Proviso. Water privileges. Sale or lease of. possession of works. be made to such owner or owners, for the damage done, or likely to be done or sustained by such owner of lands or materials, which may be necessary for the purposes of the canal, or if the said owners be feme covert, or by reason of any legal incapacity, no agreement can be made with them, the court of common pleas of the proper county, on application thereto by petition, either by the said company or owner, or any one in behalf of either, and at the cost and charge of the said company. shall issue their precept to the sheriff of the county, commanding said sheriff to summon twenty judicious, sober, intelligent and disinterested persons, citizens of said county, to meet on the lands from whence materials are to be taken, in not less than ten nor more than twenty days, giving such reasonable notice as the court may designate, to both parties; and if twelve or more of said jurors attend, twelve thereof shall be empannelled, and if twelve do not attend, the sheriff may summon others at a day fixed by him for that purpose, or at once; and the said twelve jurors being so empannelled and sworn or affirmed, by said sheriff, faithfully, justly and impartially to value the materials to be taken, and find the rate of compensation to be paid therefor by the company. the said jury shall have power to administer oaths or affirmations, and to examine witnesses, and make report of their proceedings to the said court, stating the compensation adjudged, and to whom payable, who, upon confirmation thereof, may order such damages to be paid, with costs, or order new inquisition until full justice is rendered: Provided always, nevertheless, That any owner or owners applying for a review, shall be liable for the costs of the proceedings prayed for, in case a more favorable report is not obtained upon such review: And provided further, That either party may, by certiorari, or writ of error, remove the proceedings to the supreme court. SECTION 15. The said company shall be bound by all contracts heretofore made by the commonwealth, in the grant or lease of water privileges heretofore made, and shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the commonwealth under such contracts; and they shall maintain and keep in repair, all bridges and causeways on the line of said canal. SECTION 16. No sale or lease of water privileges on the canal hereby vested in the said company shall be made, except under and subject to the exceptions and regulations prescribed in the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth sections of the act of fifth of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, entitled "An Act to incorporate the Allegheny and Butler turnpike road company, and for other purposes. SECTION 17. As soon as the said company shall be organized, and Manner of taking shall give notice to the governor of their readiness to take possession of the said works, he shall cause notice thereof to be given to all the superintendents, toll collectors, officers and agents of the commonwealth, employed on or about the said canal, who shall continue, nevertheless, to discharge the duties of their said offices or employments, and be entitled to receive their present rate of compensation from the said company, until removed by the directors thereof; and the official bonds of the said officers and agents shall enure to the use of the said company, as to all moneys received by them, on account of the works subsequent to the time when the said company shall so take possession of them, as aforesaid. SECTION 18. The canal commissioners shall prepare duplicate Schedules of pro- schedules of all the estate, real and personal, purchased or owned by the commonwealth for the use of the canal, describing the toll houses, and the condition of the canal and its appendages, and enumerating all perty. the personal property; and on receiving notice from the governor, they, or one of them, shall attend at some time and place on the said canal, of which notice shall be given to the directors of the company; and after examining and correcting any mistakes or errors therein, the said schedules shall be signed by the canal commissioners, or commissioner attending, and by the president of the said company, with the corporate seal annexed on behalf of said company, one of which schedules shall be left with the directors of said company, and the other delivered to the governor, to be filed in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth. SECTION 19. That the provisions of an act of assembly, entitled Former act ex"An Act to protect the public in the full benefit and enjoyment of the tended to said works constructed for the purposes of inland navigation," passed the company. tenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, the supplement thereto, passed the nineteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, be and they are hereby extended to the aforesaid Delaware canal company, for the use and protection of the said company. SECTION 20. It shall be the duty of the directors of said company to Repairs. keep in constant repair the entire line of canal under their direction and supervision, with the necessary locks, buildings and appurtenances; to keep a fair and just account of all tolls, water rents and proceeds of Account of tolls, sales of water privileges received, and all moneys disbursed, and deduct- &c. ing