172 LAWS OF MARYLAND [CH. 36

of and Jurisdiction Over Land and Buildings", be and they are
hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

5.

Whenever the United States are desirous of purchasing or procur-
ing the title to any tract, piece or parcel of land within the boun-
daries or limits of this State, f or the purpose of erecting thereon
any lighthouse, beacon light, range light, light-keeper's dwelling,
forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, buoys, public piers, or neces-
sary public buildings or improvements connected therewith, and
cannot agree with the owner thereof as to the price and for the
purchase thereof; or if the owner be feme covert, under age, non
compos mentis, or out of the county wherein the said land lies, or
for any other cause is incapable of making a perfect title to said
lands, the United States, by any agent authorized under the hand
and seal of any member of the President's cabinet, may apply by
petition in writing to the circuit court for the county where the
land lies [; which petition shall be filed with the clerk of said court, ]
to have the said land condemned for the use and benefit of the
United States; and any such agent of the United States may, for
the purpose of ascertaining its bounds and quantity, enter upon the
lands, without injury thereto, which the United States may desire
to purchase for any of the purposes aforesaid. The condemnation
proceedings hereunder shall be conducted in accordance with Article
SS A of the Annotated Code of Maryland, title ''Eminent Domain".

16.

[Every inquisition shall describe the property taken, and the
bounds and quantity of the land condemned, and shall state the
valuation thereof; such valuation, when paid or tendered to the
owner of said property, shall entitle the United States to the land so
valued and condemned, for the use and purposes set forth in said
petition, as fully as if the same had been conveyed by the owner
thereof to the United States for said use and purposes, with the
sanction of the General Assembly of this State; provided, always,
that if said valuation be tendered to the party entitled and refused,
the United States shall obtain no title to said land until they shall
have by their said agent or otherwise brought said tender and
refusal to the knowledge of said court; and until said court shall
pass an order directing that said valuation, tendered and refused
as aforesaid, be paid over to the clerk of said court, to be retained
by him, or invested under the order or direction of said court, for
the use and benefit of the party entitled, whenever he shall see fit
to demand the same, and until the said court shall direct said clerk
to pay over the same to him, and said order shall have been complied
with by the United States; and the said court may, in its discretion,
before ordering any such valuation to be paid over to said clerk
require said clerk to enter into an additional bond to the State, with
security to be approved by said court, in such penal sum as said
court may direct, not exceeding double the amount of such valua-
tions, conditioned that the said clerk will well and faithfully keep
all moneys paid over to him as such valuation, and will well and
faithfully comply with all the orders of said court in reference
thereto; but n] Nothing in this article contained shall authorize the
condemnation of more than ten acres of land in any one tract for the
use of the United States.