[SECT. sold, &c. 1866, 152. Merchandise transported by any railroad company, Unclaimed (or by any steam or sailing vessel,) may be sold at public auction for freight may be the charges of transportation due thereon: provided, it is not called for by the owner or consignee within one year from the date of its receipt at the place to which it was consigned; and provided, that notice of the time and place of sale shall first be given by advertising the same three days in each week for three successive weeks in some newspaper published at or nearest the city or town to which the merchandise was consigned. claimants. 1866, 152. SECT. After deducting the expenses of transportation, adver- Net proceeds tising, storage and sale, the proceeds shall be placed to the credit of subject to the owners and consignee in the books of the company or owners of said vessels making the sale, and the amount shall at all times be subject to the order of the lawful claimants thereof. The words" or by any steam or sailing vessel," in the act of 1866, are omitted in the second line of the first of the two preceding sections. The sections, though inserted here, do not properly belong to G. S. chap. 63, but to chap. 80, "Of unclaimed property transported by common carriers." They should be omitted if this revision is enacted.] RELATIONS OF CONNECTING ROADS. Penalty; G. S. 63, 114. SECT. 156. Corporations shall promptly forward merchandise Corporations to consigned, ordered, or directed, to be sent over another road forward goods to connecting connecting therewith, according to the directions contained roads, &c. thereon or accompanying the same, and shall not receive and forward over their roads any merchandise consigned, ordered, or expressly directed, to be received and forwarded by a different route. A corporation wilfully violating the provisions of this section, if the freight or expense of carriage of such merchandise is paid or secured to the forwarding road, shall, for each offence, forfeit one hundred dollars, to be recovered by action of tort by any person or corporation injuriously affected thereby. [No alteration.] SECT. 157. No railroad corporation shall contract with any person or persons, or other corporations, for the operation and management of its road, nor contract to assume the management and operation of any other railroad, or to lease its own road, or take a lease of any other railroad without special authority so to do from the legislature: but this provision does not apply to such contracts made or entered into previous to the thirty-first day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven. [This section is a substitute for G. S. 63, § 115, and acts 1867, chap. 298, and exactly presents the existing conditiou of the statute law on this subject. G. S. 63, § 115, had been in force twenty-nine years when it was practically repealed by the act of 1867, in order to affect a special negotiation between two corporations then supposed to be pending. A substitute for the section as it now stands has been proposed by the commissioners, and will be found in their second annual report (1871), Appendix C, p. 88, § 11.] -owning road G. S. 63, § 116. -shall transport passengers, &c., for each other. If they cannot agree, &c. SECT. 158. Where such contracts are made, the corporation owning the road shall be liable for all damage done or injury sustained thereon or in the use thereof in the same manner and to the same extent that it would be liable if it performed the transportation itself. [No alteration.] SECT. 159. Every corporation owning a road in use shall at reasonable times and for a reasonable compensation draw over the same the passengers, merchandise and cars of any other corporation authorized by the legislature to enter with its road upon, or unite the same with, and use, the road of the first named corporation. If the corporations cannot agree upon the stated periods at which the cars shall be so drawn and the com14 Gray, 253, 66. pensation to be paid, the board of railroad commissioners upon G. S. 63, § 117. 7 Gray, 31. 12 Gray, 397. 14 Allen, 462. Where roads terminate in each shall fur nish depots, &c. the petition of either party, after due notice to and hearing the parties interested, shall determine such rate of compensation, and fix such periods having reference to the convenience and in- · terest of the corporations and the public to be accommodated thereby; and the award of the commissioners or a major part of them shall be binding upon the respective corporations interested therein, until the same shall have been revised or altered by said commissioners; but no such revision or alteration shall be made within one year after the award. [The provisions of 1869, 408, § 5, are incorporated into G. S. 63, § 117.] SECT. 160. Where two or more railroads terminate in the same place, &c., same city or town, and one corporation is authorized to enter with