SPIRO T. AGNEW, Governor                        413

for which a patent has previously been issued in order to obtain a
new patent therefor.

(viii) "Surveyor" means the person elected or appointed pur-
suant to Article VII, Section 2, of the Constitution of Maryland as
county surveyor for the county to which a warrant of survey or
resurvey is to be directed; or, if no such person is elected or ap-
pointed, any person authorized to practice land surveying as defined
and regulated by Article 75½.

14.

(a)    The functions of the Commissioner of Land Patents under
this subtitle shall be performed by the Archivist appointed by the
Hall of Records Commission. When acting in such capacity, the
Archivist shall be deemed to act independently of the powers, duties
and responsibilities imposed upon him as Archivist. The seal used
by him in the performance of any duty under this subtitle shall be
the seal formerly used by the Commissioner of the Land Office.

16.

(b)    The application shall contain:

(i) The name and address of the applicant;

(ii) The county and election district in which the property for
which patent is sought is located;

(iii) Separate descriptions of any vacant land and any land then
owned by the applicant for which a patent is sought, and the esti-
mated acreage contained within each such description. Such descrip-
tions shall be made by specific reference to the names and addresses
of the owners of all adjoining tracts or parcels of land as shown
on the assessment records of the county in which such land is
situated; and a metes-and-bounds description is not required in the
application.

(iv) In cases where either type of warrant [of] to resurvey is
requested, a certified copy of the instruments by which the ap-
plicant acquired fee-simple absolute title and, if such instruments
do not contain a metes-and-bounds description of the land, a certified
copy of the last instrument in the chain of title of such applicant
which does contain such description.

(v) A statement that no person other than the applicant and
those under whom he claims title has held and possessed the described
land [for] continuously during the period of twenty years next
preceding the date of filing the application.

(vi) The name and address of the surveyor to whom the war-
rant is to be directed.

(vii) The name to be given to the tract to be surveyed and/or
resurveyed if a patent is issued.

(viii) Any other information required by the Commissioner
from time to time by rule.

(ix) A request for the issuance of one of the specific types of
warrant referred to in subsection (a) and the issuance of a patent
for the land described in the certificate returned upon such warrant.