594 LAWS OF MARYLAND [CH. 313

last insertion of said advertisement, file a protest in writing
against such application in the Circuit Court of the county
in which or nearest to which the area applied for is located,
and the Clerk of said Court shall thereupon docket a suit
at law in which the protestants are the plaintiffs and the
[Department of Tidewater Fisheries] applicant is the de-
fendant. The Court, or any Judge thereof, shall there-
upon pass an Order directing summons to issue for the de-
fendant, to be served in the same manner as summons in
action at law, and returned by some day to be named in
said Order. Said Court or Judge shall also furnish the de-
fendant with a copy of the petition and the defendant shall
answer said petition within fifteen days after the return
day to which it is summoned, unless the Court, for good
cause, has extended time for answering it. After filing of
said answer, or in default of answer within the time fixed,
the Court shall proceed promptly to hear all evidence ad-
duced by the parties, or either of them, and shall decide
whether the area described in said petition is or is not
within any of the prohibited areas set forth in subsection
(b) of this section and for which a lease shall not be
granted, and judgment shall be entered accordingly. The
hearing in said Circuit Court shall be before a jury unless
jury trial be waived by all parties, in which event the hear-
ing shall be before any Judge or Judges of said Court. An
appeal to the Court of Appeals of Maryland may be taken
by either party to said cause from the judgment of said
Circuit Court within thirty days thereafter, and the Court
of Appeals shall have the power to review all questions of
fact or law involved. If the final decision shall be that the
area in question is a natural oyster bar or bed, Charts of
the Oyster Survey of 1906 to 1912, on record in the office
of the Department of Tidewater Fisheries, shall be amended
accordingly. The parties filing petition in the Circuit
Court, as herein provided, shall first file a bond, with suf-
ficient surety, in the sum of Twenty-five Dollars ($25. 00),
conditioned to pay Court costs incurred in the event said
petition is dismissed, and the costs are imposed upon the
petitioners; and the party or parties taking the appeal to
the Court of Appeals shall file a similar bond in such sum
as the Lower Court may fix, conditioned to pay court costs
incurred in the event the appeal to the Court of Appeals is
dismissed, and costs are imposed upon the appellant.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall
take effect June 1, 1953.

Approved April 6, 1953.