2728 ARTICLE 72 .

bar thus resurveyed, and shall cause to be marked or defined as accurately
as possible the correct limits and boundaries of such natural bed or bar, and
said amended chart shall be filed in the office of the Commission in the City
of Baltimore within ninety days thereafter, and copies thereof shall be
filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the County in which or nearest
to which the natural bed or bar thus resurveyed is located; provided that
such resurvey shall in no manner affect leases of a part or all of the area
resurveyed, actually issued and in force at the time of such resurvey
unless the respective lessees thereof shall voluntarily surrender their leases
as hereinafter provided, or shall forfeit their leases by non-payment of
rentals as provided in Section 113, or unless the rights, interests and prop-
erties of the lessees under said leases shall be acquired by the State by con-
demnation proceedings instituted not later than January 1st, 1915, as
provided in Section 109. The said Commission is authorized to accept
voluntary surrender of leases of any lots within the area thus resurveyed
and found to be natural beds or bars, and to refund to such lessee the rentals
and charges theretofore paid to said Commission for the lot or lots
surrendered.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 111. 1912, sec. 96B. 1914, ch. 265, sec. 94B.

108. Three or more residents of this State may at any time before Jan-
uary 1, 1915, file a petition in writing, alleging that five or more adjacent
acres of natural beds or bars situated in the Chesapeake Bay outside
County waters, or one or more acres of natural beds or bars within the terri-
torial limits of any County of this State, to be described in said petition
have been excluded from the surveys or resurveys of natural beds or bars
of this State, such petition to be attested by the several oaths of the peti-
tioners, and to be filed in the Circuit Court for the County in which or
nearest to which the area in question is located. Upon the filing of such
petition, the Clerk of the Circuit Court shall docket a suit at law in which
the petitioners are to be plaintiffs and the Conservation Commission and
lessees, if any, of such area are to be the defendants. The Court, or any
Judge thereof, shall thereupon pass an order directing summons to issue
for the defendants, to be served in the same manner as summons in actions
at law, and returned by some day to be named in said order. The defen-
dants shall answer said petition within fifteen days after the return day
to which they are summoned, unless the Court for good cause shown shall
extend the time for answering. After filing of such answer or in default
of answer within the time fixed, the Court shall proceed promptly tp hear
all evidence adduced by the parties, or either of them; and shall decide
whether the area described in said petition is or is not a natural bed or
bar as defined in Section 93, and judgment shall be entered accordingly.
The hearing in said Circuit Court shall be before a jury, unless jury trial
be waived by all parties, in which event the hearing shall be before any
Judge or Judges of said Court. An appeal to the Court of Appeals of
Maryland may be taken by either party to said case from the judgment of
said Circuit Court within thirty days thereafter, and the Court of Appeals
shall have power to review all questions of fact or law involved. If the
final decision shall be that the area in question is a natural bed or bar,
amended plats shall be made and copies filed as provided in Section 107.
The parties filing the petition in the Circuit Court as herein provided
shall first file a bond with sufficient surety in the sum of $25, conditioned