1801.

NOVEMBER. LAWS OF MARYLAND.

C H A P.

XCIII.

Mayor, &c.
may agree, &c.

II. BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall and may be lawful for the
mayor arid city council of Baltimore for the tune being, to agree for the purchase thereof with the
owner or owners of any land on the Waters of the Patapsco contiguous to the city of Baltimore,
not exceeding ten acres, for the purpose of erecting thereon a lazaretto and store-house, for the
reception of infected persons and goods, and of making the necessary gardens and grounds which
should appertain to the same ; and in case it should so happen that the mayor and city council and
the owner or owners of such land as may be deemed necessary for the purpose aforesaid, not ex-
ceeding ten acres, cannot agree for the same, or in case the title of such land, or any part there-
of, as may be deemed most convenient for the purposes aforesaid, shall be vested in a feme-covert
infant, idiot, lunatic, person non compos mentis, or absent from tills state, that then it shall be law-
ful for the said mayor to apply to any one justice of the peace for the county in which such land
shall lie, for his warrant to the sheriff of said county, thereby commanding the said sheriff to
summon, or cause to be summoned, a jury of twelve honest and disinterested freeholders of his
county, to meet on the land to be valued, on a certain day in the said warrant to be named, de-
scribing the land in his warrant; and the said justice is hereby empowered and required, on such
application being made to him as aforesaid, to issue his warrant, under his hand and seal, directed
to the sheriff of his county, requiring and commanding him to summon twelve honest and disin-
terested freeholders as aforesaid of his county, who shall stand indifferent between the parties,
to meet on the land to be valued, on a certain day, of which the parties interested shall have due
notice, and the said sheriff, upon the receiving said warrant, shall immediately comply there-
with ; and the jurors, when met together on the land, shall take the following oath, or affirmation,
to be administered by the said sheriff to each of them separately, to wit: " You, A. B. do swear,
" or solemnly affirm, that you will make a just, true and honest valuation of this land, and of all
" damages that shall be sustained by the proprietor or proprietors of the land now to be valued
" and shewn to you, according to the best of your skill and judgment ; so help you God ;" and
the said jury shall then proceed to inquire into and ascertain the value of the said land and da-
mages as aforesaid, and the inquisition so made and taken shall be signed by the sheriff and
the jury, and returned by the sheriff to the clerk of Baltimore county, which shall be by him filed
and recorded among the land records of said county, and the valuation so made by the jurors shall
be binding and conclusive on all parties, and shall be paid by the said mayor and city council to
the owner or owners of the land, or his legal representative, as a full recompence therefor; and
the said mayor and city council, or their successors, on payment of the said money, shall have as
good, sure and indefeasible title, in fee simple, to said land, as if the same had been conveyed by
the owner to the said mayor and city council, and their successors, by fine, feoffnent, deed of
bargain and sale, or any other mode of conveyance.

May hold land,
&c.

III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the said mayor and city council, and their successors, on pay-
ment of the said money, shall hold the said land, and every part thereof, clear of all liens or in-

cumbrances whatsoever.

And enter any
lands, &c.

IV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the mayor and city council, or any of them, or any person or
persons by them, or either of them, authorised, may enter upon and survey any lands, to deter-
mine, ascertain and lay out, the said ten acres of land, and the same when determined on, shall
lay off and fix by certain boundaries.

Hot more than
ten acres, &c.

V. AND BE IT ENACTED, That not more than ten acres of land in the whole shall be condemn-
ed for the purposes aforesaid.

C H A P. XCIV.

Passed 31st of
Dec. 1801.

A Supplement to an act, entitled, An act respecting the public roads
in Washington county, passed at November session, one thousand
seven hundred and ninety-eight.

Preamble.

WHEREAS by the act of assembly to which this is a supplement, the levy court of said
county did appoint commissioners to lay out and survey a road from Elizabeth-town, in
Washington county, to the Pennsylvania line in Nicholson's gap: And whereas the said commis-
sioners did proceed to lay out and survey the said road, and did survey and lay out the said road
in different directions, one of which has been confirmed by the said court, which road, so con-
firmed by the said court, it is represented to this general assembly, by a large number of respecta-
ble inhabitants of said county, is the most inconvenient and expensive, and on the worst ground:
And