all courts and places whatsoever, in all manner of actions, suits, complaints, matters and causes whatsoever; and Their privi that they and their successors may have a common seal, leges. and make, change and alter the same at their pleasure ; and also that they and their successors, by the same name and style, shall be in law capable of purchasing, holding and conveying any estate, real and personal, for the use of the said corporation; Provided, That the real estate so Provifo. to be holden shall be such only as shall be necessary to promote or attain the objects of this incorporation. Capital ftock of faid comexceed a cer pany not to tain amount, and price of each fliare. subfcriptions how long to be kept open. to be rectors to be II. And be it further enacted, That the capital stock of the said corporation shall not exceed two millions of dollars, and that a share in the said stock shall be fifty dollars; and that subscriptions to the said capital stock shall be opened and kept open under the direction of the said president and directors until the whole number of sharës subscribed together with those already subscribed shall amount to thirty-nine thousand shares, and shall further be kept open as aforesaid for the term of thirty days thereafter for the benefit of such persons as may choose to subscribe for not more than two shares; that it shall and may be lawful for the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city of New-York to subscribe to the said stock any number of shares not exceeding two thousand. III. And be it further enacted, That the stock, property Concerns of and concerns of the said company shall be conducted and faid company managed by thirteen directors, stockholders and citizens ed by 13 diof the said city of New-York, of which directors the re- elected annucorder of the said city of New-York for the time being ally. shall always ex officio be one, which directors shall hold their offices for one year from the second Tuesday in December in every year; and twelve of the said directors shall be elected on the first Tuesday in December in every year, at such time of the day and at such place within the city of New-York as a majority of the directors for the time being shall appoint; and public notice shall be given by the said directors not less than thirty days previous to the time of holding the said election, by an advertisement to be inserted in at least two of the public newspapers printed in the said city of New-York; and the said election shall be made by such of the stockholders of the said company as shall attend for that purpose in their proper persons, or by proxy; and all elections for directors shall be by ballot, and the twelve persons who shall have the greatest number of votes at any election shall be the directors; and if it shall happen at any election that two or more persons have an equal number of votes in such manner that a greater number of persons than twelve shall by plurality of votes appear to be chosen as directors, then the said stockholders herein before authorized to vote at such elections shall proceed to ballot a second time, and Directors to elect one of their number prefident. Vacancies how to be filed. by plurality of votes determine which of the persons so having an equal number of votes shall be the director or directors, so as to complete the whole number of twelve; and the said directors, as soon as may be after their election, shall proceed in like manner to elect by ballot one of their number to be their president; and if any of the directors so to be elected shall at any time remove out of the city of New-York, the office of such director or directors shall be considered as vacant; and if any vacancy or vacancies shall at any time happen among the directors by death, resignation, removal or otherwise, such vacancy or vacancies shall be filled for the remainder of the year in which they may happen, by such person or persons as the remainder of the directors for the time being, Directors firft or the major part of them, shall appoint; that the first directors shall be Daniel Ludlow, John Watts, John B. Church, Brock holst Livingston, William Edgar, William Laight, Paschal N. Smith, Samuel Osgood, John Stephens, John Broome, John B. Coles and Aaron Burr, who shall hold their offices until the second Tuesday in December next, and the said first directors at their first meeting shall proceed to appoint their president. named. Certain general powers of the directors. Especial priv faid company and perfons them. IV. And be it further enacted, That the directors shall have power to appoint the time and place of all meetings for the dispatch of business, to appoint all such officers, agents and servants as they shall deem necessary for carrying into effect the powers by this act vested in the said company, and to establish rules and regulations for and concerning the conduct and government of such officers, agents and servants. V. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for ileges, powers the said company, and any person or persons employed by ties to the them or acting under their authority, to enter into and upon, and freely to make use of any land which they shall acting under deem necessary for the purpose of conducting a plentiful supply of pure and wholesome water to the said city, and to erect any dams or other works across or upon any stream or streams of water, river or rivers, or any other place or places where they shall judge proper for the purpose of raising such stream or streams, or turning the course thereof, or of making use of such streams, rivers or places for constructing or working of any necessary engines, and to construct, dig or cause to be opened any canals or trenches whatsoever for the conducting of such stream or streams, or any other quantity of water, from any source or sources that they may see fit, and to raise and construct such dikes, mounds or reservoirs as they may judge proper for securing and conveying such supply of water as aforesaid to the said city, and to survey and lay out all such lands and streams as they may think proper, in order to ascertain the best mode of furnishing such supply, and the best and most productive streams and sources or fountains of water for that purpose, and to lay and conduct any number of -pipes, conduits or aqueducts through or over any of the said lands, or any rivers or streams of water as they may see fit, to or towards the said city, and in any and every part of the said city, and to agree with the owner or owners of any mills, lands, tenements or hereditaments that may be damaged or affected by any of the said operations for and about a reasonable compensation to be made to him, her or them, for such mills, lands, tenements or hereditaments, or the use thereof, as may be used or occupied for the purposes aforesaid, or any of them, or for any damage which he, she or they, or any of them may sustain by the employing, diverting or obstructing any such stream or streams, or using any such lands, or the cutting, laying, raising or making any such reservoirs, aqueducts, canals, trenches, pipes, conduits, dikes or mounds as aforesaid; but in case of disagreement, or in case the owner or owners of such mills, lands, tenements or hereditaments shall be feme covert, under age, non compos mentis, or out of the state, then it shall be lawful for the judges of the supreme court of this state, or any one of them (not being an inhabitant of the said city) upon the application of either party, to nominate and appoint three indifferent persons to view, examine and survey the said mills, lands, hereditaments and tenements, and to estimate the injury sustained as aforesaid, and to report thereupon to the said court without delay, and upon the coming in of such report, and the confirmation thereof by the said court, the said president, directors and company shall pay to the said owners respectively the sum mentioned in such report, in full compensation for the said mills, lands, hereditaments and tenements, or for the injury sustained as aforesaid, as the case may be, and upon such payment the said president, directors and company shall be and become seised in fee of all such mills, lands, hereditaments and tenements as they shall have taken possession of and paid for as aforesaid, and they and all those who have acted under them, shall be acquitted from and freed from responsibility for or on account of any such injury. VI. