820

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

March, in the year 1896, except for the purpose of foreclosure,
the party to whom it is assigned, his agent or attorney, shall
take the oath or affirmation in this section prescribed, to be
recorded with said assignment, and no such mortgage shall be
valid except as between the parties thereto, unless the said oath
or affirmation is endorsed thereon ; provided, that for the assign-
ment of mortgages executed prior to said last-mentioned date
and containing any covenant or covenants of the character pre-
scribed in section 146 o of this Article, no oath or affirmation
shall be required.

192 A. The several Boards of County Commissioners shall

Value and
assess
certain
property.

in addition to the powers now vested in them by law, have the
power to value and assess all personal property, and to revise
all valuations and assessments of real property in their respec-
tive counties, and to lower or increase said assessments of real
or personal property and take steps for the discovery of all
unassessed property of every kind. Whenever they shall pnr-
pose to alter or change any assessment or make any new assess-
ment they shall, before said assessment is made, give five days'
notice thereof in writing to the owner of the property to be
assessed ; and if such owner be not found within the limits of
their county, then to the person in possession of the property
to be assessed or in whose custody the same may be, or if it be
land, and no one be in the apparent occupancy thereof, then
by a notice posted on said land. Said respective Boards of
County Commissioners shall have full power to appoint such
agents as may in their discretion be necessary to enable them
to carry into effect their powers under this article, but the list-
ing of personal property provided for in sections 173 and 174
of this article, and required by the sections of this article
repealed by this Act, to be made in the year eighteen hundred
and ninety-eight, shall not take place until the year nineteen
hundred and two, when the same shall be taken and made
under the orders and direction of the said respective boards of
assessors as well as the additional powers conferred by this
article, which are hereby intended to be made and are made
full and ample for that purpose, and said listing shall also be
made every six years thereafter. All the penalties and require-
ments prescribed in this article, both as to owners of property
and assessors or clerks appointed by the respective Boards of
County Commissioners and the said boards themselves, whether
sitting to hear appeals or otherwise, shall be in force and apply
to all assessments and valuations made by said assessors or
County Commissioners at any time under this article, and