ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR. 211

to pass under any such ordinance or to effect any variation in
such ordinance.

Any person or persons, jointly or severally aggrieved by any
decision of the Board of Adjustment, or any taxpayer, or any
officer, department, board or bureau of the municipality, may
present to a court of record a petition, duly verified, setting
forth that such decision is illegal, in whole or in part, specify-
ing the grounds of the illegality. Such petition shall be pre-
sented to the court within thirty days after the filing of the
decision in the office of the Board.

Upon the presentation of such petition, the court may allow
a writ of certiorari directed to the Board of Adjustment to
review such decision of the Board of Adjustment and shall pre-
scribe therein the time within which a return thereto must be
made and served upon the relator's attorney, which shall not
be less than ten days and may be extended by the court. The
allowance of the writ shall not stay proceedings upon the deci-
sion appealed from, but the court may, on application, on
notice to the Board and on due cause shown, grant a restrain-
ing order.

The Board of Adjustment shall not be required to return
the original papers acted upon by it, but it shall be sufficient
to return certified or sworn copies thereof or of such portions
thereof as may be called for by such writ. The return shall
concisely set forth such other facts as may be pertinent and
material to show the grounds of the decision appealed from
and shall be verified.

If, upon the hearing, it shall appear to the court that testi-
mony is necessary for the proper disposition of the matter, it
may take evidence or appoint a referee to take such evidence
as it may direct and report the same to the court with his find-
ings of fact and conclusions of law, which shall constitute a
part of the proceedings upon which the determination of the
court shall be made. The court may reverse or affirm, wholly
or partly, or may modify the decision brought up for review.

Costs shall not be allowed against the Board, unless it shall
appear to the court that it acted with gross negligence or in
bad faith or with malice in making the decision appealed from.

All issues in any proceeding under this section shall have
preference over all other civil actions and proceedings.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That in case any build-
ing or structure is erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered,