80 ARTICLE 1.

the streets, lanes or alleys in said city, or any of them, or shall make a
charge for the right of connecting to a sewer, the sum so levied or charged
shall be a preferred lien upon said property the same as city taxes now
ate; provided said Mayor and Councilmen shall within ninety days after
the completion of such grading, paving, curbing, sewering, regrading, re-
paving, recurbing, resewering, or otherwise improving, cause to be filed

with the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Allegany County, a statement
showing the whole amount expended in such grading, paving, curbing,
sewering, regrading, repaving, recurbing, resewering, or otherwise im-
proving, and the names of the persons among whom the said sum has been
apportioned and the amount apportioned to each, and a general descrip-
tion of the land owned by each of said parties upon which such sums are
intended to operate as a lien, and said statement shall constitute a lien,
on said property for the space of three years and no longer, unless the

same shall be revived or enforced by scire facias as provided in the next
succeeding section, and said sum shall also bear interest at the rate of six
per centum per annum from the date on which said statement is filed.

Said lien shall be enforceable by scire facias issued out of the Court
of Allegany County in the same manner as mechanics' liens are now en-
forced by law, and upon such scire facias the defendants may rely upon
any defense which would render the imposition of such lien void or
operate as a discharge thereof, excepting that no question as to the validity
of such lien upon any matter of form shall be heard by any court in said
State, and such scire facias may issue at any time within three years
from the filing of the statement required by the last preceding section,
but any defendant intending to dispute the validity of said lien and
wishing to test the same before the expiration of said time may at any-
time after the filing of said statement give notice to said Mayor and Coun-
cilmen in writing that he disputes the validity of such lien and wishes to
test the same so as to free his property from said lien claim, and in such
case, unless said Mayor and Councilmen shall issue a scire facias thereon
against said party within sixty days after the receipt of such notice, said
lieu shall be waived and avoided as against his property, and in all cases
of writs of scire facias issued under this section, the same shall stand for
trial at the first term of court after the issuing thereof; provided the
same shall have been served on the defendant and a return of such service
made by the Sheriff at least ten days before the commencement of said
term, and upon all judgments rendered in such cases there shall be a stay
of thirty days and no longer; provided, that either party may appeal to
the Court of Appeals of Maryland from any ruling or decision of any
question of law decided by the Circuit Court in such trial. And in case
the defendant shall appeal and file a proper appeal bond, then said stay
of thirty days shall be counted from the affirmance of such judgment, if
the same shall be affirmed, and not from the date of the judgment below.
Hitchins v. Frostburg, 68 Md. 100. Frostburg v. Hitching, 70 Md. 57.