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upon which labor was performed and remains unpaid for, the price per day, the amount due, with the name of the contractor from whom due, the section of the road performed, and shall be signed by such laborer or his attorney, to which notice an affidavit shall be annexed, made by such laborer or his attorney, to the effect that of his own knowledge the statements contained in such notice are in all respects true. Such notice, so verified, shall be served on an engineer, agent or superintendent employed by said company, having charge of the section of the road on which such labor was performed, personally or by leaving the same at the office or usual place of business of such engineer, agent or superintendent, with some person of suitable age. But no action shall be maintained against any company, under the provisions of this section, unless the same is commenced after ten and within thirty days after notice is given to the company by such laborer as above provided.

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 925.

AN ACT to amend chapter nine hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations and to regulate the same," " passed April second, eighteen hundred and fifty, so as to permit municipal corporations to aid in the construction of railroads, and also to amend chapter five hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy, entitled "An act to define the powers of commissioners appointed under chapter nine hundred and seven of laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, bonding municipalities to aid in the construction of railroads."

PASSED May 12, 1871; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section first of chapter nine hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

§ 1. Whenever a majority of the tax payers of any municipal corporation in this State who are taxed or assessed for property, not including those taxed for dogs or highway tax only, upon the last preceding assessment roll or tax list of said corporation, and who are assessed or taxed, or represent a majority of the taxable property, upon said last assessment roll or tax list, shall make application to the county judge of the county in which such municipal corporation is situate, by petition, verified by one of the petitioners, setting forth that they are such majority of tax payers, and are taxed or assessed

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for or represent such a majority of taxable property, and that they desire that such municipal corporation shall create and issue its bonds to an amount named in such petition, and invest the same, or the proceeds thereof, in the stock or bonds (as said petition may direct) of such railroad company in this State as may be named in said petition, it shall be the duty of said county judge to order that a notice shall be forthwith published in some newspaper in such county, or, if there be no newspaper published in said county, then in some newspaper printed in an adjoining county, directed to whom it may concern, setting forth that on a day therein named, which shall not be less than ten days or more than thirty days from the date of such publication, he will proceed to take proof of the facts set forth in said petition as to the number of tax payers joining in such petition, and as to the amount of taxable property represented by them. Any solvent corporation or company assessed or taxed on said last assessment roll or tax list may join in such petition, and shall have all the rights and privileges under this act as other tax payers. Any person, partnership or corporation upon whom it shall have been intended to levy a tax by virtue of said last assessment list and tax roll, under whatever name, and who shall have paid or are liable to pay such tax thus intended to be assessed and levied, shall be a tax payer, entitled to represent the property thus taxed, and as such entitled to all the rights and privileges of this act. The petition authorized by this section may be absolute or conditional; and if the same be conditional, the acceptance of a subscription founded on such petition shall bind the railroad company accepting the same to the observance of the condition or conditions specified in such petition; provided, however, that non-compliance with any condition inserted in such petition shall not in any manner invalidate the bonds created and issued in pursuance of such petition. No municipal corporation shall issue its bonds under the provisions of this act for a greater amount than twenty per centum of the taxable property thereof as appears on its said last assessment list or tax roll. The words "municipal corporation," when used in this act, shall be construed to mean any city, town, or incorporated village in this State, and the words "tax payer” shall mean any corporation or person assessed or taxed for property, either individually or as agent, trustee, guardian, executor or administrator, or who shall have been intended to have been thus taxed and shall have paid or are liable to pay the tax as herein before provided, or the owner of any non-resident lands, taxed as such, not including those taxed for dogs or highway tax only, and the words "tax list or assessment roll" when used in this act shall mean the tax list or assessment roll of said municipal corporation last completed before the first presentation of such petition to the judge. But nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to include the city

of New York or the counties of New York, Kings, Erie, Westchester, Onondaga, and the town of Royalton in the county of Niagara, within the provisions of this act.

