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bers, and they are hereby declared to be incorporated into a company, by the name of the "Washington Canal Company," and may sue and be sued, as such and make all necessary bye-laws and regulations for the proper management of the business thereof: And such of the subscribers as shall be present at the said meeting, or a majority of them, are hereby empowered and required to elect a president and four directors for conducting the said undertaking, and managing the said company's business for, and during such time not exceeding three years, as the said subscribers or a majority of them, shall think fit. Each member shall be allowed one vote for every share, by him or her held at the time in the said company, and any proprietor by a writing under his or her hand, executed in presence of two witnesses, may depute any other member or proprietor to vote and act as proxy for him or her, at any general meeting.

55. SECT. X. The shares in said company shall be deemed personal, and not real property, and transferrable in such manner as the compa By shall direct.

56. SECT. XI. The president and directors so elected, and their successors, or a majority of them, shall have full power and authority to agree with any person or persons, on behalf of the said company, to cut such canals, erect such locks, and perform such other works as they shall judge necessary for opening the canal aforesaid, and the forks thereof; and out of the monies arising from the subscriptions, wharfage and tolls, to pay for the same, and to repair and improve the said canal, locks and other works necessary thereto, and to defray all incidental charges, and also to appoint a treasurer, clerk, and such other officers, toll-gatherers, managers and servants, as they shall judge requisite, and to settle their respective wages.

57. SECT. XII. The treasurer of the company shall give bond, with such penalty, and such security, as the said president and directors, or a majority of them shall direct.

58. SECT. XIII. The said president and directors, so elected, and their successors or a majority of them assembled, shall have full power and authority to demand and receive of the proprietors, the remaining nine-tenths of the shares, from time to time, as they may be required by previous advertisement, at least one month in the Washington, George Town and Alexandria gazettes; and if any of the said proprietors shall refuse or neglect to pay their proportions within one month after the same so ordered and advertised, as aforesaid, the said shares of defaulters shall be forfeited.

SECT. XIV. The said president and directors, so elected, and their successors, or a majority of them, shall not begin to collect wharfage or tolls, until the canal is made practicable for boats and scows to pass through the same from the Potomack to the eastern branch.

59. SECT. XV. Every president and director, before he acts as such, shall take an oath or affirmation for the faithful discharge of his office.

60. SECT. XVI. There shall be a general meeting of the proprietors on the first Monday in June, and the first Monday in December, every

year, in the city of Washington; to which meeting the president and directors shall make a report, and render distinct and just accounts of all their proceedings, and on finding them fairly and justly stated, the proprietors, then present, or a majority of them, shall give a certificate thereof, and at such half yearly general meetings, after leaving in the hands of the treasurer such sum as shall be judged necessary for repairs, improvements or contingent charges an equal dividend of all the nett profits arising from the wharfage and tolls hereby granted, shall be ordered and made to, and among all the proprietors of the said company, in proportion to their several shares."

61. SECT. XVII. For and in consideration of the expenses the said proprietors shall incur, not only in cutting canals, but in erecting locks, and in maintaining and keeping the same in repair, and in temporary enlargement and improvement of the same, that for the space of fifty years, when this act shall cease on repayment of the principal of the sums expended, the company is hereby authorized to collect the same rates of wharfage on all articles and materials landed on each side of the canal, as are now legally received at the wharfs of George Town: And it shall and may be lawful for the said president and directors, for fifty years, and as much longer as their principal sums expended remain unpaid, to demand and to receive, at the most convenient place for all commodities carried through a lock or locks of the canal, a toll not exceeding half a dollar on each loaded boat, and a quarter of a dollar on each loaded scow; but no toll to be paid returning. But when the wharfage shall produce the annual interest of eight per cent. on the sums expended by the president and directors, exclusive of the tolls, then the tolls shall cease, and the canal and forks thereof, shall be entirely free for passage: And when the wharfage shall exceed the annual interest of twelve per cent. then the president and directors shall appropriate one half of the surplus to such public purpose as congress may direct, or reserve the same as a fund to pay off the principal: Provided always, That all public property shall pass free of toll and wharfage.

