full by the clerk in the journal, and it shall be duly certified to by the president and clerk, and shall be received as evidence in any court in this state. SEC. 5. The members of the said board of control, before entering upon the duties of their office, shall take an oath or affirmation, before a judge of the court of common pleas, to faithfully discharge the duties of their office. In case of death, resignation or removal from office of a member of said board of control, the fact of such vacancy shall be certified by the president of the board of control to the court of common pleas, whose duty it shall be to appoint a judicious person and tax payer, to fill such vacancy; and the person so appointed shall hold his office until the next annual election in April. SEC. 6. The board of control shall cause to be provided for its clerk a seal, in the center of which shall be the name of the county, and around the margin the words "Clerk of the board of control," which seal shall be affixed to all transcripts, orders or certificates which may be necessary or proper to authenticate under this act for all attested certificates and transcripts other than those ordered by the board of control, or the board of county commissioners; the same fees shall be paid the clerk as are allowed to county officers for similar services. SEC. 7. The board of control shall have final action and jurisdiction on all matters involving the expenditure of money, or the awarding of contracts, or the assessing or levying of taxes, by the said board of county commissioners; every contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, on his giving sufficient security for his performance of the same: Provided, that the said board of control may reject all bids. SEC. 8. No contract or release made, or liability incurred, nor appropriation or allowance, nor taxes levied or assessed by the board of county commissioners, shall be valid and binding unless a majority of all the members of said board of control present shall vote in favor thereof; and no contract or release made, or liability incurred, or appropriation or allowance made, which involves an expenditure of money to the amount one hundred dollars or more, nor taxes levied or assessed, shall be approved by said board of control, until the next meeting after such matter or things come before said board, unless a majority of all the members shall vote for the same. SEC. 9. At the annual election in April, there shall be elected by the qualified electors of any county in which by this act a board of control is established, a solicitor to said board and the board of county commissioners, who shall be an attorney-at-law, and shall hold his office for two years, entering upon his term of office as soon as he is elected and said board of control is organized. He shall be the legal adviser of the said board of control and the board of county commissioners, and shall prosecute or d fend all suits and actions which the board of control or board of county commissioners may direct, or to which they may be a party. He shall re Office to be provided for board. Commission to board of control at each meeting. ceive a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars per year, payable out of the county treasury on the certificate of the board of control, approved by the president and the warrant of the county auditor. SEC. 10. The board of county commissioners shall provide a suitable hall or chamber in the court house of said county if practicable, in which the said board of control and county commissioners shall meet to transact their business; they also shall provide the book or books that may be necessary for the clerk to keep his record and journal. SEC. 11. The board of county commissioners shall, at each ers to report and every meeting of said board of control, present to the said board a true and accurate statement of all matters and things that have come before them, which involves an expenditure of money, or the awarding of contracts, or the assessing or levying of taxes; and they shall also present to said board of control at their meetings all bids on contracts, plans and specifications, and every paper or document that in any manner should come before said board by the provisions of this act. Commissioners not to act on matters committed to board of control. SEC. 12. That no matter or thing with regard to which said board of control has authority under this act to take action on, shall be acted upon by any board of county commissioners, any thing in any law of this state to the contrary nothwithstanding: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall affect the term of office of any appointee of the present board of county commissioners. SEC. 13. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first Monday of April, A. D. 1872. N. H. VAN VORHES, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Passed March 13, 1872. JACOB MUELLER, County commissioners to make annual report. AN ACT To amend an act entitled an act to amend an act entitled "An act to amend section seven of an act further to prescribe the duties of county commissioners," passed April 8, 1856, as amended February 26, 1857, passed May 7, 1869. [66 O. L. page 350.] SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That section seven of the above recited act be amended so as to read as follows: Section 7. It shall be the duty of the county commissioners, annually, on or before the second Monday in September, to make a detailed report in writing to the court of common pleas of the county, of their official transactions during the year next preceding the time of making said report, giving an accurate statement of the financial affairs of the &c. County; and the court shall cause the same to be investi- Investigagate and examined by the prosecuting attorney of the county, tion thereof. together with two suitable persons to be appointed by the court. To aid in their investigations, the persons so appointed with the prosecuting attorney to examine said report, shall have power, when in their opinion it [is] necessary, and the court shall so order, to subpoena witnesses to appear before them at such time and place as may be designated. Upon the filing of a præcipe with the clerk of the court of com- Subpoena of mon pleas, he shall issue a subpoena, directed to the sheriff of witnesses, the county, who shall serve the same and make return according to law. Such witnesses may be sworn before any officers authorized to administer oaths, and shall thereupon be compelled to answer such questions as may be put to them relative to the official transaction of the county commissioners. The clerk of the court shall certify all costs arising under these proceedings to the auditor of the county, who shall draw orders upon the county treasury for the payment of the same. In case of any violation of the law, the prosecuting attorney is hereby directed to cause the same to be prosecuted according to the nature of the case; and if