388 LAWS OF MARYLAND.

or any Judge thereof, shall thereupon pass an order direct-
ing summons to issue for the defendants, to be served in
the same manner as summons in actions at law, and returned by
some day to be named in said order. The defendants shall an-
swer said petition within fifteen days after the return day to
which they are summoned, unless the Court for good cause
shown shall extend the time for answering. After filing of such
answer or in default of answer within the time fixed, the Court
shall proceed promptly to hear all evidence adduced by the par-
ties, or either of them; and shall decide whether the area de-
scribed in said petition is or is not a natural bed or bar as de-
fined in Section 83, and judgment shall be entered accordingly.
The hearing in said Circuit Court shall be before a jury, unless
jury trial be waived by all parties, in which event the hearing
shall be before any Judge or Judges of said Court. An appeal
to the Court of Appeals of Maryland may be taken by either
party to said case from the judgment of said Circuit Court
within thirty days thereafter, and the Court of Appeals shall
have power to review all questions of fact or law involved. If
the final decision shall be that the area in question is a natural
bed or bar, amended plats shall be made and copies filed as pro-
vided in Section 94-A. The parties filing the petition in the
Circuit Court as herein provided shall first file a bond with suffi-
cient surety in the sum of $25, conditioned to pay Court costs
incurred, in the event said petition is dismissed and costs are
imposed upon the petitioners; and the party or parties taking
the appeal to the Court of Appeals shall file a similar bond in
such sum as the lower Court may fix, conditioned to pay Court
costs incurred in the event the appeal to the Court of Appeals
is dismissed and costs are imposed upon the appellant.

SEC. 94-C. The rights and interests of lessees under leases
outstanding and in force at the time of the passage
of this Act, covering areas within the limits of natural
beds or bars which may be established by the resur-
veys provided for by Section 94-A, or by proceedings
taken under Section 94-B, and the oysters belonging
to such lessees, located on such areas, shall be con-
demned by the State of Maryland for the use of the pub-
lic. The proceedings for the acquisition by the State of the
rights, interests and properties of such lessees shall be that set
forth in Chapter 117 of the Acts of 1912; and it shall be the
duty of the State's Attorney of the County in which or nearest
to which the areas in question are located to institute forthwith