ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY. 499

of one per centum per month from and after the time said benefit charge
is in default. The annual benefit charges as above specified shall be a
first lien upon the property against which they are assessed, subject only
to prior State and county taxes but no such charge shall continue as a
lien for a period longer than two years from the date upon which same
became in default unless the said lien is reduced to a judgment or a decree
and recorded in the Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County and for the
purpose of reducing the same to a decree the following procedure shall be
followed: At any time within two years from said default the Commis-
sion may file its bill on the equity side of said court against all persons
alleged to be in default setting forth the date of the levy of said charge
the property against which the same was levied and the amount thereof
and shall pray that the said property and the said owner shall be declared
to be indebted to the Commission in the amount claimed. The clerk shall
thereupon issue an order of publication against all of the defendants in
said cause which order shall state the substance of the bill and shall notify
all of said persons to answer said bill on or before a certain date to be
named therein which date shall not be less than forty nor more than sixty
days after the filing of said bill. Said order of publication shall be pub-
lished three times in any newspaper published within the county in which
such suit is filed. After proof of publication and on the date named
therein or any date to which said hearing may be continued, the court
shall hear the said Commission and any person having answered said bill,
and as to all who have not answered said bill shall declare a lien estab-
lished upon the property set forth in said bill, and as to those persons
who have answered said bill shall determine the right of the matter and
enter a decree accordingly. Said decree when in favor of the Commis-
sion shall have the effect of a lien upon the property mentioned in said
bill. The clerk shall at the request of the Commission issue a subpoena
or summons against any of such defendants, and as to any of said defend-
ants returned "summoned," and against whom a decree has been entered,
said decree shall have the force and effect of a judgment in personam
against the said defendants summoned as well as imposing a lien on the
land. Immediately after the filing of said decree the clerk of the court
shall enter the same in the proper judgment records of said court against
each of the defendants named in said bill against whom a decree has been
filed, the name of said defendants and the amount decreed against each
of them, together with the costs. The clerk of the court shall be allowed
fifty cents for each defendant named in said bill, which shall be paid by
the Commission and recovered by the Commission as costs. The clerk of
the court shall further tax such sum as the Commission shall certify in
said Equity Court as the costs of publication, not in any case to exceed
one dollar for each defendant. Such judgment shall remain a lien upon
the property mentioned in said bill and a judgment in personam against
each defendant summoned until the same is paid, any statute of limita-
tions to the contrary notwithstanding, and may be collected and enforced
by said Commission at any time, as other judgments in said court are