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Passed Decem-
ber 24, 1810.
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CHAP. CIII.
An ACT to authorise the filling up and extending of certain Lots on
the south side of the Basin in the City of Baltimore.
WHEREAS Christopher Hughes, of the city of Baltimore, by his petition to this general as-
sembly, hath set forth, that for the want of convenient wharfs on the south side of the
Basin in said city, that part of the city, and persons trading by water to the said city, are deprived
of many advantages which they would otherwise enjoy, and that his property is thereby materially
injured, and hath therefore prayed that a law might pass, granting him, as the proprietor of certain
water lot$, permission to extend and wharf out the same; therefore,
II. BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That Christopher Hughes, and any other
person or persons who now are, or hereafter may be, the proprietors of lots binding on, and entitled
to the privileges of, the water on the south side of the Basin in the city of Baltimore, between Fo-
rest-street and Johnson-street, shall be and are hereby permitted to wharf out, extend and improve,
the whole front of their several lots respectively, and for such distance as from time to time they
may think fit, until they intersect a line extended eastwardly in a right line with and from the north
side of Lee-street, provided that the whole front of each lot be extended, and no dock or vacant
space left on part thereof, and the proprietors of said wharfs shall be entitled solely and exclusively
to the emoluments arising from the wharfage thereof, and shall be subject to the rules and regulations
prescribed by the mayor and city council of Baltimore respecting the wharfage thereof.
III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That William-street and Johnson-street shall be continued and ex-
tended their present width to the intersection of the said line extended eastward in a right line with
and from the north side of Lee-street, or so far as the proprietors of the lots bordering on the said
streets shall extend their said lots, and that the city of Baltimore be and they are hereby at liberty
to make a good and sufficient wharf at the end of each of said streets, and to fill up the said streets,
so extended, on or before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and thirteen, and if the said city,
within the said period, shall not wharf and fill in the same, then the proprietors of the adjoining
property, or any of them, may proceed to wharf and fill up the same as far as their lots shall have
been wharfed or extended, and shall be allowed a reasonable compensation therefor, by a relinquish-
ment of taxes, by having the mud taken from the Basin deposited under the direction of such person
as may undertake to wharf and fill up said streets, at the usual and customary rates, or in such other
manner as the mayor and city council of Baltimore shall deem most adviseable for said city, and the
said streets, when made as aforesaid, shall be respectively deemed and considered for ever thereafter
as public highways, and the mayor and city council, for the use of said city, shall be entitled solely
and exclusively to the emoluments arising from the wharfage at the end of said streets.
IV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the sheriff of Baltimore county, after having given at least ten
days notice in one of the news-papers of the city of Baltimore, shall at any time before the first day
of April next, summon twelve freeholders, inhabitants of the said city, not interested in the pre-
mises, who being first sworn to assess and value what damages shall be sustained by any person or
persons whomsoever, or the corporation of the city of Baltimore, by reason of extending and wharf-
ing out said lots, (taking all benefits and inconveniencies into consideration, ) shall proceed to assess
and value what damages may be sustained by the corporation of the city of Baltimore, or any
person or persons whomsoever, by extending and wharfing out said lots, and shall also declare what
sum of money each individual benefitted thereby shall respectively contribute and pay towards com-
pensating the corporation of the city of Baltimore, or any person or persons injured by extending
and wharfing put the said lots; and the names of the person or persons, and the sums of money
which they shall respectively be obliged to pay, shall be returned, under their hands and seals, to
the register of the said city, to be filed and kept in his office, and the person or persons benefitted
by extending and wharfing out said lots, and assessed as aforesaid, shall respectively pay the sum or
sums of money so charged and assessed to them, with interest, thereon, at the rate of six per centum
for the time limitted for the payment thereof.
V. AND BB IT ENACTED, That the sums of money assessed and charged to each individual bene-
fitted by extending and wharfing out said lots, shall be a lien upon and bind all the property so be-
nefitted thereby to the full amount thereof.
VI. AND BE IT ENACTED, That in case the corporation of the city of Baltimore, or the person
or persons injured by extending and wharfing out the said lots, shall not be paid the damages by him
or them respectively sustained and assessed as aforesaid, he, she or they, shall and may institute
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