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the Twenty-ninth Legislature be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:

Sec. 3. That the Twenty-fifth Judicial District of Texas shall hereafter be composed of the counties of Colorado, Gonzales, Guadalupe and Lavaca, and the district court shall be held therein as follows:

In the county of Colorado, on the second Monday in September and the fifth Monday after the first Monday in January, and may continue in session five weeks.

In the county of Lavaca, on the fifth Monday after the second Monday in September and on the tenth Monday after the first Monday in January, and may continue in session five weeks.

In the county of Guadalupe on the tenth Monday after the second Monday in September, and on the fifteenth Monday after the first Monday in January, and may continue in session five weeks.

In the county of Gonzales, on the first Monday in January and July, and may continue in session five weeks.

SEC. 2. The fact that the present time set by law for holding district court in Gonzales county seriously inconveniences the farmers of the county, who comprise by far the largest class of citizens, and causes them serious loss of time needed for farming purposes, in attending court, constitutes an emergency within the meaning of the constitution and an imperative public necessity requiring that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and that this Act take effect from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved March 15, 1907.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

CORPORATIONS-FOR PRIVATE CEMETERIES, DEFINING THEIR POWERS.

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An Act on the subject of private corporations organized for the purpose of owning, maintaining and caring for public or private cemeteries, defining their powers and exempting the same from certain provisions of the statutes of this State, and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That corporations for the purpose of owning and maintaining public or private cemeteries, or for the purpose only of maintaining and caring for cemeteries, may be formed under and in accordance with the provisions of Title 21 of the Revised Statutes; and when so organized shall have all the powers conferred upon like corporations by said title, and, in addition thereto, they shall have and exercise the powers herein prescribed, subject to all provisions embraced in said Title 21, not in conflict herewith. In framing a charter for such corporation, if desired to confer upon it the powers spec

ified herein, the charter shall state that it is organized in pursuance of this act.

SEC. 2. Each owner of a lot or lots which may be embraced in any cemetery subject to the provisions of this law, shall be a shareholder in any corporation to which the land may belong, and shall be entitled to all rights and privileges of a shareholder, whether the title to the lot or lots was acquired from the corporation, or was owned before its organization.

SEC. 3. The directors and officers of any corporation created in pursuance hereof, shall be chosen under and in accordance with the provisions of Title 21 of the Revised Statutes, except that married women may be directors and officers in such corporations, and may perform any duties and execute any deed or contract appertaining to the duties of the office so held, without the concurrence of their husbands.

SEC. 4. Every corporation organized under this act shall have the power to acquire, own and hold all lands and other property which may be necessary or suitable to the acomplishment of its purposes, and may acquire lands which have been previously dedicated to burial purposes, by conveyance from the person or persons in whom title may be, or from any person who may hold such land in trust, with the power to transfer it to preserve the trust. In case the land purchased as herein specified, or any portion of it has been used as a cemetery, then the owners of lots therein shall have the right to participate in the organization of the corporation, and shall be shareholders therein after the company has been organized.

SEC. 5. Whenever any corporations organized under this act shall acquire lands already used for burial purposes, the division of the said ground into lots, streets, etc., existing at the time of its acquisition, shall be preserved so far as is necessary to protect the rights of those who have already acquired lots therein. It shall be the duty of any such corporation, after its organization, to cause the ground which it may acquire for cemetery purposes to be laid out in proper avenues and alleys, blocks and lots, as may be found convenient and necessary for the proper use thereof, and the corporation shall cause a plot to be made of said cemetery ground, which shall be approved by the board of directors, and shall be attested by the president and secretary of the corporation, after which it shall be recorded in the county clerk's office of the county.

SEC. 6. Every corporation organized under this act shall have the power to make all necessary by-laws as prescribed by Title 21 of the Revised Statutes, and also to make all rules and regulations necessary to govern in the sale of lots and the use of the same by the purchasers thereof. The board of directors shall have authority to make reasonable rules requiring the lot owners to keep their lots clean from improper growth so as to preserve the good order and proper appearance of the grounds, but shall not have power to require of any lot owner a particular character of improvement therein.

SEC. 7. When it is desired to create a corporation under this act to receive the title to lands theretofore dedicated to the purpose of a cemetery, notice of the time and place of a meeting of the lot owners

shall be published in a newspaper in the county, if there be one, for thirty days; and printed notices shall be posted at and upon such cemetery for thirty days prior to the time fixed for the meeting. When the lot owners and other persons uniting in the formation of the corporation shall assemble, the majority of those present and voting shall decide upon the question of incorporation, and the conveyance of the land to it. Such meeting shall select the board of directors to be named in the charter, which may consist of lot owners alone, or persons may be chosen as directors who are not owners of lots in the cemetery. The board of directors shall elect the officers of such corporation required by Title 21 of the Revised Statutes.

SEC. 8. Corporations formed under this act shall be exempt from any provision of law requiring periodical reports to be made to any department of the State government. Provided that the city council. of any city in which the cemetery is to be located shall have the power to control the location of any such cemetery, and to prescribe the maximum price at which lots therein shall be sold to the public; and when any such cemetery is located without the limits of any city, the commissioners' court of such county shall have the power to prescribe the maximum at which lots therein shall be sold.

