4400 ARTICLE 20.

name of the Mayor and Council of Crisfield before a justice of the peace,
as well as small debts are recovered.

Stephens v. Crisfield, 122 Md. 191. Crisfield v. C. & P. Tel. Co., 131 Md. 444.

1910, ch. 529, sec. 88 (p. 1097). 1916, ch. 458, sec. 88.

84. The Mayor and Council of Crisfield shall have charge of all the
streets and alleys of said City; shall have power to make by-laws and pass
ordinances to establish grades for the streets, gutters and sidewalks of the
city, regulate the width thereof, and prescribe the material of which they
shall be built; to cause the sidewalks along said public street to be graded,
curbed, paved, repaved or improved at the cost and expense of the owners
of the abutting property, which cost shall be a lien on the abutting prop-
erty and recoverable by an action at law, or to compel by fines or other-
wise the owners or proprietors of any such lot to grade, pave, repave and
curb the sidewalks in front thereof, agreeable to an ordinance that may
hereafter be passed; the tenant or occupant of any house or parcel of land
bordering on any street in said City, under a lease for less than seven
years, shall be chargeable with and pay the taxes thereon and may collect
same from the owner or deduct the amount paid with interest from the
rent due or to become due and shall be entitled to credit thereon to the
extent of the tax so paid; tenants under leases for more than seven years
shall be regarded as owners; to provide by ordinance for condemning, lay-
ing out, opening, extending and making new streets or alleys, and for
abandoning, altering, straightening, widening, grading, improving or
closing up in whole or in part any existing street or alley, and for remov-
ing trees, posts and other obstructions, and for laying out public squares,
drains, sewers and watercourses; and all benefits conferred or damages
done, suffered or incurred by laying out, opening and making of new
streets or alleys, or by altering, straightening, widening, grading, improv-
ing or closing up in whole or in part any existing street or alley, and for
removing trees, posts and other obstructions, and for laying out public
squares, drains, sewers and watercourses; and all benefits or damages done,
suffered or incurred by laying out, opening and making of new streets or
alleys, or by altering, straightening, widening, grading, improving or
closing up in part any existing street or alley or laying out public squares,
drains and watercourses shall be determined and assessed by three disin-
terested persons, or a majority of them, residents of said city, approved
by the Mayor and approved by the Council, who shall within ten days
after notification of their appointment, take an oath before a justice of
the peace of Somerset County that they will faithfully and fairly, and
without partiality or prejudice value and assess the loss and damage to
be suffered and incurred by any person or persons interested in said prop-
erty over, through or by which the said street or alley, square, drain or
watercourse is to be opened, closed, extended, widened, graded or im-
proved, and also to estimate the benefits that may accrue therefrom to
any such property over, through and by which the said street or alley,
drain or watercourse is to be opened, closed, extended, widened, graded