224 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 138

assessment shall be void ab inito. Such assessments may be
collected as taxes are collected or by action of law.

(15) Upon payment, or tender and deposit in proper case,
of all damages awarded, the title to the lands condemned shall
pass to the Mayor and Council of Salisbury to have and to
hold as other lands are held for public purposes.

(16) If the Council shall fail to determine to proceed with
the proposed improvement within the six months men-
tioned in sub-division (12) of this Section, then the proceedings
shall be null and void ab initio. But if the Council shall
determine to proceed with the proposed improvement within
the said time, then the proceedings shall be valid and binding,
in spite of irregularities, defects and errors therein, upon all
persons and corporations mentioned in the notice required by
sub-division nine of this Section, who have not filed an appeal
as provided in sub-division eleven of this Section and upon all
property of such persons or corporation damaged, taken or
benefited by virtue of such proceedings, it being the intention
of this sub-division to cure all defects in such proceedings as
to all persons and corporations except appellants, mentioned
in the said notice and as against all attack except by appeal
as provided, and in case the proceedings shall be held invalid
as to an appellant they shall not be considered as invalid ex-
cept as to that appellant; provided, that whenever any pro-
ceedings shall be held invalid as to any person, the Mayor and
Council of Salisbury, shall, as soon after such holding as con-
veniently as may be, proceed to institute, as to such persons,
new proceedings, or to do whatever else may be necessary, for
the purpose of properly and fully carrying into effect the plan
of the improvements as laid out in the ordinance required by
sub-division two of this Section.

17. In lieu of the provisions for the condemnation of proper-
ty, as set forth in the preceding sub-divisions of this Section,
the proceedings instituted by the Mayor and Council of Salis-
bury for the condemnation of property may be as provided by
Article 33-A, of the Annotated Code of Maryland, regulating
the procedure for the acquisition of property for public use by
condemnation, and all the rights, powers and privileges con-
ferred by said Article relating to the condemnation of property
for public use, are hereby expressly conferred upon and vested
in the Mayor and Council of Salisbury.

At any time after ten days following the return and recorda-
tion of the verdict or award in said proceeding, or at any time
after ten days following the judgment in case an appeal is taken
under sub-division eleven hereof, the Mayor and Council of
Salisbury may enter and take possession of the property so