sioners in their report shall return as being benefited thereby, and chargeable with the expense of making the same; but if any ditch laid out as aforesaid shall not be begun within two years from the confirmation of the return, or, being begun, shall not be completed within seven years thereafter, the said order and return shall become void and be of no effect, and the and authority under it shall cease.

power

1888, art. 25, sec. 63. 1860, art. 28 sec. 92. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 13.

1904, ch. 391.

64. Any person who shall stop up, or in any way obstruct any ditch made in pursuance hereof, so as to impede the free flow of water therein, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof by any justice of the peace shall be fined not exceeding twenty dollars for each offense and the costs of prosecution, and, in the discretion of the said justice, may be committed to jail until such fine and costs are paid. All such fines when collected shall be paid to the treasurer of the ditch on which the offense was committed for the use of such ditch; provided, properly constructed swinging water gates may be placed across any such ditch on the fence lines to prevent stock from trespassing through said ditch.

Ibid. sec. 64. 1860, art. 28, sec. 93. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 14. 1888, ch. 389. 65. The commissioners appointed as hereinbefore directed shall each receive for every day's attendance in the discharge of their duties the sum of two dollars.

Ibid. sec. 65. 1860, art. 28, sec. 94. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 14. 1888, ch. 389.

66. The managers appointed as aforesaid shall each receive one dollar for every day they shall be engaged in the discharge of their duty; the surveyor, such reasonable compensation as shall be agreed upon between the parties; and the clerk of the county commissioners, who is hereby required to keep a record of the order and report, shall be entitled to receive for every order made and certified under his seal of office fifty cents; for recording the report, endorsing the confirmation thereon, and filing the same on record, twenty-five cents.

Ibid. sec. 66. 1860, art. 28, sec. 95. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 15. 67. If any commissioner appointed in any order, original or of review shall die, or remove from the county, or be otherwise unable to act, the county commissioners, as soon as prac

ticable thereafter, shall appoint another person in his stead, and the order and report thereon shall be executed and received in the same manner by the county commissioners as if the person originally appointed had acted.

1888, art. 25, sec. 67. 1860, art. 28, sec. 96. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 16. 68. Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the removal of any mill-dam, or interference with the legal water rights appertaining to mills, nor to divert the water so as to deprive the owner over whose lands said water flows of the benefits and water rights now enjoyed by him.

Ibid. sec. 68. 1860, art. 28, sec. 97. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 17.

69. In case of the property or interest of any minor not having a guardian being affected by the draining of any swamp or low grounds, as hereinbefore provided, the orphans' court of said county shall appoint a guardian to protect the interest of such minor.

Ibid. sec. 69. 1860, art. 28, sec. 98. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 18.

70. If any owner of land or other property affected by any proceedings hereinbefore authorized lives out of the State, a written notice of thirty days served on the tenant or agent of such owner of the proceedings of the commissioners shall be as good and sufficient as if said owner resided in the State.

Ibid. sec. 70. 1860, art. 28, sec. 99. 1847, ch. 250.

71. The county commissioners or circuit court for the county in which such proceedings may be pending, at any time before a final decision is made, may, upon application of any party thereto, grant leave, in their discretion, to said party to amend the petition, or any part of the proceedings thereunder that may be defective or informal, so as to bring the merits of the case before said county commissioners or circuit court or jury for trial, and may award costs, in their discretion, according to the right of the matter.

Ibid. sec. 71. 1860, art. 28, sec. 100. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 19.

72. Any person conceiving himself aggrieved by the determination of the county commissioners, or by any proceedings had under this article relating to drains, may appeal to the circuit court for the county, and shall be entitled, at the election of either party, to a trial by jury; and the judgment thereupon rendered shall be final between the parties. Miles v. Stevenson, 80 Md. 367.

1888, art. 25, sec. 72. 1860, art. 28, sec. 101. 1858, ch. 271, sec. 20. 73. If any ditch shall be cut across any public road, so as to incommode travel, the managers shall erect good and sufficient bridges, not less than twelve feet wide, over the same, where it crosses the road, and shall keep the same in good repair; and if they refuse or neglect so to do, the supervisor having charge of said road shall erect or repair such bridge and return an account of the expenses thereof, under oath, to the county commissioners, who shall place the same in the hands of the sheriff of said county; and the said sheriff shall proceed to collect the same from the managers, in the same manner as other county charges are collected, and pay the same to the said county commissioners, for the use of the county.

Ibid. sec. 73. 1867, ch. 127, sec. 102.

