2344                                                LAWS OF MARYLAND                         [Ch. 687

erecting, financing, maintaining, using or operating any
federal work, improvement or project, including dredging
or flood control projects or other federal river and
harbor and navigation works and improvements, and to
agree to terras of local cooperation required by Congress
and/or the federal agency in connection therewith;

(2)   Enter into, execute and perform any and all
contracts and agreements with the United States or any
agency thereof, in the form required thereby, obligating
said county or municipality, in whole or in part, to
construct, erect, finance, maintain, use, or operate any
such federal works, improvements or projects or
obligating said county or municipality to arrange,
contract for, or supervise the construction, erection,
financing, maintenance, use, or operation thereof;

(3)   Levy for, appropriate, and obligate necessary
moneys to pay for the county's or municipality's share of
the cost of such works, improvements, and projects and to
obtain private loans and financing therefor;

(4)   Receive and accept and expend and use any funds
donated or loaned by the federal government to assist in
the construction, erection, financing, maintenance, use,
or operation of any such works, improvements, and
projects;

(5)  Subject to the provisions of Title 12 of THE
REAL PROPERTY Article [21] of [this] THE Code, purchase
or condemn lands, rights—of—ways, easements, and any
other interests in land necessary for such improvements,
works, and projects and to convey, lease, or otherwise
transfer all or any part of such interests to the United
States or any agency thereof;

(6)   Enter on any lands, waters and premises for the
purpose of making surveys, soundings, and examination in
or for the furtherance of any such works, improvements,
and projects; and

SECTION 13. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That
Sections 4-401, 5-103 and 12-401(b), of Article - Courts
and Judicial Proceedings, of the Annotated Code of
Maryland (1974 Volume), be and they are hereby repealed
and re—enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

Article — Courts and Judicial Proceedings

4-401.

Except as provided in § 4—402, and subject to the
venue provisions of Title 6, the District Court has
exclusive original jurisdiction in:

(1)  An action in contract or tort if the debt or
damages claimed do not exceed $5,000;

(2)  An action of replevin regardless of the value of
the thing in controversy;

(3)  A case of attachment on original process, if the