634

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

Mayor to be
elected

city and qualified to vote for members of the General Assem-
bly, and registered as herein provided for, shall, on the third
Monday in May, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy eight,
and pn the same day in every second year thereafter, elect, by
ballot, a person of known integrity, experience and sound judg-
ment, not less than thirty years of age, ten years a citizen
of the United States and five years a resident of said city next
preceding the election assessed on the books of the said city at
the time of his election and for the year next prior thereto, for
property to the amount in value of one thousand dollars, of
which said property he shall be the bona fide owner in his own
right, and the taxes thereon shall not be in arrears, to be Mayor
of said city ; and the person so elected at each of said elections
shall serve as such Mayor for the term of two years from the
first Monday in June next succeeding his election.

City council
to be
elected.

52. Each and every member of the City Council shall be
the bona fide owner, in his own right, of property to the amount
in value of tive hundred dollars, and assessed for the same on
the books of the said city at the time of his election and for
the year next prior thereto, the taxes on which shall not be in
arrears. .
58. The Mayor and each member of the City Council shall
during the whole term for which they are elected, be possessed,
of all the qualifications rendering them eligible to be elected,
and, if any one of them during the time for which he was

Eligible to
election.

elected shall fail to retain all the qualifications necessary to
render him eligible to election, he shall forfeit such office, and
such forfeiture shall be declared by the said City Council, and
the vacancy caused thereby shall be immediately tilled as herein
provided; and if the said City Council shall neglect or refuse to
declare such vacancy and to fill the same, then any tax paying
citizen of said city, being a legal voter therein, may tile a peti-
tion in the Circuit Court for Allegany County against such
officer, and the said court or the judge thereof, if in vacation,
shall pass an order requiring such officer to show cause why his
office should not be vacated, and the vacancy tilled as provided,
and such order shall be made returnable not more than twenty
days after its passage, and a copy thereof shall be served on
such officer ; and if he shall fail to answer the same, said court
or the judge thereof, if in vacation, shall hear and determine
such matter ex parte ; and if such officer shall answer the same,
then the said court, or the judge thereof, if in vacation, shall
at once hear and determine the issue raised by such petition
and answer and shall declare the office of the said respondent