tors may determine, authorize and direct. The commissioners shall make their award in writing in triplicate original, and shall deliver one of such originals to each party and file the other with the Clerk of the Court within five days after completing the same; and if either party be dissatisfied with such award, exceptions thereto shall be filed on or before the first day of the term of Court succeeding the date of the award; and thereupon the Court shall fully hear and consider the said exceptions, and either affirm the said award or set the same aside, as it shall determine, and if set aside, appoint three other disinterested commissioners to make another appraisement.*

1916, ch. 235.

284A. It shall be lawful for any railroad company incorporated under the laws of this State, or of any other State of the United States, owning a railroad in this State, connecting with that of any other railroad company of this State, or of any other State of the United States, in this State, and owning at least two-thirds of the capital stock of the latter, to acquire, in the manner hereinafter provided, and thereafter to be possessed of, own, hold, exercise and enjoy, all the property, real and personal, and all the rights, privileges and franchises and credits then possessed, owned, held or exercised by said last-mentioned vendor corporation; and such acquisition shall be effected in the manner and upon the conditions hereinafter stated, to wit:

FIRST. The corporations shall, pursuant to resolution duly adopted by the directors of each, make and execute, under their respective corporate seals, duly attested, an agreement provid ing for such acquisition and sale, specifying all essential details, terms, stipulations and conditions thereof, and particu larly showing the number of outstanding shares of capital stock of the vendor corporation, the amount fixed as the price or value per share thereof, and the mode by which the respective holders shall receive payment for the same, and with a map of the railroad to be acquired thereunder, annexed to and made part thereof.

Buckler vs. Safe Deposit Co., 115 Md. 222; Minis vs. Pa. R. R., 120 Md. 461; same case, 120 Md. 496.

SECOND. Said agreement, after due notice is given all directors of such corporation, shall be submitted for approval or disapproval to the stockholders of each corporation at separate meetings, either annual or special, duly convened, and if said agreement shall be approved by a majority of the stockholders of each corporation present at such meeting, then that fact shall be certified by the secretary of each corporation under its corporate seal, and a copy of the agreement, with said certifi cates attached, shall be filed with an application drawn in accordance with Rule 10 of the present Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Public Service Commission of Maryland, with the Public Service Commission of Maryland, for their approval; and upon the approval thereof by the Public Service Commission of Maryland, a copy of the agreement, with a certified copy of the order of Public Service Commission of Maryland approving the same, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State of this State; and immediately upon the filing thereof all the property, real and personal and mixed, and all the cor porate rights, privileges and franchises and credits owned, possessed, held, used or otherwise exercised, by the vendor corporation, shall (subject, however, to full payment in the manner prescribed by said agreement of the stipulated price or value of the whole capital stock of said vendor corporation), become and be vested in the acquiring corporation, subject to all the debts, liabilities and duties of said vendor corporation, and shall thereafter be possessed, held, used, exercised and enjoyed by said acquiring corporation as fully, completely and absolutely in all respects as the same had been theretofore owned, held, exercised and enjoyed by said vendor corporation; and said acquiring corporation may also, with respect to the property so acquired, have, exercise and enjoy all the rights, powers, privileges and franchises which it has and may exercise respecting its other railroads and property. Upon the filing in the office of the Secretary of State of said copy of agreement as hereinabove provided, the capital stock of said vendor corporation shall be wholly extinguished by payment, in the mode prescribed in said agreement, of the stipulated price or value thereof, and all certificates, representative thereof, shall be delivered

to the acquiring corporation for immediate cancellation, and all the corporate rights, privileges and franchises and property of every kind and nature acquired under said agreement, shall thereafter be represented by the capital stock of the acquiring corporation, and thereupon the corporate existence of the said vendor corporation shall terminate.