§ 2. Section two of chapter nine hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

§ 2. It shall be the duty of the said judge, at the time and place named in the said notice, to proceed and take proof as to the said allegations in said petition, and if it shall appear satisfactorily to him that the said petitioners, or the said petitioners and such other tax payers of said municipal corporation as may then and there appear before him and express a desire to join as petitioners in said petition, do represent a majority of the tax payers of said municipal corporation, as shown by the last preceding tax list or assessment roll, and do represent a majority of the taxable property upon said list or roll, he shall so adjudge and determine, and cause the same to be entered of record in the office of the clerk of the county in which said municipal corporation is situated, and such judgment and the record thereof shall have the same force and effect as other judgments and records in courts of record in this State; and in case any county judge, to whom any such petitions may have been presented, shall be declared incompetent or ineligible, or in any manner disqualified to hear the same, by any court on certiorari from any determination of such county judge in any proceeding under this act had before him, the original petitions, filed with the county clerk in such proceeding and on such determination, may be taken from file and presented to a judge of an adjoining county or a justice of the Supreme Court; and in all such cases the same proceedings may be had before such county judge or justice of the Supreme Court as are required by the provisions of this act. The judge shall file the petition as part of the judgment roll, and on making his final determination in any case he shall forthwith publish notice thereof for three weeks, at least once in each week, in the same newspaper in which notice of such hearing was published as ordered.

§ 3. Section ten of chapter nine hundred and seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

§ 10. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as permitting any municipal corporation, in or through which a railroad has already been constructed and is in operation, to aid in the construction of any other railroad under the provisions of this act, unless the railroad already built is assessed or taxed upon the assessment roll specified in this act; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to any railroad exempted from taxation by any law of this State.

§ 4. Review of proceedings under the acts hereby amended shall be by certiorari, and no writ of certiorari shall be allowed unless said writ shall be allowed within sixty days after the last publication of notice of the judge's final determination, as provided in section two of this act, and where such judgment is so entered prior to the passage of this act, unless said writ is allowed within sixty days after the passage of this act. On the return of the certiorari the court out of which the same issued shall proceed to consider the matter brought up thereby, and shall review all questions of law and of fact determined for or against either party by the county judge. And the said courts or court of appeals in appeals now pending, and in all future proceedings, may reverse or affirm or modify, in all questions of law or fact, his final determination, or may remand the whole matter back to said county judge to be again heard and determined by him. And it may by order direct that he proceed thereon de novo, in the same manner and with the same effect as if he had taken no action therein, or it may by such order specify how and in what particulars he shall hear and determine the same on such remanding thereof. Applications for certiorari shall be on notice. On review, persons taxed for dogs or highway tax only shall not be counted as tax payers unless that claim was made before the county judge. The county judge shall forthwith proceed to carry into effect all orders of any court on review under this act.

§ 5. Chapter five hundred and seven of the laws of one thousand eight hundred and seventy is hereby amended by adding to the end of section first as follows: But in case such commissioners and such railroad corporation cannot agree, or in case the said commissioners refuse to make any agreement, then in either case the Supreme Court at general term may, on motion and after hearing all parties interested, determine upon what terms and conditions said bonds should be delivered to said railroad corporations, having due regard to the public good, the rights of said municipal corporation whose bonds are authorized to be issued, and the rights of said railroad corporation, and shall have power to compel the delivery of said bonds on such terms and conditions, and in such manner, as it shall thus determine upon, by the usual process of the court. Said court shall also, by the usual process of said court in like cases, have power at any time to prevent by injunction the issue of said bonds or any portion thereof, on notice and for good cause shown. And any justice of said court may grant a temporary injunction until such motion can be heard.

§ 6. Section four of chapter nine hundred and seven of laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, as amended by chapter two hundred and eighty-three of the laws of eighteen hundred seventy-one, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof as follows: In case of a

vacancy in the office of commissioners, or in case all commissioners are notified of any meeting, a majority of the commissioners shall have and exercise all the powers and duties of the three commissioners. The said commissioners may issue the said bonds payable at any time they may elect, less than thirty years, any law heretofore passed to the contrary, but they shall not so issue said bonds that more than ten per cent of the principal of the whole amount of bonds issued shall become due or payable in any one year.

§ 7. This act shall take effect immediately.

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