66

SAMUEL STEVENS, Jr. ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

Dec. Ses. 1823

as may best comport with the interest and convenience of the pub-
lic, and any vacancies happening in said board, from neglect to qual-
ify or otherwise, shall be filed by the commissioners who shall con-
sent to act.

Their pro-
ceedings di-
rected.

2. And be it enacted, That the said commissioners shall cause
a survey and two plots to be made of the situation of the ground
across which the said street is required to be laid out, and such lots
as are adjacent thereto, and shall mark out and designate the said
street upon the said plots, and upon the ground, and shall return un-
der their hands and seals, one of the plots to be lodged in the office
of the register of the city of Baltimore, there to remain as a part of
the said city, and the other plot to the clerk of Baltimore county-
court, to be by him preserved among the records of said court.

Damages.

3. And be it enacted, That the s;iid commissioners after having
surveyed the ground and designated the street as aforesaid, shall pro-
ceed forthwith to ascertain and determine what damages will be sus-
tained by the owners of property lying within or adjacent to the said
street, by reason of the opening and extension thereof, taking
into consideration all advantages and disadvantages, provided that
no claim of compensation for damages shall be adjudged in favor of
any property which shall not be taken in whole or in part for the use
of the said street.

Assessment
of benefit.

4. And be it enacted. That the said commissioners after having as-
certained the damages as aforesaid, and added thereto the commis-
sion allowed to the collector, as hereinafter provided, and an estimate
of the expense of executing their agency herein, including a reason-
able compensation to their surveyor and clerk, whom they are hereby
authorised to employ, which shall he paid to the parties respectively
entitled to receive the same, of which said sum one third shall be
paid by the mayor and city council of Baltimore, and they shall then
proceed to assess the residue of the said sum upon the property be-
nefitted by the opening and extension of the said street, having re-
gard to all circumstances, and having completed the said estimate
and assessment, the said commissioners shall make a full and parti-
cular report thereof, under their hands and seals to Baltimore county
court, designating precisely the property ascertained to be injured,
and 'the property assessed as benefitted, and the names of the pro-
prietors of both species of property as fully as they can ascertain
the same, and the relative or respective rights of such proprietors.

Notice, ap-
peal, review,
time limited,
&c.

5. And be it enacted, That the clerk of Baltimore county court,
shall publish notice of the report, being returned as aforesaid within
fire days after the said return in all newspapers printed in the said
city, and if any person or body corporate, shall conceive himself, her-
self or themselves aggrieved by the award in such report, he, she or
they may petition the Judges of Baltimore county court, to review the
same, who thereupon shall proceed to examine fully the subject, and
for that purpose they are hereby authorized and empowered to sum-
mon witnesses, to call for papers and to hear the representations of
parties, and finally to to decide upon the subject matter, and to alter
modify and correct the said report, in all or any of its parts as to
them shall seem just and equitable, giving to all parties affected by
any proposed modification, reasonable notice; the said court shall al-
low costs against the parties controverting the said report to the clerk
in their discretion, and after all applications for a review shall have
been disposed of and the report of the commissioners shall have
been finally approved and passed by the said court, they shall order