all costs and charges; to make and declare a dividend only of the clear profits and income of the canal as hereinbefore directed, and report to the legislature, on the second Tuesday of January in every year, a full and accurate account of their expenditures during the past year, with a correct account of the sums arising from the tolls, water rents and proceeds of sales of water privileges, and all other receipts, and of the disbursements and dividends actually made within the year; they shall also report the names and number of officers and men in their employ, and the amount of salary, or monthly and daily pay, which each receives. SECTION 21. It shall be lawful at all times for a committee of the Legislature to exlegislature, or either branch thereof, appointed for that purpose, to amine and inspect examine the condition of the canal, to inspect the books and examine affairs. into the proceedings of the corporation hereby created, and to report whether the provisions of this charter have been complied with; and if the officers of said corporation shall refuse to be sworn or affirmed, or give evidence, or to produce such of their books or papers as may be demanded, before any such committee, then the legislature may by Proceedings to law declare the said charter void, and repeal the same; and whenever void charter. any committee, as aforesaid, shall find and report, or the governor shall have reason to believe from other evidence that the charter has been violated, it may be lawful for the legislature to direct, or the governor to order a scire facias, to be issued out of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, in the name of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, (which shall be executed on the president of the corporation, for the time being, or the secretary or treasurer, at the office of the said company, at least ten days before the commencement of the term of the said court,) calling on the said corporation to show cause why the charter hereby granted shall not be declared forfeited; and it shall be lawful for the said court, upon the return of the said scire facias, to examine into the truth of the alleged violations, and if such violations be made to appear, then to adjudge that the said charter is forfeited; and thereupon, in case the legislature shall declare the said charter Proviso. State may resume works. Penalty for violation of charter. Proviso. Commissioners' accounts. void, and repeal the same for the cause aforesaid, the canal aforesaid, with its appurtenances, and all the estate, real and personal, of the said corporation, shall revert to and be vested in the commonwealth, upon the payment by the commonwealth to the stockholders, of the par value of their stock, either in money or certificates of loan, bearing an interest of at least five per cent., and redeemable at such time as the legislature may determine; and until the commonwealth shall have made such payment to the directors of said company, to be by them distributed among the stockholders, the rights, privileges and franchises of said corporation shall remain as though said judgment of forfeiture had not been pronounced: Provided, That in case of the forfeiture of said charter, the amount of the par value of said stock shall be subject to a deduction for such amount as may be just and reasonable for dilapidation, decay and diminution, in quantity or in value of the property transferred to said company by this act: Provided, however, That every issue of fact, which may be joined between the commonwealth and the corporation, shall be tried by a jury, summoned by an officer. to be named by the court, and the said jury shall be selected as the said court may direct, from the body of the state; and it shall be lawful for the court aforesaid, to require and compel the production of such of the books and papers of the corporation, on such trial, as it may deem necessary for the ascertainment of the controverted facts, and the final judgment of the court shall be subject to all the usages of law, as in other cases. SECTION 22. If at the expiration of twenty years from the date of the letters patent erecting said corporation hereby created, the legislature should see fit to resume the said works, and the privileges and franchises hereby granted, they shall have a right to do so, by reimbursing to the stockholders the amount of their stock, at par, together with ten per centum advance thereon in money; and so at the expiration of any succeeding term of twenty years, the legislature may resume the said works and franchises upon the same terms: Provided, That in the event of resumption by the legislature as aforesaid, the contingent or sinking fund, as well as the undivided profits on hand, after the payment and discharge of all debts and claims against the company, shall be divided among the stockholders, in the same manner as the nett profits are hereinbefore authorized to be divided. SECTION 23. That if said company shall charge any higher tolls than authorized by the provisions of this act, or in any respect violate any of the restrictions imposed by it, in respect to tolls, any person or persons aggrieved may bring suit, in his or their own name, against said company, and for his or their own use, and recover by action of debt, before any alderman or justice of the peace, the sum of fifty dollars for any violation of the provisions of this act, relative