62. SECT. XVIII. Provided nevertheless, That in case the said Washington canal company created by this act shall not, within the term of five years, complete said canal, in such a manner as to admit boats drawing three feet of water to pass through the whole extent of said canal, that the said canal shall revert to the united states, and all right and authority hereby granted to said company shall cease and determine.

ACT of May 3, 1802. (Vol. VI. p. 178.)

63. SECT. I. The circuit court of the county of Washington, in the territory of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all common law and chancery causes which now are, or hereafter shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties reside without the said territory, in the same way that non-residents are proceeded against in the general court or in the supreme court of chancery in the state of Maryland.

SECT. II. The circuit court of the county of Alexandria, in the district of Columbia, shall have power to proceed in all common law and

chancery causes which now are, or hereafter shall be instituted before it, in which either of the parties are non-residents of said district of Columbia, in the same way, and under the same regulations observed by the district court or by the high court of chancery in Virginia, in proceeding against non-residents.

64. SECT. III. The courts for the counties of Alexandria and Washington, shall hereafter be holden at the periods following, to wit: For the county of Alexandria, on the fourth Monday of June and November, and for the county of Washington, on the fourth Monday of July and December, in each year; and all process heretofore issued from the offices of the said courts and not yet returned, shall be returnable to the first day of the sessions of the said courts, respectively, and all causes now depending in the same shall stand adjourned and continued over to the next sessions of the said courts, as established by this act. And the said courts are hereby invested with the same power of holding adjourned sessions that are exercised by the courts of Maryland.

65. SECT. IV. No capias ad satisfaciendum shall hereafter issue on any judgment rendered by a single magistrate, or in any case where the judgment, exclusive of costs, shall not exceed twenty dollars; but in such cases, execution shall be only on the goods and chattels of the debtor, and shall issue by order of the justice who may have taken cognizance of the action, from the clerk's office, and shall be returnable thereto. All such executions shall be returnable on the first Monday in every month; and the same and also the warrant to bring the party before the justice, shall be directed to one of the constables, whose duty it shall be to obey the same: Each of the said constables shall give bond with one sufficient surety, to be approved of by any one of the district judges, for the faithful execution of the duties of his office, in the sum of five hundred dollars: The clerk's fees for issuing and filing the return of every such execution, shall be twenty-five cents; the constable's fees for return and service, shall be fifty cents; and a commission of eight per cent. shall be allowed the constable for every sum thereon by him levied.

66. SECT. V. So much of the original act to which this is a further supplement, as confines the jurisdiction of the courts of this territory to cases between parties who are inhabitants of, or residents within the same, shall not be construed to extend to any case, where, by the laws of Maryland and Virginia, respectively, attachments may issue to affe& the property of absconding debtors, or others having property within. the district, and whose persons are not answerable to the process of the court. [See antea 25.]

67. SECT. VI. The taxes to be levied in the county of Alexandria, shall hereafter be assessed by the justices of the peace of the said county, and the poor of the town and country parts of the said county of Alexandria shall be provided for respectively, in like manner as the County and corporation courts were authorized to do by the laws of Virginia, as they stood in force within the said county, on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred. [See Postures.]

68. SECT. VII. No part of the laws of Virginia or Maryland, declared by an act of congress, passed the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and one, "concerning the district of Columbia," to be in force within the said district, shall ever be construed so as to prohibit the owners of slaves to hire them within, or remove them to the said district, in the same way as was practised prior to the passage of the above recited act. [See antea 21.]

69. SECT. VIII. So much of two acts of congress, the one passed on the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and one, entitled "An act concerning the district of Columbia;" the other passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and one, supplementary to the aforesaid act, as provides for the compensation to be made to certain justices of the peace thereby created, and for compensation to jurors attending the courts within said district, except so much thereof as relates to their travelling expenses attending the same, shall be, and is hereby repealed: And jurors, in future, shall serve in the said courts, and be summoned to attend the same in like manner as jurors serve and were summoned in the courts of Virginia, prior to the passage of the above recited act. [See antea 30, 37, 42.]

