1888, art. 15, sec. 1. 1860, art. 15, sec. 1. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 2.

1. Any commission authorized by this article may be issued by the circuit court for the county where any part of the land lies; or if the land, or part of it, lies in the city of Baltimore, it may be issued by the superior court of Baltimore city; and the word county, as used in this article, shall include the city of Baltimore.

Ibid. sec. 2. 1860, art. 15, sec. 2. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 2. 1787, ch. 22, sec. 2. 1808, ch. 46,, sec. 2.

2. Any person or body corporate, entitled to any estate of inheritance in lands in possession, remainder or reversion, or having a life estate therein, or an estate for years by a lease having twenty-one years to run, duly executed and recorded, if such lands are described by courses and distances only as to any of the lines thereof in the grant or deed under which they are held, or if any of the bounds called for are lost, may have a commission to mark and bound such lands by complying with the provisions of the following sections.

Ibid. sec. 3. 1860, art. 15, sec. 3. 1793, ch. 70, sec. 4.

3. In all cases where the same tract is held by different persons, and lies partly in one county and partly in another,

or partly in this State and partly in an adjoining State, any person interested may have a commission to mark and bound the whole tract when lying wholly in this State, and also his particular part; and when lying partly in this State and partly in an adjoining State, any citizen of this or of any of the United States may have a commission to mark and bound such part as shall lie within this State.

1888, art. 15, sec. 4. 1860, art. 15, sec. 4. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 8. 4. Where several persons hold separate parts of one and the same tract, they, or any of them, may have a commission, as well to mark and bound the whole tract as their particular parts thereof; and where any person holds a younger survey, and is thereby interested in the location of interfering or neighboring elder surveys, he shall be entitled to a commission. to mark and bound any such elder survey, if the person, or some one of the persons, applying for the commission, shall have given notice in writing to the person seized of such elder tract, of his or their intention of applying for such commission, nine months before the petition therefor, and the person seized of such elder tract shall have neglected to apply and obtain a commission.

Ibid. sec. 5. 1860, art. 15, sec. 4. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 2.

5. Any person entitled to lands, as mentioned in the preceding sections, and intending to apply for a commission to mark and bound the same, shall give notice two months before the meeting of the court at which he intends to make his application, by advertisement set up at the court-house door of the county, and at two other public places in the district where such lands lie, of his intention to apply to the court for a commission to mark and bound his land, named or otherwise described in such advertisement; and shall also give notice in writing to the persons holding the adjoining lands, if residing thereon, or if absent, by leaving such notice at the houses of such persons, thirty days before the meeting of the court as aforesaid; and if no person lives on the adjoining land, he shall give such notice by advertisement for four successive weeks in some newspaper printed in the city of Baltimore, and also give personal notice to the owner of the adjoining land, or to his agent or attorney, if known and in the State, thirty days before the meeting of the court as aforesaid.

Weems' lessee v. Disney, 4 H. & McH. 156.

1888, art. 15, sec. 6. 1860, art. 15, sec. 6. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 2.

6. Upon proof being made to the satisfaction of the court, that such advertisements were duly set up and notice given as aforesaid, or upon the persons interested appearing, the court may issue a commission to any five or three persons, agreed on by all parties, empowering them, or a majority of them, to mark and bound the land mentioned in such commission; but if the persons interested, or any of them, shall not agree on the persons for commissioners, the court shall appoint three or five persons, skilled in land affairs, not interested in the lands nor related to either of the parties, to whom a commission shall issue as aforesaid.

Ibid. sec. 7. 1860, art. 15, sec. 7. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 3.

7. The said commissioners, or a majority of them shall give notice of the time and purpose of their meeting, by advertisements to be set up at the door of the court house of their county, and such other public places as they may judge most effectual, thirty days at least before such meeting.

Ibid. sec. 8. 1860, art. 15, sec. 8. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 3.

8. Each commissioner shall, before he proceeds in the execution of the commission, otherwise than by giving such notice and issuing summonses for witnesses as herein provided, take an oath before a justice of the peace, or some other of the commissioners, that he will settle and adjust the location. of the land mentioned in the commission, most agreeably to the true original location thereof, according to the evidences and circumstances which shall be offered or appear to him, without favor, affection or partiality, according to the best of his experience and judgment, and will make a true return thereof.