to tolls; and if the said company shall fail to keep any portion of this canal in navigable order, and in good repair, any person or persons interrupted in the navigation and transportation of any boat through this canal, by reason of said canal not being in good repair and navigable order, he or they may bring suit, as aforesaid, and recover a like penalty as aforesaid: Provided, This section shall not be construed to extend to any interruption of the navigation occasioned by necessary repairing, altering or enlarging the dimensions of this canal. SECTION 24. The commissioners appointed under the first section of this act, shall present their accounts of the necessary expenses incurred by them in the performance of the duties imposed upon them by this act, to the auditor general, who shall settle the same, and draw his warrant on the state treasurer, who is hereby authorized to pay the same out of any money in the treasury not otherwise specifically appropriated but the whole amount, including the pay of auctioneers, shall not exceed five hundred dollars. SECTION 25. The said commissioners shall, before they proceed to Oath. the performance of their duties, take and subscribe a declaration upon their oaths or affirmations, before any judge, alderman or justice of the peace of this commonwealth, that they will well and truly perform the duties enjoined upon them by this act with fidelity, and that they will not be influenced or directed by any other motive than a desire to protect and promote the interests of the commonwealth; the said declaration, thus subscribed, to be transmitted to and filed in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth; and they shall not purchase, either in their own names or in the names of any other person or persons, any of the shares of stock in said company, at the sales directed to be held by the first and second sections of this act, or be interested in such sales either directly or indirectly, as agent or trustee of any person or corporation, or in any other capacity. SECTION 26. If the company incorporated by this act, shall at any Banking. JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, Speaker of the Senate. APPROVED-The thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four. DAVID R. PORTER. No. 368. AN ACT Relative to the Columbia avenue, in the county of Philadelphia, and for other purposes. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the width of Columbia avenue, in the county of Philadelphia, shall Width of Columbe diminished from its breadth of one hundred and twenty feet, as now bia avenue. directed by law, to that of sixty feet, by throwing off thirty feet from each side of said avenue, through and along its whole course, and that the same shall hereafter be opened of the width of sixty feet and not otherwise, and that all laws or parts of laws inconsistent herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. Vacation of Ca ern Liberties. SECTION 2. That that part of Canal street, laid down in the plan or nal street, North-survey of the incorporated district of the Northern Liberties, in the county of Philadelphia, of the width of twenty-eight feet, called Canal street, be and the same is hereby vacated, from the east side of Front street to the west side of Haydock street; and the ground now occupied by said Canal street, shall be the property of the owners of the lots of ground now bounded by said Canal street, where the same is vacated, and the said ground is hereby vested in said owners in fee: Provided, The said owners of lots of ground shall pay and refund and pay to the county treasurer of Philadelphia county, any damages that may have been paid for opening said Canal street. Water commis SECTION 3. That in case the water commissioners of the Northern sioners in North-Liberties and Spring Garden, in the county of Philadelphia, shall not ern Liberties and be able to succeed in making private contracts with any of the owners Spring Garden. of property on Thompson street, in Penn township, in said county, for the privilege of laying conduit pipes along the line of said street, a jury of twelve persons shall be drawn in the usual manner from the existing or last road list of jurors for said county, within one week from the time the said water commissioners shall make application to the court of quarter sessions for that purpose; said jury shall, after being duly sworn or affirmed, proceed to assess the damages on such property or properties, and report the same to the said water commissioners which report shall be final, and the water commissioners shall pay the damages so to be assessed, and immediately thereafter they shall be authorized to lay conduit pipes along the line of said Thompson street. JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, Speaker of the House of Representatives. WILLIAM P. WILCOX, Speaker of the Senate. APPROVED-The fourth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four. DAVID R. PORTER. Injunctions. No. 369. AN ACT Further to regulate proceedings in courts of justice, and for other purposes. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That no injunctions shall be issued by any court or judge, until the party applying for the same shall have given bond with sufficient sureties, to be approved by said court or judge, conditioned to indemnify the other party for all damages that may be sustained by reason of such injunc tion. |