Any district which has heretofore been organized, including swamp land districts, or which may hereafter be organized under other statutes, may become a district under the terms of this chapter as follows:

If a third of the landowners owning a majority of the acreage or a majority of the landowners owning a third of the acreage of real property within any such district shall petition the chancery court, or chancellor in vacation, to constitute them a drainage district under the terms hereof, the clerk of the chancery court shall give notice of the application by two weeks’ publication in some newspaper published and having a bona fide circulation in the county or counties in which the lands of said district lie, stating the time when said petition will be heard and the object of said petition. All owners of real property within the district shall have the right to appear and contest the said petition, or support the same. The chancery court, or chancellor in vacation, shall hear the evidence and shall either grant the petition or deny the same, as he may deem it most advantageous to the property owners of the district and to the public benefit. If he grants the petition, the said district shall have all the rights and powers and be subject to all the obligations and provisions provided by the terms of this chapter. If the majority of the landowners or the majority of the owners of the acreage therein petition for the adoption of this chapter, the court or chancellor must make an order declaring that such district shall henceforth be governed by the terms of this chapter, and shall appoint commissioners according to its terms, who shall carry into effect without delay the proposed drainage improvements.