1797.

L A W S of M A R Y L A N D.

C H A P.
LXXXIX.

being thereof convicted in the county court where he or fhe fhall refide, fhall
forfeit and pay the fum of fifty pounds current money.

Commiffion-

ers to meet in
May, &c.

XXI. And be it enacted, That the faid commiffioners fhall meet, on the
twentieth day of May next, at the ufual place of holding their respective county
courts, and fhall fit twenty days thereafter, if neceffary, to hear and determine
the complaints and appeals of any perfons who may think themfelves grieved by
their property being overvalued by any affeffor, or by the commiffioners; and if
the faid commiffioners fhall not meet and fit as aforefaid, every commiffioner
failing therein fhall forfeit and pay a fum not exceeding twenty pounds current
money, unlefs prevented by ficknefs, or other unavoidable accident; and if any
perfon fhall apprehend himfelf injured by the valuation of his property, and fhall
thereof complain to the faid commiffioners, they fhall, at the time of their
fitting to hear appeals, examine any perfon, or in their difcretion the party com-
plaining, on oath, or affirmation, as the cafe may be, touching the particulars
or value of fuch property, and, upon due examination or knowledge thereof,
abate or increafe the faid valuation, and a certificate of fuch abatement or in-
creafe fhall forthwith deliver, or caufe to be delivered, to the collector, who fhall
collect and levy the rate from fuch perfon according to fuch abatement or in-
creafe.

Part of an act
repealed.

XXII. And be it enacted, That the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth fections
of the act paffed at November feffion, one thoufand feven hundred and eighty-
five, entitled, An act to afcertain the value of the land in the feveral counties of
this ftate for the purpofe of laying the public affeffment, be and they are hereby
repealed and made null and void.

No perfon to
be chargeable
with property
transferred,
&c.

XXIII. And be it enacted, That no perfon fhall be chargeable with the rate
or affeffment on any property which he may have aliened or transferred, but
the fame fhall be chargeable to the perfon who fhall be entitled thereto, or have
the poffeffion thereof by virtue of any alienation, transfer, or mutation of pof-
feffion; and the commiffioners of the tax are hereby empowered and required,
from time to time, as often as occafion may require, in order to alter and correct;
the account of any perfon who may have parted from the poffeffion of any pro-
perty as aforefaid, and the fum which fhall be fo taken off fhall be charged to
the perfon who may have purchafed, or otherwife acquired the poffeffion of the
property; and if the purchafer, or perfon having acquired the poffeffion of any
property as aforefaid, fhall live in a different county, the faid commiffioners fhall
make out a certificate of fuch change of property, and direct it to the com-
miffioners of the tax for the county where fuch perfon fhall refide, and the fame
fhall deliver to the fheriff of the county, endorfed as aforefaid, to be forwarded
in the manner ami under the penalty herein before mentioned, and the rate fhall
be charged to fuch perfon acquiring poffeffion as aforefaid, and be paid by him;
provided, that no perfon fhall have any allowance or deduction on account of
property aliened or transferred as aforefaid, unlefs fuch alienation, transfer, or
mutation of poffeffion, fhall take place on or before the firft day of April in any
year, and unlefs notice thereof fhall be given to the commiffioners of the county
in which fuch property fhall have been laft charged; and provided alfo, that no
perfon fhall be entitled to any fuch deduction on account of any fuch change of
property which fhall take place in the year feven teen hundred and ninety-eight,
unlefs by judgment or decree executed before the firft day of April next.

Commiffion-

ers.

XXIV. And be it enacted, That the commiffioners of the tax fhall have full

power to call the feveral affeffors before them at the time limit ted for appeal, or
at fuch other times as they, in their difcretion, fhall think reasonable, for the
purpofe of correcting their valuation of property; and the faid commiffioners

fhall have full authority, and they are hereby directed, carefully to examine the
feveral certificates of valuation in their respective counties, and to correct the
fame, although no complaint or appeal be made to them, fo as to make the fame

as nearly equal as poffible.