Ibid. sec. 9. 1860, art. 15, sec. 9. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 4.

9. The said commissioners shall meet on the land agreeably to the notice given by them, and may cause the lands mentioned in the commission, as well as any other lands they may think proper, to be surveyed by the surveyor of the county, or such other skilful person as they shall think fit to appoint.

Ibid. sec. 10. 1860, art. 15, sec. 10. 1786. ch. 33, sec. 4. 10. Summonses for witnesses may issue out of the court issuing the commission, or by the said commissioners, or a

majority of them; and witnesses summoned shall attend, and be subject to punishment by the said court for not attending, in the same manner as on summonses issued by and returnable to said court.

1888, art. 15, sec. 11. 1860, art. 15, sec. 11. 1793, ch. 70, sec. 3.

11. If any witness shall not attend when summoned, the commissioners, or any two of them, shall apply to the clerk of the said court for an attachment, which shall issue accordingly to compel his attendance.

Ibid. sec. 12. 1860, art. 15. sec. 12. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 4.

12. The commissioners may administer an oath to the surveyor, and also to the chain carriers, to execute their respective duty as surveyor or chain carrier, faithfully and impartially, according to the best of their skill; and shall also administer an oath to every witness, that the evidence he shall give to the commissioners in the matter depending in question, shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Ibid. sec. 13. 1860, art. 15, sec. 13. 1793, ch. 70, sec. 2.

13. The commissioners shall take the depositions of the witnesses, touching their knowledge of the boundaries to be perpetuated, and shall make return thereof, with their other proceedings, to the court, to be recorded; and the same, when recorded, shall be as good evidence in law or equity as if taken under a commission to perpetuate testimony issued from a court of equity.

Keech v. Dansey, 1 H. & McH. 20. Helms v. Howard, 2 H. & McH. 57. Ruff v. Webster, 4 H. & McH. 499. Davis v. Batty, 1 H. & J. 264. Green v. McClellen, 4 H. & J. 200. Oliver v. Palmer, 11 G. & J. 145.

Ibid. sec. 14. 1860, art. 15, sec. 14. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 4. 14. The commissioners, or any two or more of them, may adjourn from time to time, and they, or a majority of them, or a major part of a majority met, concurring in opinion, shall cause the lands mentioned in the commission to be marked in the lines where convenient, and shall mark, or set up boundaries, at the termination of the lines, when course and distance only are given, according to their adjudication and adjustment of the location thereof, and shall return a plat and certificate of such marked lines and boundaries to the court

under their hands, which return shall be received and recorded in the record of land commissions and returns of such court, unless the court shall otherwise order because of the misconduct of the commissioners.

1888, art. 15, sec. 15. 1860. art. 15, sec. 15. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 5. 15. If no suit or action shall be brought within five years next after recording the return of the commissioners, to call in question their adjudication, the marking and bounding such land as aforesaid, and the record thereof shall be conclusive evidence of the original location thereof both as to the direction and termination of the lines; or if the adjudication of the commissioners shall be confirmed by the verdict of a jury in any such suit, the adjudication of the commissioners in the point confirmed by the jury, and between the same parties and those claiming under them, shall conclude to every intent and purpose; provided, that every infant, married woman, insane person, or person in prison and beyond sea, and those claiming under either of them, shall have five years after the disability removed to commence such suit or action.

Lowes v. Holbrook, 1 H. & J. 153. Haffner v. Dickson, 2 H. & J. 46. Hoye v. Swan, 5 Md. 241. Armstrong v. Risteau, 5 Md. 281.

Ibid. sec. 16. 1860, art. 15, sec. 16. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 6.

16. If the parties interested have fairly agreed to settle the lines of any land, and have fixed boundaries at the termination of such lines to mark and ascertain as well the direction as the extent of the lines, or if such lines have been settled and ascertained by arbitration, no commissioners shall have authority between the same parties or those claiming under them, or either of them, to vary from the lines so settled, agreed or ascertained.

Ibid. sec. 17. 1860, art. 15, sec. 17. 1786, ch. 33, sec. 6.

17. If any persons shall agree to settle and ascertain the location of their lands, and fix boundaries to the same, such settlement and agreement, and a plot of the lands so settled, may, by consent of the parties interested, be recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court for the county, or superior court of Baltimore city, and when recorded shall have the same effect as if the location of such land had been settled by commissioners.