its road upon, unite the same with, and use, the road of another of said corporations, each corporation may enter upon and use the road of the other, and each shall for a reasonable compensation provide upon its road convenient and suitable depot accommodations for the passengers and merchandise of the other road passing to and over it, and shall receive and deliver the same in the manner it receives and delivers its own If they do not passengers and freight. If the corporations cannot agree upon agree, commisthe terms and conditions upon which such accommodations shall sioners may decide. be furnished and the business transacted, the board of railroad commissioners, after due notice to and hearing the parties, shall determine the rate of compensation to be paid for the depot ac14 Gray, 253, 66. commodations required for the proper reception and delivery of G. S. 63, § 118. 1869, 408, § 5. 7 Gray, 31. 12 Gray, 397. such passengers and merchandise, and upon the application of either party determine all questions between the parties in relation to the transportation of freight and passengers over and other business upon and connected with said roads in which they are jointly interested, and the manner in which the business shall be done, and apportion to the corporations their respective shares of the expenses, receipts and income, of the same; and the award of the commissioners, or the major part of them, subject to the limitations and restrictions contained in the preceding section, shall be binding upon the respective corporations. [By virtue of § 5 of chap. 408 of acts of 1869, "the powers and duties conferred and imposed upon commissioners appointed by the supreme judicial court by §§ 117-18 of G. S 63," were vested in the board of railroad commissioners. By the decision in Boston & Worcester R. R. Co. v. Western R. R. Co. (14 Gray, 253), it seems that the awards made by the commissioners provided for by G. S. 63, §§ 117-18, must be returned into court" in order that it may be known whether the commissioners have exercised the authority conferred upon them, and acted therein in conformity to the requirements of law." This, however, is expressly based on the ground that the commissioners in question "derive all their right and power to act from their judicial appointment." This is not the case with the board of railroad commissioners, and yet the statute (1869 408, § 5) vests in them "the powers ‚and duties” of commissioners appointed under G. S. 63, §§ 117-18. New London Northern R. R. Co. v. Boston & Albany R. R. Co. (102 Mass.) As in making these awards difficult points of law and of construction, both of contracts and charters, may arise it would seem very proper that such questions should, if necessary, go directly from the commissioners to the supreme court for the purpose of supervision. In order to obviate any question on this point the following additional section is suggested. (See G. S, chap. 147.) SECTION Any award made by the railroad commissioners in pursuance of the foregoing sections shall be returnable, on the request in writing of any party affected thereby, filed within thirty days of the rendering of such award, into the supreme judicial court, and shall be there subject to revision in the same manner as if the said commissioners had derived their power to act in the premises under the appointment of said court.] use connecting SECT. 161. Railroad corporations created by the laws of Corporations of other states shall have all the rights and privileges as regards other states to connecting roads, under the two preceding sections, of corpora- roads in this tions created by this state. SECT. 162. Any corporation chartered by the concurrent legislation of this and other states shall, as regards any portion of its road lying within this state, be entitled to all the benefits and be subject to all the liabilities of the corporations of this state. [The above sections are submitted as a substitute for the act of 1860, chap. 201, which is not framed and worded in conformity with other parts of this revision. Particular attention is called to the substitute, as the meaning of the original act is somewhat obscure, and its remote bearings may have escaped the notice of the commissioners.] SECT. 163. No locomotive engine or other motive power shall be allowed to run upon a railroad constructed by authority of this state, except such as is owned and controlled by the cor state, &c.; 1860, 201, § 1. G. S. 63, § 119. poration owning and managing the road, unless with the consent of the corporation. When postmas ter-general, or corporation shall carry [No alteration.] CARRYING OF UNITED STATES MAILS. SECT. 164. Every corporation shall, when requested by the agent, request, postmaster-general of the United States or by any authorized agent of the post-office department of the United States, carry the mails of the United States at such times and upon such trains as may be desired by the postmaster-general, or by such agent, upon the terms provided in the following section. mails. 