74. The commissioners appointed by the county commissioners to lay off any ditch, before proceeding to do so, shall give at least ten days' notice of their intention to proceed with the execution of their commission by advertisement set up at four of the most public places in the neighborhood of the proposed ditch; and no report shall be confirmed by the county commissioners unless such notice shall be shown to have been given.

Ibid. sec. 74. 1867, ch. 127, sec. 103.

75. The county commissioners shall, on their first meeting after receiving any return of proceedings of such ditch commissioners, appoint a day to hear objections to such return, and to ratify or reject the same; and they shall give at least twenty days' notice by publication in some newspaper published in the county, and if no paper be published in the county, by advertisement set up in at least four of the most public places in the neighborhood of such proposed ditch, of the time for such hearing; and the cost of such advertisement shall be taxed by them against the petitioner or petitioners for such ditch, unless the return shall be ratified and the ditch opened, when the same shall be charged against the fund provided for such ditch purposes.

Ibid. sec. 75. 1867, ch. 127, sec. 104. 1900, ch. 635.

76. The treasurer of the ditch, in executing the power conferred on him by section 57 of this article, shall proceed as follows: he shall leave with the person taxable and neglecting to pay, at his house, and if he have no house shall put the

same in the mail, addressed to him at his usual postoffice, a notice of the amount due from him; and if the person taxable shall neglect to pay for the space of one month from the date of said notice, then the said treasurer shall proceed in person to levy the amount due and to sell the property levied upon, in the same way and after the same notice that a collector may levy and sell for non-payment of taxes. This section not to apply to Dorchester county.

1904, ch. 391, sec. 75 A.

77. All assessments and taxes levied or made for ditches. made pursuant to the preceding sections hereof shall be liens on the real estate of the person indebted therefor from the time the same are levied or made; and all such assessments and taxes shall be due and in arrear thirty days after the date of making or levying the same.

Ibid. sec. 75 B.

78. In addition to the manner of collecting money levied for the purpose of cutting, making and opening, or for cleaning out and repairing any ditch or ditches, or the payment of any damages or expenses, provided by sections 57 and 76 of this article, the treasurer of any ditch, in case of the refusal or neglect of any person bound to pay the same for thirty days after demand for payment thereof by said treasurer, may enter suit in his name as treasurer for any such money due for taxes or assessment for ditches made pursuant to this article before a justice of the peace where the amount due does not exceed one hundred dollars, and before the circuit court, where the amount due exceeds one hundred dollars, and obtain judgment therefor as in cases of assumpsit, all such suits to be entered in the county in which the debtor resides at the time of bringing the suit. But nothing in this section shall be construed to abridge or affect the right and power of the treasurer to collect such money in the manner authorized by said section 76 of this article, if he elect to proceed thereunder.

Ibid. sec. 75 c.

79. Any sale of lands by the treasurer, where the owners are described as the heirs of a named person, shall shall pass title as fully as if such heirs were each named in the proceedings by his full name.

1888, art. 25, sec. 76. 1870, ch. 382.

80. The provisions of the preceding sections of this article relating to draining lands shall apply to all lands requiring drainage.

Meridian Line.

Ibid. sec. 77. 1870, ch. 359, sec. 1.

81. It shall be lawful for the county commissioners of each county in the State, if they shall deem it expedient, to cause to be erected at some public spot adjacent to the court house of each county, two good and substantial stone pillars, one hundred feet distant apart, the one from the other, and upon the same true meridian line. And upon the summit of one of the said pillars there shall be placed a distinctly visible needlepoint; and upon the summit of the other there shall be erected a hair-sight, in such a manner that a straight line passing through the centre thereof and continued until the same shall strike the centre of the needle-point upon the other, shall be in and upon the line of the true meridian running north and south, and they shall enclose and protect the same properly; the said pillars and enclosures to be subject to the custody of the county clerk, to be free to the access of any surveyor of lands or civil engineer residing in said county, or engaged in surveying therein, for the purpose of testing the variation of the compass for the time being, and to cause the said meridian line to be verified at any time when required so to do by order of the circuit court for the said county; and furthermore, it shall be lawful for the said county commissioners to cause to be determined the accurate latitude and longitude of the pillars aforesaid, reckoning the latter from the meridian of Washington, and to have the same marked distinctly and legibly in degrees, minutes, seconds and parts of seconds, on one of the pillars aforesaid.

Ibid. sec. 78. 1870, ch. 359, sec. 2.

82. The said county commissioners shall provide and keep a standard measure of one rod in length, by which surveyors of lands in said county may compare, test and verify their several chains, the said standard measure to be kept under the control and in the custody of the county clerk, and to be accessible to all surveyors as aforesaid under such restrictions and regulations as may be deemed by the said county commissioners compatible with its safety and proper preservation.