1002 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 501

and Dorchester, and in the First, Second, Third, Fourth,
Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Election Districts of Anne
Arundel County, where the decision of the State Li-
cense Bureau shall be final), and of the Mayor and Aldermen
of the City of Annapolis, in approving, suspending, revoking
or restricting, or refusing to approve, suspend, revoke or re-
strict any license or licensee, shall be subject to appeal in the
following manner:

(b) WHO MAY APPEAL. Any licensee or applicant for a li-
cense, or any group of not less than ten persons who are resi-
dents or real estate owners in the precinct or voting district
in which the licensed place of business is located or proposed
to be located, may within ten days from the date of any final
decision of a local board, appeal therefrom to the Circuit
Court of the county, or in the City to the Baltimore City
Court, upon payment of all costs incident to the hearing before
the local board or local licensing official.

(c) PROCEEDINGS ON APPEAL. An appeal may be commenced
by docketing in the appropriate court, a petition stating that
the petitioner is aggrieved by the action of the local board,
and desires the court to review the same. Thereupon, a copy
of the petition shall be served upon the local board, and the
case shall be promptly assigned for trial. The noting of an
appeal shall stay the order of the local board pending the de-
termination of the appeal. Upon the filing of such appeal,
the service of copy thereof and the payment of costs as afore-
said, all of which shall be a prerequisite to the hearing of the
appeal, the local board shall forward to the court within
fifteen (15) days thereafter all pertinent papers and a trans-
cript of any testimony which may have been taken at the
board's hearing.

(d) SCOPE OF APPEAL. (1) Upon the hearing of such appeal,
the action of the local board shall be presumed by the court
to be proper and to best serve the public interest. The burden
of proof shall be upon the petitioner to show that the decision
complained of was against the public interest and that the
local board's discretion in rendering its decision was not hon-
estly and fairly exercised, or that such decision was arbitrary,
or procured by fraud, or unsupported by any substantial evi-
dence, or was unreasonable, or that such decision was beyond
the powers of the board, and was illegal. The case shall be
heard by the court without the intervention of a jury. If in
the opinion of the court it is impracticable to determine the
question presented to the court, in the case on appeal, without
the hearing of additional evidence, or if in the opinion of the
court any qualified litigant has been deprived of the oppor-