SEC. 9. The fact that there is no law of this State covering the subject matter of this bill, and the further fact that many cemeteries owned by communities in this State have the legal title in individual trustees, in the event of whose death would render it difficult and expensive to vest title in the equitable owners, create an emergency and an imperative public necessity demanding the suspension of the Constitution requiring bills to be read on three several days, and the same is so suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and the same is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 22, nays 0; and passed the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 97, nays 0.]

Approved March 16, 1907.

Became a law March 16, 1907.

TAXES-AUTHORIZING LEVY TO PAY JURORS.

H. B. No. 150.]

CHAPTER XXIV.

An Act to amend Article 1538, Title XXXII, Chapter 2, of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas relative to the powers and duties of the County Commissioners Court and authorizing the levy of a tax of not exceeding fifteen cents on the One Hundred Dollars valuation to pay jurors, and declaring an emergency.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That Article 1538, Title XXXII, Chapter 2 of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas, be amended so as to hereafter read as follows:

Article 1538. Said court shall have the power to levy and collect

a tax for county purposes not to exceed twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation, and a tax not to exceed fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars valuation to supplement the jury fund of the county, and not to exceed fifteen cents for roads and bridges on the one hundred dollars valuation, except for the payment of debts incurred prior to the adoption of the amendment to the constitution September 25, A. D. 1883; and for the erection of public buildings, streets, sewers, water works and other permanent improvements, not to exceed twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation in any one year, and except as in the Constitution otherwise provided; provided however, the Court may levy an additional tax for road purposes not to exceed fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of the property subject to taxation under the limitations and in the manner provided for in Article 8, Section 9, of the constitution, and in pursuance of the laws relating thereto.

SEC. 2. The fact that the Statute Laws of this State do not now empower the Commissioners' Court to levy a tax to pay Jurors, in accordance with the power conferred by the Constitutional Amendment adopted by the people at the November election, 1906, and necessity existing in many counties in this State for an additional tax to supplement the jury fund of the county creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the Constitutional Rule requiring that all bills be read on three several days be suspended and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, yeas 104, nays 0; and passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 25, nays 0.]

Approved March 15, 1907.

Became a law March 15, 1907.

COURTS-RESTORING CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JURISDICTION UPON COUNTY COURT OF FRIO COUNTY.

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An Act to restore, to confer upon the county court of Frio county, the civil and criminal jurisdiction belonging to such court under the Constitution and General Statutes of the State, to conform the jurisdiction of the district court of said county to such change, and to repeal all laws in conflict with this act, so far as relates to Frio county.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: That the county court of Frio county shall hereafter have exclusive original jurisdiction in civil cases when the matter in controversy shall exceed in value two hundred dollars, and shall not exceed five hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, and that it shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the district court of said county when the matter in controversy shall exceed five hundred dollars, and not exceed one thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. Said county court shall have appellate jurisdiction in civil cases over which justices' court have original jurisdiction when the judgment of the court appealed from or the amount in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, and said county court shall have power to hear and determine cases brought up from the Justices' court by certiorari under the provisions of the title of the Revised Statutes relating thereto.

SEC. 3. The county Judge of said county shall have authority either in term time or in vacation, to grant writs of mandamus, injunction, sequestration, garnishment, attachment, certiorari, sepersedeas, and all other writs necessary to the enforcement of the jurisdiction of said court, and shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the constitution has not exclusively conferred the power on the district courts or the judge thereof.

SEC. 4. Said county court shall have jurisdiction in the forfeiture and judgment of all bonds and recognizances taken in criminal cases of which said court has jurisdiction.

SEC. 5. Said county court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all misdemeanors, except misdemeanors involving official misconduct, and except in cases in which the highest penalty or fine that may be imposed under the law may not exceed two hundred dollars, and said court shall also have appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases of which Justices of the Peace and other inferior tribunals of said county have original jurisdiction.

SEC. 6. The district court of Frio county shall no longer have jurisdiction of said cases of which the county court of said county, by the provisions of this Act, has exclusive original or appellate jurisdiction, and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the district court of said county, within thirty days from the passage of this Act, to make a full and complete transcript of all orders on the dockets and minutes of cases now pending before said district court, of which cases, by the terms of this Act, exclusive jurisdiction is given to said county court, and he shall deliver said transcript together with original papers and certified bill of costs, to the clerk of said court, and said county clerk shall enter said case or cases on the docket for trial by said county court.

SEC. 7. The county court of said county shall hereafter hold its regular terms for civil and criminal business as provided in the Constitution and General Laws of this State, and process heretofore issued from the district court of said county in cases to be transferred by this Act to the county court of Frio county, shall be returnable to the first term of the county court held after this act shall go into effect, and all cases transferred shall be entered as appearance cases upon the docket of said county court.

SEC. 8. The county court of Frio county shall have, as now, the general jurisdiction appertaining to probate courts for the probate of wills, appointment of guardians of minors, idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis and common drunkards and for the issuance of letters testamentary and of administration, settlements of accounts of administration and guardians, and the settlement and distribution of

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