1750                             Laws of Maryland                        Ch. 616

198.

When any inhabitant of any county shall have any sheep, poul-
try, or livestock destroyed or injured by a dog or dogs, he may
apply within 30 days to any trial magistrate of said county, who
shall appoint three disinterested persons as appraisers to view and
appraise the damages by him sustained, at least one of said ap-
praisers shall be a deputy sheriff of said county and they, under
oath, shall state in writing to the county commissioners of said
county, the number of sheep, poultry, or livestock killed, the char-
acter and extent of the injury, if any done, and the amount of the
damages, upon which they shall all agree, sustained by the owner;
and both the appraisers and the owner of the sheep, poultry or
livestock shall make oath that they believe the same to have been
destroyed or injured by a dog or dogs, and when the report of
such proceedings has been filed, the county commissioners of said
county shall review said report, and if in their judgment the amount
of damages stated is unfair, they shall award such amount as they
may deem fair; which award shall be paid out of the fund hereby
created; provided, however, that the said sworn report of the ap-
praisers shall be deemed prima facie evidence of the fairness of
the award of damages in each instance; and provided, further,
that the county commissioners shall not change such an award
unless they shall have personal knowledge of its unfairness, or shall
receive competent testimony to the effect that the award is in ex-
cess of a fair commercial valuation of the sheep, poultry or live-
stock injured or destroyed by dogs. And if the owner of the dog
or dogs doing the damage be known, it shall be the duty of the
county commissioners to notify such owner or owners to kill said
dog or dogs immediately. If such dog or dogs be killed by the
owner, after notice as aforesaid, he shall be exempt from all further
liability, but in case the said owner or owners shall refuse or
neglect to kill said dog or dogs upon notice as aforesaid, the said
owner or owners shall be liable to the county commissioners for
said damages to the same extent as he would be liable in case of
negligence or malicious destruction of property, and the said county
commissioners may in their discretion have the special officers or
constables to kill said dog or dogs. In Montgomery County, how-
ever, the county manager shall perform all powers, duties and re-
sponsibilities placed within the jurisdiction and control of the
County Council by this section; and the county manager in lieu
of notifying the owner or owners to kill such dog or dogs may
require such owner or owners to execute and file with the county
manager a bond in such amount and upon such terms as he shall
determine to indemnify the County Council for any such damage
as said dog or dogs shall have done, but in case the said owner or
owners should refuse or neglect to execute and post such bond
the said county manager may, in his discretion, provide for the
humane destruction of said dog or dogs. In Washington County
no payments shall be made under this section unless the occurrence
is reported to the justice of the peace, in order to have appraisers
appointed, within 48 hours of the damage complained of, and un-
less such appraisers file their report with the County Commissioners
of Washington County within 15 days after their appointment.
In Frederick County, the appraisers to be appointed as provided
by this section may also be appointed by the Sheriff, or any deputy
sheriff of said county. IN KENT COUNTY, THE APPLICATION