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful Their further for the said company hereby incorporated, and for all and privileges. every person or persons employed by or under them, for the purposes contemplated by this act, from time to time to enter upon any lands contiguous or near to said streams, fountains, aqueducts, dams or other works, or the places which may be selected for and intended to be used and employed for the same, with carts, waggons or other carriages and beasts of draught and burthen, and all necessary tools and implements, both for executing and making, and also for altering and repairing the said works, or any Prefident and directors to make and ef tablish bye. laws, &c. To agree of with the corThe faid city and others for the water. Provifo. Surplus capi. tal how difpofed of. To demand from the stockholders respectively fuch propor of them, and to take and carry away any timber, stone, clay, gravel, sand or earth from the same, for the making, altering or repairing the said works, or any of them, subject always to the making of compensations for all damages thereby occasioned, either by agreement of parties, or in the mode herein before prescribed. VII. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawfuf for the president and directors of such company from time to time to make and establish such bye-laws and ordinances as they may think fit and proper, and as may be consistent with the constitution and laws of this state and of the United States, for conducting and managing the affairs of the said company, and for conducting and preserving the said works, and every of them, and for conveying, employing, distributing and disposing of the water so to be conducted as aforesaid, and for carrying into effect all the objects and purposes of the said incorporation; and may also agree with the corporation of the city of New-York, the inhabitants of the said city, and others choosing to take or use the said water, regarding the rates at which the same shall be paid for: Provided, That the said company shall, within ten years from the passing of this act, furnish and continue a supply of pure and wholesome water sufficient for the use of all such citizens dwelling in the said city as shall agree to take it on the terms to be demanded by the said company, in default whereof the said corporation shall be dissolved. VIII. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said company to employ all such surplus capital, as may belong or accrue to the said company in the purchase of public or other stock, or in any other monied transactions or operations not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this state or of the United States, for the sole benefit of the said company. IX. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said directors to call and demand from the stockholders respectively all such sums of money by them subscribed or to be subscribed, at such times and in such profum fubfcrib portions as they shall see fit, under pain of forfeiture of their shares, and of all previous payments thereon, to the said president, directors and company. tion of the ed as they fhall fee fit. Perfons wilfully dam aging any of the works how dealt with. X. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall wilfully do or cause to be done any act whatsoever whereby the said works, or any pipe, conduit, canal, watercourse, mound, plug, cock, reservoir, dike, or any engine, machine or structure, or any matter or thing appertaining to the same shall be stopped, obstructed, impaired, weakened or injured, the person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay to the said company treble the amount of the damages sustained by means of such offence or injury, to be recovered by such company, with costs of suit and by action of debt, in the supreme court of judicature of this state, which action shall in every instance be considered as transitory in its nature, and shall and may be triable in any county in this state. Farmer's Bank. TWENTY-FOURTH SESSION. CHAP. XCIII. An ACT to incorporate the Stockholders of the Farmer's W Bank. Passed 31st March, 1801. HEREAS Elijah Janes, Charles Seldon and others, Preamble. associated as a company, under the style of the Farmer's bank, by their petition presented to the legislature, have prayed for the privilege of being incorporated, the better to enable them to carry on the purposes of their institution: Therefore, 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, Stockholders represented in Senate and Assembly, That all such persons incorporated and style of as now are, or hereafter shall be stockholders of the said the incorpo ration. bank, shall be, and hereby are ordained, constituted and declared to be, from time to time and until the first Tuesday of March, which will be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven, a body corporate and politic, in fact and in name, by the name of The president, directors and company of the Farmer's bank, and that by that name they and their successors until the said first Tuesday of March, one thousand eight hundred and eleven, shall and may have continual succession, and shall be persons in law capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being answered unto, defending and being defended, in all courts and places whatsoever, and in all manner of actions, suits, complaints, matters and causes whatsoever, and that they and their successors may have a common seal, and may change. and alter the same at their pleasure, and also, that they and their successors, by the same name of The president, directors and company of the Farmer's bank, shall be in law capable of purchasing, holding and conveying any estate real or personal, for the use of the said corporation. II. And be it further enacted, That a share in the said bank shall be fifty dollars and the number of shares shall not exced five thousand, exclusive of any shares that may be subscribed on the part of this state, and subscriptions shall be kept open under the direction of the president and directors of the said bank until the said number of shares shall be subscribed, and at such times and places as they shall think proper, and the whole amount of the stock, Price of each limitation of fhare their number. |