1867, 351, § 1. Proceedings in case of disa terms. 1867, 351, § 2. SECT. 165. If any corporations shall be unable to agree with greement as to the postmaster-general or other proper officer of the United States, as to the compensation to be paid for such transportation, such corporation may notify the postmaster-general of its unwillingness to carry such mails upon the terms proposed by him; and after such notice, deposited in any post-office in this Commonwealth, addressed to the postmaster-general, such corporation shall be absolved from the duty of carrying the mails, as provided in this act, after the expiration of three months from the depositing of such notice, unless upon the petition of the postmaster-general, or some officer or agent of the post-office department of the United States, the board of railroad commissioners shall, upon due notice to such corporation, hear and determine the compensation to be paid by the United States for such service, the award of a major part of whom shall be final as to all past service, and for the period of two years after the confirmation of such award. On application of either party to such proceeding, at any time after the expiration of two years from the publication of such award, the matter may, on petition to the court, by either party, be re-opened, and the railroad commissioners shall rehear the parties, and the award of the major part of said commissioners shall be binding on the parties for other two years, when like proceedings may be had on petition of either party. [SECT. Any award rendered under the provisions of the two preceding sections shall be subject to revision or other action, on the part of the supreme judicial court, in like manner with awards made under sections one hundred and fifty-nine and one hundred and sixty of this act. Section 164 is not altered, except verbally, from the act of 1867, chap. 351. Section 165 is changed by transferring jurisdiction from commissioners appointed by the supreme court to the board of railroad commissioners; this is in conformity with sections 159, 160. Section is new, and is suggested for reasons stated in the note to section 160.] BONDS AND MORTGAGES. may issue debt, &c. SECT. 166. A corporation, for the purpose of funding its float- Corporations ing debt or for money borrowed for any purpose sanctioned by bonds for fund. law, may, upon being authorized by a majority of the votes at a ing floating meeting of its stockholders called for the purpose, issue bonds G. S. 63, § 120. in sums of not less than one hundred dollars each payable at periods not exceeding twenty years from the date thereof and bearing interest not exceeding the rate of seven per cent. a year, payable annually or semi-annually, to an amount not exceeding the capital stock actually paid in by its stockholders. 1870, 292. See G. S. ch. 53, proved; SECT. 167. No bond shall be issued unless approved by one Bonds to be apor more of the finance committee of the corporation, or some G. S. 63, § 121. other person appointed for that purpose, who shall certify that it is properly issued and recorded upon the books of the corporation. [No alteration in sections 166, 167.] SECT. 168. Bonds so issued may be registered, and corporations are authorized, at the request of the owner or holder of any coupon bonds lawfully issued by such corporations, to issue registered bonds in exchange for and in lieu of such coupon bonds, upon such terms, and under such regulation as the directors of the company, with the consent and approval of the trustees to whom any mortgage or pledge shall have been executed, to secure the payment of the coupon bonds, shall prescribe; and such registered bonds shall, with the exception of the coupons, correspond in all respects with the coupon bonds, and shall be in conformity with all laws authorizing the issue of the coupon bonds, for which the same are exchanged. may be regis tered, or coupon, &c. 1869, 131, §§ 1, 2. bonds not to af SECT. 169. The exchange of coupon bonds for registered Exchange of bonds under the provisions of the preceding section, shall not fect mortgage. affect any mortgage or pledge given as security for the payment 1869, 131, § 3. of such coupon bonds, and such mortgage or pledge shall remain in full force as security for the payment of such registered bonds. SECT. 170. The two preceding sections shall not apply to any bonds, the payment of which has been or shall be guaranteed by the Commonwealth. [Certain verbal changes of revision made in sections 168-170.] below par. SECT. 171. All bonds or notes issued by such corporation-bonds bindshall be binding and collectable in law, notwithstanding such ing, though sold notes or bonds were negotiated and sold by the corporation or G. S. 63, § 122. its agents at less than par. 8 |