ART. 72. ] SHELL FISH COMMISSIONERS. 125

as to affect in any manner the holdings by citizens of this State
in any lot which may have been appropriated or taken up under
the laws of this State prior to April 2, 1906.

1906, ch. 711.

90. The said board in defining the natural beds and bars,
shall exercise its judgment liberally in favor of the natural beds
and bars, and allow a reasonable margin of the barren bottoms,
rather than encroach on a natural bed or bar. The natural beds
or bars shall be bounded by straight lines, even though some
portions of barren bottoms may thus be necessarily included
within such lines.

Ibid.

91. If residents of any county, exceeding twenty-four in
number, shall, within four months after the filing of said sur-
vey and report in such county, file in the circuit court for said
county a petition, in writing, attested by the oath of some one
or more of the petitioners, alleging that five or more adjacent
acres of oyster beds, bars or rocks, in such county, have been
omitted from such survey, or that five or more acres of barren
bottoms have been included in such survey, and designating the
location of same by a plat, or as near as may be with reason-
able certainty by such land marks as will locate and designate
the beds alleged to have been omitted or included, a judge of
the circuit court for the said county, after due notice given to
the board of shell fish commissioners, shall proceed to hear
testimony and decide the case, as provided in the succeeding
section, but this section shall not apply where the ground
claimed by the petitioners has been legally taken up prior to
April 2, 1906.

Ibid.

92. Upon hearing a case presented by petition under the
preceding section, the judge shall determine the question
whether the ground referred to in said petition is a natural bed
or barren bottom, and his finding on said question shall be
final, and shall be entered upon the records of the board of
shell fish commissioners in their office in the city of Annapolis,
and properly marked on the copies of the plats as hereinbefore
required.