ART. 16] JURISDICTION. 407

therein, and deeds executed or certificates issued to purchasers
thereof, and it shall be considered desirable to dispose of said
burial ground for other purposes, upon a bill being filed in any
of the circuit courts of the State, in equity, in the city or
county in which said burial ground is situated, setting forth
the aforegoing facts, and containing the names of the lot
owners or their assignees so far as known, the court shall
order notice by publication in one or more newspapers pub-
lished in the county or city where such burial ground is situ-
ated, warning all the lot holders or other persons in interest,
residents or non-residents, adults or infants, to appear in court
on or before the day fixed in said notice, to show cause why
the relief prayed for should not be granted; and said notice
shall be such as the court may direct, not less, however, than
once a week for four successive weeks two months before the
day fixed by such order for the appearance of the parties; and
upon a failure of appearance by any of said lot owners, or any
party in interest by the time limited in said notice, the court
may order testimony to be taken ex parte, according to the usual
"course in equity in cases of default for non-appearance; and
upon testimony t'aken in the cause ex parte, or otherwise, if it
is made to appear to the satisfaction of the court that it is
expedient or would be to the interest and advantage of the
parties concerned that the said burial ground should be sold,
the court may forthwith pass a decree for the sale of said
ground upon such terms and notice as it shall deem proper,
and shall distribute the proceeds of sale among the parties
interested according to their several interests, as the same shall
be shown to the court; and before making said distribution
the court may order and direct that so much and such part of
said proceeds of sale, as shall be necessary for the purpose,
shall be set aside and applied to the removal and burial of any
dead that may lie in said burial ground, in the purchase of a
lot in any cemetery, graveyard, or other appropriate place of
sepulture, and in the expense of disinterment and re-interment
of said dead; and any decree passed in a proceeding for a sale
of a burial ground, as hereinbefore provided for, shall be valid
to pass to the purchaser or purchasers of said burial ground the
title of the same free, clear and discharged of, and from the
claims of the corporation or trustees who may hold the same,
their successors or assigns, and of all persons in interest as lot
holders in such ground, whether they are entitled as original
lot holders, and whether they be residents or non-residents,
adults or infants.
Brendel v. Zion Church, 71 Md. 83.