922

STATE OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. 628.

or greater than thirty feet wide, and shall determine the width
of any new road in the commission issued to the examiners to
report on such new road. All new roads shall be well drained
and graded, and it shall be the duty of the County Commis-
sioners to reject all such roads if not put in the most complete
order ; and they may make at any time such further rules
and regulations as they may deem necessary for the better
keeping of public roads in said county not inconsistent with
the sub-title of this Article or of the Public General Laws.

Authority to
condemn, lay
out, open,
etc.,
new roads,
etc.

123. The County Commissioners of Wicomico county shall
have the power, by ordinance or resolution, of condemning,
laying out, opening, extending and making new roads, and
for altering, straightening, widening, grading, improving or
closing up in whole or in part any existing road, and for
removing trees, posts and other obstructions, and for laying
out public drains, water courses and public landings on any
navigable waters in Wicomico county, when in their opinion
the public necessity or convenience require the same, without
any previous application or petition. The County Commis-
sioners may contract with the owner or owners of the land
for the purpose of laying out, opening, extending and making
new roads, and for altering, straightening, widening, grading,
improving or closing up in whole or in part any existing road,
or for a public drain or public landing for the right of way
over the land necessary for any said road or for land for
public drains and public landings if he, she or they be com-
petent to contract ; and in case the said County Commis-
sioners shall so contract, they shall cause a plat of the said
road to be made by a competent surveyor and filed and
recorded in the office of the clerk of the Circuit Court for
Wicomico County, with the deed or deeds conveying the land
so acquired, which plat shall be referred to in and shall be a
part of said deed or deeds, and the lands so conveyed shall be
and become thenceforth the property of Wicomico county,
and be subject to the purposes and uses for which granted..
If, however, the County Commissioners aforesaid shall
proceed by condemnation in the exercise of the powers
herein granted, all benefits or damages done, suffered or
incurred by the laying out, opening and making of new
roads, or by altering, straightening, widening, grading,
improving or closing up, in part or in whole, any exist-
ing road, or laying out public drains, water-courses or
landings, shall be determined or assessed by three disinterested
persons, freeholders and residents of Wicomico county and
above the age of twenty-one years, who shall be appointed by
the County Commissioners aforesaid, and shall, within, ten