Subtitle 2 – Courts

In any suit now pending, or hereafter to depend, in any court in the City of Baltimore, wherein a transcript of the record of any cause in any other court in the City of Baltimore might be offered in evidence, it shall be sufficient to produce the docket entries and original papers and proceedings in said last-mentioned cause, or the record book in which the same have been recorded, if required by law to be recorded, and actually recorded, and offer the same in evidence; and the same, when so produced and offered in evidence, shall have the same effect, to all intents and purposes, as a transcript of the record thereof, under the seal of the court wherein the same are; and such production may be had by any party to a suit upon a subpoena duces tecum issued to the clerk of the court where such docket entries, original papers and proceedings may be.

A copy of the plat of the City of Baltimore from the record thereof in the Mayor’s office, or from the record thereof in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore City, duly certified under seal by the keeper of such records respectively, shall be evidence.

In all actions at law for wrongs, independent of contracts, in any of the courts of Baltimore City, where the verdict or inquisition of damages after default made shall be for a sum less than fifty dollars, the cost shall be adjudged to the defendant, unless the Court shall otherwise determine; but the Court, before allowing costs to the plaintiff in such case, shall be satisfied that he had good reason for not bringing suit before a Justice of the Peace; and in all cases of appeals whatsoever from judgments of Justices of the Peace in Baltimore City, costs shall be allowed to plaintiff or defendant, in the discretion of the Court; provided, that in all cases involving the title to real estate, wherein the verdict or judgment is for the plaintiff, he shall be allowed his costs.

In an action commenced in the Equity Court by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, a corporation sole, and St. Vincent De Paul Roman Catholic Congregation, Inc. and St. Peter The Apostle Roman Catholic Congregation, Inc. for the sale of St. Vincent’s Cemetery in Clifton Park and St. Peter’s Cemetery bounded by Bentalou, Winchester and Laurens Streets, both cemeteries being located in Baltimore City, for a declaration that the cemeteries have become detrimental to the public health, safety, security or welfare, for the appointment of a Trustee and for a decree ordering the sale of the cemeteries under the provisions of Section 120 of <cite data-doc="Md. Code" data-path="16">Article 16 of the Annotated Code of Maryland</cite>, the proceeds derived from that sale shall be used, distributed and paid over by the Trustees, the provisions of Section 120 of Article 16 or any other provisions of the Annotated Code of Maryland or any local law of Baltimore City to the contrary notwithstanding, in the order, for the purposes, in the manner, to the extent and to the persons hereinafter mentioned, as follows:

First, for the removal, purchase of burial rights and appropriately inscribed bronze markers, and reinterment in the New Cathedral Cemetery, owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, for any and all bodies buried in St. Vincent’s and St. Peter’s Cemeteries for which any party shall respond to the trustees after reasonable notice to all known interested parties and publication of notice, all as directed by the court;

Second, for the removal, purchase of an appropriate common burial area in the New Cathedral Cemetery, reinterment in the common burial area and for the construction of an appropriate altar or monument to commemorate the burial area, for all persons buried in St. Peter’s and St. Vincent’s Cemeteries for whom no party responded to the trustee after reasonable public notice as directed by the court;

Third, for the elimination and removal of any and all existing conditions that are a menace or detrimental to the public health, safety, security or welfare, unless the contract covering the sale of such cemetery or burial ground provides for the abatement of those conditions within a reasonable period of time after the sale has been fully consummated;

Fourth, for the purpose of burial rights in the New Cathedral Cemetery for any party who discloses to the trustee evidence of his ownership of burial rights in St. Vincent’s or St. Peter’s Cemeteries; and for the establishment of an appropriate fund in the New Cathedral Cemetery Company to provide for burial rights for persons disclosing evidence of ownership of burial rights in St. Vincent’s or St. Peter’s Cemeteries to the Chancery Office of the Archdiocese of Baltimore or the management of the New Cathedral Cemetery Company subsequent to the Court’s termination of the trustee’s duties hereunder;

Fifth, after any and all expenses incurred for or in connection with doing any and all of the things mentioned in or contemplated by the first four items hereof, and the costs of conducting the necessary legal proceedings, including court costs, trustee’s commissions and legal fees, and all taxes, if any, have been paid in full, then any balance of the proceeds of sale remaining in the hands of the trustee shall be paid into the perpetual care trust fund of the New Cathedral Cemetery Company, free, clear and discharged of, and from, any and all claims of any lot owners or other persons having an interest in St. Vincent’s and St. Peter’s Cemeteries, or the land or property contained therein, regardless of whether they may be entitled as original lot owners or heirs or assignees and regardless of whether they are residents, nonresidents, adults, infants or other persons under any legal incapacity.