476 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 235

by the stockholders and Public Service Commission of, Mary-
land, and also of the precedent action of the directors of each
corporation. If any stockholder or stockholders of the rail-
road corporation, whose franchises, corporate property, rights,
privileges and credits are acquired under said agreement,
shall be dissatisfied with said acquisition, and the terms and
conditions thereof contained in said agreement, then it shall
and may be lawful for any such stockholder or stockholders,
within thirty days after the filing of said agreement in the
office of the Secretary of State as hereinabove provided, to
apply by petition to the Circuit Court for the County in
which the chief office of the said vendor corporation may
be situated, or to the Superior Court of Baltimore City if its
chief office be in the City of Baltimore, to appoint three dis-
interested persons to estimate and appraise the damage, if
any, which such stockholder or stockholders shall suffer or sus-
tain by reason of the purchase and acquisition provided for by

said agreement, and whose award, or that of a majority of
them, when confirmed by said Court, shall be final and conclu-
sive; and the person so appointed shall also appraise the share
or shares of said stockholders in the said company, at the
market value thereof, without regard to any depreciation re-

sulting from said purchase and acquisition, and the said com-
pany may, at its election, either pay to the said holder the
amount of damages so found, or the value of the stock so ascer-
tained, and upon payment of the value of the stock, as afore-
said, the same shall be transferred to and be vested in said
acquiring company.

FOURTH. In connection with and upon consummation of such
acquisition as aforesaid, the acquiring company may issue its
own then authorized capital stock or its own bonds, either or
both, at not less than the par or face value thereof, to such
amount as may be required by said agreement, or as may be
found otherwise necessary for paying and extinguishing the

outstanding capital stock and bonded indebtedness, or either,
of the corporation whose rights, property, privileges, fran-
chises and credits are so acquired.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That this Act shall take effect
from the first day of June, 1916.

Approved April 18th, 1916.