2276 ARTICLE 54

An. Code, 1924, sec. 13. 1912, sec. 14. 1904, sec. 14. 1888, sec. 12. 1853, ch. 415, sec. 7.

13. He shall record all certificates that may be returned to the land
office and issue patents thereon so soon as they are ready for patents.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 14. 1912, sec. 15. 1904, sec. 15. 1888, sec. 13. 1874, ch. 66.

14. He shall have custody of all books containing deeds and transfers
of soldiers' lots and all other land record books and papers, including
extracts of deeds transferred to him by the clerk of the court of appeals
under the act of 18Y4, chapter 66, and of all the other extracts of deeds
which shall be hereafter received by him, and shall give certified copies
of such deeds and extracts and make searches for the same when so required,
and shall receive and retain therefor fees at the same rate now charged
for copies of and searches for other papers in his office.¹

The legislature cannot take away from the commissioner fees belonging to him after
they have been earned. Scharf v. Tasker, 73 Md. 385.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 15. 1912, sec. 16. 1906, ch. 412.

15. He shall have custody of all maps, books, records and papers con-
nected with the office of the Conservation Commission of the State of Mary-
land, which may be committed to his care and custody by the said Con-
servation Commission, and shall safely keep them in some place reasonably
free from accident by fire, and shall, whenever required to do so, cause
copies thereof to be made under the seal of his said office, and shall receive
and retain therefor fees at the same rate now charged for copies and
searches for other papers in his office, and shall receive as compensation
for his services and responsibility the sum of fifty dollars per month, which
shall be in addition to the salary now allowed him by law as the commis-
sioner of the land office; provided, however, that the fees received by him
for copies of papers, etc., shall, after paying the actual expense of the same,
be turned over to the Conservation Commission.²

An. Code, 1924, sec. 16. 1912, sec. 17. 1904, sec. 16. 1888, sec. 14. 1874, ch. 66. 1894, ch. 191.

16. He shall receive and carefully file among the records of his office
all extracts of deeds transferred to him by the clerk of the court of appeals
under said act of 1874, chapter 66, and all such as shall be transmitted to
him by the clerks of the circuit courts for the counties and the clerk of the
superior court of Baltimore City, and when he shall receive a sufficient
number of such extracts from the same county to form a record book of
the proper size, he shall cause the same to be well and substantially bound
in leather and placed among the records of his office; and the comptroller
of the treasury is hereby directed to issue his warrant for such sum or sums
of money as from time to time may be necessary for the cost of such binding
and for the purchase of index books and for the repair and rebinding of
other record books in the land office, upon a certificate of the correctness of
the same given by the commissioner of the land office, and the sum of one
thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby appro-
priated annually for said purposes.³

¹ By act, 1908, ch. 606, the commissioner of land office is directed to have transcribed
or rebound such records in his custody as may require same, and an appropriation is
made therefor.

² Formerly Board of Shell Fish Commissioners.

³ By act of 1908, ch. 606, commissioner of land office is directed to have transcribed
or rebound such records in his custody as may require same, and an appropriation is
made therefor.