778 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 431

638. All taxes and assessments assessed against real
and personal property in said town which are not paid on
or before the 31st day of December in the year of their levy
shall be in default, and it shall then be the duty of the
collector to advertise all such real property for public sale
on or before the third Monday in February of the year
succeeding the year for which said taxes remain unpaid,
by advertisement in the papers published in said town, or
if there be no papers published in said town, then in some
paper published elsewhere in Prince George's County, at
least three weeks before such sale, which advertisement
shall state the day of sale, the name of the party in whom
the property is assessed, if known, and the amount of taxes
and assessments due with interest and costs, and also a
description of the property sufficient to identify the same,
which said sale shall be held at the City Hall, commencing
at ten o'clock A. M. and continue until three o'clock P. M..

and if necessary, continue thereafter from day to day be-
tween said hours until all of said property shall have been
sold, and the amount of purchase money paid for any prop-
erty at such sale or sales shall bear interest at the rate of
twelve per cent, per annum, from the day of sale and until
the same be paid, or the property deeded, as hereinafter
provided.

639. In all cases where lands held in fee simple or by
lease have been sold, or shall be sold for the payment of
taxes or assessments in arrears, it shall be the duty of the
collector to report the sale, together with all the proceed-
ings had in relation thereto to the Circuit Court for Prince
George's County within thirty days thereafter. The said
Court shall examine the proceedings, and if the same ap-
pear to be regular, and the provisions of law in relation
thereto have been complied with, shall order notice to be
given by advertisement published in such newspaper or
newspapers as the Court shall direct, warning all persons
interested in the property sold, to be and appear by certain
day in the said notice to be named, to show cause, if any
they have, why said sale should not be ratified and con-
firmed; and if no cause or an insufficient cause be shown
against the ratification, the said sale shall, by order of said
Court, be ratified and confirmed, and the purchaser shall,
on payment of the purchase money, have a good title to
the said property so sold; but if good cause in the judg-
ment of the said Court, be shown in the premises, the sale
shall be set aside, in which case the said Collector shall
proceed to a new sale of the said property and bring the