70. SECT. IX. Ordinary licenses, retailers licenses, and hawkers and pediars licenses, shall be granted by the circuit court of the said district, in the respective counties, as the same were heretofore granted by the courts of Maryland and Virginia, respectively. And the several judges of the said circuit court shall have like authority to grant such licenses in vacation, as the justices of the courts of Maryland and Virginia heretofore possessed; and the money arising from such licenses shall be applied to the use and benefit of the said counties, respectively, in such manner, and to such purposes, as the justices of the levy courts in the same shall appoint and direct.

71. SECT. X. The marshal of the district of Columbia, shall be, and he hereby is authorized and directed, with the approbation of the president of the united states to cause a good and sufficient jail to be built within the city of Washington, and a sum not exceeding eight thousand dollars shall be, and the same hereby is appropriated to that purpose, to be paid out of any unappropriated monies in the treasury. [See crimes 1.]

72 SECT. XI. The corporation of George Town, in the district of Columbia, shall have full power and authority to tax any particular part or district of the town, for paving the streets, lanes or alleys therein, or for sinking wells, or erecting pumps which may appear for the benefit of such particular part or district, Provided, that the rate of tax so to be levied shall not exceed two dollars per foot front, and that the same shall be enforced and collected in the same manner as the taxes which the said corporation had heretofore been authorized to lay and collect.

73. Sucт. XII. Articles inspected at one port in the said district shall not be subject to a second inspection, at any other port in the

said district.

74. SECT.XIII. The president of the united states is authorized to cause the militia of the respective counties of Washington and Alexandria

to be formed into regiments and other corps, conformably, as nearly as may be, to the laws of Maryland and Virginia, as they stood in force in the said counties, respectively, on the first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred; he shall appoint and commission, during pleasure, all such officers of the militia of the said district as he may think proper; and he is authorized to call them into service in like manner as the executive of Maryland and Virginia were authorized in the countics of Washington and Alexandria respectively, on the first Monday of December, one thousand eight hundred. And such militia, when in actual service, shall be entitled to the same pay and emoluments as the militia of the united states, when called out by the president. [See Militia, 13, 14, 15.]

ACT of May 3, 1802. (Vol. VI. p. 183.)

75. SECT. I. The inhabitants of the city of Washington shall be constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name of a mayor and council of the city of Washington, and by their corporate name, may sue and te sued, implead and be impleaded, grant, receive, and do all other acts as natural persons, and may purchase and hold real, personal and mixed property, or dispose of the same for the benefit of the said city; and may have and use a city seal, which may be broken or altered at pleasure: The city of Washington shail be divided into three divisions or wards, as now divided by the levy court for the county, for the purpose of assessment; but the number may be increased hereafer, as in the wisdom of the city council shall seem most conducive to the general interest and convenience.

76. SECT. II. The council of the city of Washington shall consist of twelve members, residents of the city, and upwards of twenty-five years of age, to be divided into two chambers, the first chamber to consist of seven members, and the second chamber of five members; the second chamber to be chosen from the whole number of counsellors elected, by their joint ballot. The city council to be clecied annually, by ballot, in a general ticket, by the free white male inhabitants of full age, who have resided twelve months in the city, and paid taxes therein the year preceding the election's being held: The justices of the county of Washington, resident in the city, or any three of them, to preside as judges of election, with such associates as the council may, from time to time, appoint.

77. SECT. III. The first election of members for the city council shall be held on the first Monday in June next, and in every year afterwards, at such place in each ward as the judges of the election may prescribe.

78. SECT. IV. The polls shall be kept open from eight o'clock in the morning till seven o'clock in the evening, and no longer, for the reception of ballots. On the closing of the poll, the judges shall close and seal their ballot boxes, and meet on the day following in the presence of the maishal of the district, on the first election, and the council afterwards, when the seals shall be broken, and the votes counted: Within three days after such election, they shall give notice to the persons having the greatest number of legal votes, that they are duly elected, and shall make their return to the mayor of the city.

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