THIRD. That the copy of said agreement, filed in the office of the Secretary of State, as hereinabove as in this Act provided, shall be evidence of the lawful holding of the meetings of the stockholders of each corporation, and of the due ap proval of said agreement as required by this Act, both by the stockholders and Public Service Commission of Maryland, and also of the precedent action of the directors of each corporation. If any stockholder or stockholders of the railroad corporation, whose franchises, corporate property, rights, privileges and credits are acquired under said agreement shall be dissatisfied with said acquisition, and the terms and conditions thereof contained in said agreement, then it shall and may be lawful for any such stockholder or stockholders, within thirty days after the filing of said agreement in the office of the Secretary of State as hereinabove provided, to apply by petition to the Circuit Court for the county in which the chief office of the said vendor corporation may be situated, or to the Superior Court of Baltimore City if its chief office be in the City of Baltimore, to appoint three disinterested persons to estimate and appraise the damage, if any, which such stockholder or stockholders shall suffer or sustain by reason of the purchase and acquisition provided for by said agreement, and whose award, or that of a majority of them, when confirmed by said court, shall be final and conclusive; and the person* so appointed shall also appraise the share or shares of said stockholders in the said company, at the market value thereof, without regard to any depreciation resulting from said purchase and acquisition, and the said company may, at its election, either pay to the said holder the amount of damages so found, or the value of the stock so ascertained, and upon payment of the value of the stock, as aforesaid, the same shall be transferred to and be vested in said acquiring company.

* Undoubtedly intended for persons.

FOURTH. In connection with and upon consummation of such acquisition as aforesaid, the acquiring company may.issue its own then authorized capital stock or its own bonds, either or both, at not less than the par or face value thereof, to such amount as may be required by said agreement, or as may be found otherwise necessary for paying and extinguishing the outstanding capital stock and bonded indebtedness, or either, of the corporation whose rights, property, privileges, franchises and credits are so acquired.

1904, art. 23, sec. 266. 1888, art. 23, sec. 179. 1876, ch. 242, sec. 23. 285. Every railroad company in this State shall cause all its trains of cars for passengers to entirely stop upon each arrival at a station advertised by such company as a station for receiving passengers upon such trains at least one-half of one minute; and every company and every person in the employment of such company, that shall violate, or cause or permit to be violated the provisions of this section, shall be liable to a forfeiture of not more than one hundred nor less than twenty dollars, to be recovered in an action of debt, upon the complaint of any person before any justice of the peace of the county in which such violation shall occur; and in all cases in which a forfeiture shall occur under the provisions of this section, the company whose agents shall cause or permit such violation shall be liable for the amount of such forfeiture; and in all cases, the conductor upon such train shall be held prima facie to have caused the violation of this section which may occur upon the train in his charge; said forfeiture to be recovered in the name of the State of Maryland, for the use of the common schools.†

Ibid, sec. 267. 1888, art. 23, sec. 180. 1874, ch. 333, sec. 1. 286. Whenever freight, forwarded upon any railroad to any point in this State, shall remain unclaimed, and the legal charges thereon unpaid for the space of three months after its arrival at the point to which it shall have been directed, and the owner or person to whom the same is consigned, cannot be found upon diligent inquiry, or being found and notified of the

† Chesapeake Beach R. R. Co. vs. Donahue, 107 Md. 119.

arrival of such freight, shall neglect to receive the same and pay the legal charges thereon, for the space of three months, then it shall be lawful for such railroad company to sell such freight at public auction, after giving ten days' notice of the time and place of said sale, by posting up notices thereof in three public places in the county or city where such sale shall be made, and out of the proceeds of such sale to pay the legal charges, including the costs of storage on said freight, and (9 pay the overplus, if any, to the owner or consignee of such freight, on demand.

Ibid, sec. 268. 1896, ch. 296, sec. 180A.

287. Whenever freight forwarded upon any railroad to any point in this State shall consist of live stock, or shall be of such a perishable nature, or so damaged, or of such other character as to make it impracticable for it to remain in the possession of the company owning or operating said railroad for the space of three months after its arrival at the point to which it shall have been directed, and the owner or person to whom the same is consigned cannot be found after diligent inquiry, or being found and notified of the arrival of such freight shall refuse or neglect to remove the same, and pay the legal charges thereon, for the space of twenty-four hours, then, upon application by said railroad company, verified by affidavit, to any judge of the Circuit Court for the county in which the freight may be. or to any judge of the supreme bench of Baltimore City, assigned to one of the common law Courts of said city. if said freight be in said city, setting forth the reasons for which said application is made, it shall be lawful for said judge to pass an order for the sale of said freight whenever said judge may deem such sale expedient, on such terms and notice as the order may prescribe; and the proceeds of said sale, if there be any remaining over, after payment of the expenses incident thereto and legal charges, including cost of the keep of such live stock or cost of storage on said freight, shall be paid to the owner or consignee of said freight on demand.

1904, art. 23, sec. 269. 1888, art. 23, sec. 181. 1874, ch. 333, sec. 2. 288. Whenever personal baggage, sample packages, bundles or baggage transported by any railroad company, doing busi