioners are to be plaintiffs and
the Shell Fish Commissioners and lessees, if any, of such area are to
be the defendants. The Court, or any Judge thereof, shall thereupon
pass an order directing summons to issue for the defendants, to be
served in the same manner as summons in actions at law, and returned
by some day to be named in said order. The defendants shall answer
said petition within fifteen days after the return day to which they are
summoned, unless the Court for good cause shown shall extend the
time for answering. After filing of such answer or in default of
answer within the time fixed, the Court shall proceed promptly to hear
all evidence adduced by the parties, or either of them; and shall decide
whether the area described in said petition is or is not a natural bed
or bar as defined in Section 85, and judgment shall be entered accord-
ingly. The hearing in said Circuit Court shall be before a jury, unless
jury trial be waived by all parties, in which event the hearing shall be
before any Judge or Judges of said Court. An appeal to the Court
of Appeals of Maryland may be taken by either party to said case from
the judgment of said Circuit Court within thirty days thereafter, and
the Court of Appeals shall have power to review all questions of fact
or law involved. If the final decision shall be that the area in question
is a natural bed or bar, amended plats shall be made and copies filed
as provided in Section 96A. The parties filing the petition in the Cir-
cuit Court as herein provided shall first file a bond with sufficient surety
in the sum of $25, conditioned to pay Court costs incurred in the event
said petition is dismissed and costs are imposed upon the petitioners;
and the party or parties taking the appeal to the Court of Appeals
shall file a similar bond in such sum as the lower Court may fix, condi-
tioned to pay Court costs incurred in the event the appeal to the Court
of Appeals is dismissed and costs are imposed upon the appellant.

1914, ch. 265, sec. 940.

96C. The rights and interests of lessees under leases outstanding
and in force at the time of the passage of this Act, covering areas
within the limits of natural beds or bars which may be established by
the resurveys provided for by Section 96A, or by proceedings taken
under Section 96B, and the oysters belonging to such lessees, located
on such areas, shall be condemned by the State of Maryland for the use
of the public. The proceedings for the acquisition by the State of the
rights, interests and properties of such lessees shall be that set forth
in Chapter 117 of the Acts of 1912; and it shall be the duty of the
State's Attorney of the County in which or nearest to which the areas
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