786 OYSTERS. [ART. 72

in question are located to institute forthwith in the Circuit Court for
such County condemnation proceedings in behalf of the State of Mary-
land against the said lessees or those claiming under them, and to con-
duct said proceedings to a finality in accordance with the provisions of
said statute, and the respective Circuit Courts for the Counties in
which or nearest to which the areas so condemned are located are hereby
vested with full power to hear and decide such cases, with right of
appeal to the parties as provided by said statute. But no such right,
interest or property shall be divested until the compensation awarded
in such condemnation proceedings to the lessees or those claiming under
them has first been paid to them by the State of Maryland.

1900, ch. 711, sec. 98, 1912, ch. 539, sec. 98. 1914, ch. 265, sec. 98.
100. After the survey or resurvey provided for herein shall have
been completed, it shall be the duty of the Board of Shell Fish Com-
missioners to lease, in the name of the State of Maryland, tracts or
parcels of land beneath the waters of this State, whether within the
limits of the Counties or elsewhere, in the area to be opened for oyster
culture, according to the provisions of this sub-title; provided that no
tract so leased, if situated within the territorial limits of any County
in this State, shall contain less than one acre of land, and if situated
in any other place, no tract so leased shall contain less than five acres.
It shall be the duty of said Board to require that the tracts so leased
shall be as nearly rectangular as is convenient. It shall be the duty
of the said Board to demand from each lessee payment of the rent each
year in advance. No person shall be permitted, by lease, assignment
or in any other manner, to acquire a greater amount of land than thirty
acres situated within the territorial limits of any of the Counties, or
five hundred acres in any other place; provided, however, that an indi-
vidual may acquire a tract not exceeding one hundred acres of land
beneath the waters of Tangier Sound. Leases of such lands shall be
made only to residents of Maryland. The term of such leases shall be
twenty years, and the annual rent reserved to the State shall be one
dollar per acre for each of the first two years of said term of twenty
years; two dollars per acre for the third year; three dollars per acre
for the fourth year; four dollars per acre for the fifth year and five
dollars per acre during the remainder of the term. On and after April
1st, 1913, the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners may lease at a
rental price which, in their judgment, is a proper one and commen-
surate, with the value of the land so leased, any land subject to the pro-
visions of this sub-title which has not been applied for or leased up to
that time; provided, however, that no land shall be leased at a less
price than twenty-five cents (25c.) per acre, and the land so leased
under this provisions* shall be subject to all other provisions of this
sub-title. If any part of the rent reserved under such leases shall

*This line is just as it appears in the act.