any county commissioners in this state, fail or neglect to make the report required of them by this act, at the time therein required, they shall be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars; and it is hereby made the duty of the prosecuting attorney of any such county, to prosecute, in the court of common pleas, as is provided by law in similar cases, any one or all of such county commissiouers, who shall neglect or refuse to publish the required statement in at least one newspaper of general cir. culation in said county. SEC. 2. That [section] one of an act entitled "An act to amend section seven of an act further to prescribe the duties of county commissioners, passed April 8, 1856, as amended February 26, 1857," passed April 5, 1866, be and the same is hereby repealed. SEC. 3. That this act shall take effect from and after its passage. N. H. VAN VORHES, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JACOB MUELLER, Prosecution and penalty for delinquency. Passed March 13, 1872. President of the Senate. AN ACT To amend section eleven, as amended April 13, 1865, of an act to authorize and regulate limited partnerships, passed January 24, 1846. (S. & S., 507.) SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That section eleven of the above entitled act, as amended April 13th, 1865, be so amended as to read as follows: Section 11. The business of the partnership shall be conducted under a firm name, in which the names of all general part Partnerships ners shall be inserted, except that when there are more than -style of, how conducttwo general partners, the name may consist of the names of either ed, &c. one of such partners, with the addition of the words "& Co.;" and if any special partner shall permit his name to be used he shall be deemed a general partner; and the said partnership shall put up upon some conspicuous place on the outside and in front of the building in which it has its chief place of business, some sign, on which shall be placed in legible English characters, all the names in full of all the general partners of said partnership; in default of which no action against said partnership shall abate or be dismissed by reason of the plantiff in such action failing to prove the allegations in his pleadings as to the names and number of the members in said firm. Damages may be assessed by court, or referred to re feree, master commissioner, or jury. SEC. 2. That section one [eleven] of said original act, amended as aforesaid, be and the same is thereby repealed. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. N. H. VAN VORHES, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Passed March 13th, 1872. AN ACT President of the Senate. To amend chapter two, section (376) three hundred and seventy-six of the code of civil procedure. (S. & C., page 1052.) SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That section three hundred and seventy-six (376) of the code of civil procedure, be amended so as to read as follows: Section 376. If the taking of an account, of the proof of a fact, or the assessment of damages, be necessary to enable the court to pronounce judgment, upon a failure to answer, or having answered to a part of the cause or causes of action alleged, the court may in its discretion render judg ment upon such part or parts as are not put in issue by such answer, or after a decision of an issue of law, the court may, with the assent of the party not in default, take the account, hear the proof, or assess the damages; or may, with the like assent, refer the same to a referee or master commissioner, or may direct the same to be ascertained or assessed by a jury. If a jury be ordered, it shall be on or after the day on which the action is set for trial. SEC. 2. Section three hundred and seventy-six of the above recited act is hereby repealed. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. N. H. VAN VORHES, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JACOB MUELLER, Passed March 13, 1872. President of the Senate. AN ACT To amend sections twelve (12) and thirteen (13) of an act entitled "An act to provide for locating, establishing and constructing ditches, drains and water-courses in townships, and to repeal a certain act therein named." (S. & S., pages 326 and 327.) Effect of appeal, and further proceedings. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That sections twelve and thirteen of the above mentioned act be amended so as to read as follows: Section 12. As soon as an appeal shall be perfected from the decision of said township trustees, all further proceedings before them on said petition shall be stayed; but if no appeal shall be taken, as provided for in the seventh section of this act, then it shall be the duty of said trustees, upon the expiration of the time specified by them for the opening of such ditch, drain or water-course, and upon being satisfied by inspection and view that any section or sections of the same have not been completed, to sell such work by such sections to the lowest bidders, by setting up written or printed notices of such sale in at least three of the most public places in such township, specifying the time when such work shall be completed; said notices to be posted up for at least ten days before the day of sale; and said trustees shall take such bond or other security for the performance of such work as they may deem proper: Provided, that before the work of Estimate of constructing such ditch shall be sold by the township trus- cost, &c. tees, said trustees shall make a fair and impartial estimate of the cost of said work, which estimate shall be entered upon the journal containing a record of their proceedings; and said work shall not be sold for any sum exceeding twenty per cent. above said estimate; and said trustees shall also make a fair and just estimate of the amount of the costs made in all such proceedings, to be paid by each person interested in such proposed ditch, drain or water course, and collect and pay out the same in conformity with such esti mates; and they are hereby authorized to bring suit before any justice of the peace for the amount so assessed against any person; and the journal containing the record of their proceedings, or a certified copy therefrom, shall be prima facie evidence of such indebtedness. No order for the opening or sale of such ditch, or any part thereof, shall be made, until the full amount of such compensation for land appropriated shall have been paid. Section 13. Immediately after the sale of any such sections Levy for cost or parts of sections, as provided for in the twelfth section of by auditor. this act, said trustees shall certify to the auditor of the county the amount each section sold for, adding the proportionate amount of cost and expenses of such sale, together with a correct description of each piece of land; and said auditor shall place the same on the duplicate, to be collected as other state and county taxes are collected: Provided, however, that |