stations. A certificate of such changes or taking, duly signed. by the commissioners, shall be lodged for record in the town. clerk's office in the town or towns in which such changes are made or land taken.

Change of location of canals or water courses. § 1. 1905, ch. 104. Upon petition brought by any railroad company, the railroad commissioners may order the location of any canal or water course to be changed by said company for the purpose of enabling its railroad to be more advantageously constructed, maintained, or operated, reasonable notice of such application having first been given to the owner or owners of such canal or water course; and said company shall have power, for the purpose of carrying out any order of the railroad commissioners under this act, to take real estate in the manner provided in section 3687 of the general statutes.

§ 2. The decision of the railroad commissioners upon any petition brought under this act shall be communicated to the petitioner and to all persons to whom notice of the hearing on said petition was given, within twenty days after the final hearing thereon. Any owner of any canal whose location is changed by the order of the railroad commissioners shall have the same right of appeal from such order as is given by section 3747 of the general statutes concerning appeals from orders relating to stations.

§ 3. Whenever the location of a canal or water course shall be changed as provided herein, the flow of water therein shall not in anywise be interrupted, diminished, or impaired, and the cost of making such change, and of providing a new channel for said canal or water course, together with the cost of the walls, embankments, headgates, flumes, and other structures necessary to render such canal or water course as safe and efficient as before such change, shall be entirely borne by the railroad company which petitions for such change.

§ 4. The provisions of this act shall not apply to the canal of any corporation required by its charter to maintain its canals, or any of them, in a condition for navigation nor to the canal of any corporation chartered for the purpose of improving

1893, ch. 264. See $3712.

1893, ch. 262.

1884.

Rev. 1888, §3462.

the boat navigation of the Connecticut river or for the purpose of widening and deepening the channel of said river; but in such cases the provisions of this act shall apply when the written consent of any such corporation to the proposed change shall have first been obtained.

§ 5. This act shall take effect from its passage.

§ 3683. May alter grades. Every company, after its line of road shall have been located, approved, and established, may alter its grades and raise any highway bridges that pass over its tracks to such height as may be approved by the commissioners; and may change the grade of the approaches to such bridges so as to conform to the change in the height of the bridges; but this section shall not authorize any company to raise its tracks so as to lessen the distance between an existing bridge and its tracks, without the approval of the commissioners. Damages accruing to any adjoining proprietor on account of any change of grade on the highways which are approaches to any such bridge, raised under the provisions of this section, shall be assessed and paid by such company in accordance with the provisions of §§ 3713, 3714, and 3716.

§ 3684. Land for additional tracks. Any company may so alter the location of its road as to add to the number of its main tracks, and for that purpose, with the approval of the commissioners, may take additional land in the manner now provided by law; but when an additional bridge over a navigable stream shall be required by an addition to the main tracks, the same shall be constructed in such manner, of such materials, and with draws of such width, as the commissioners shall authorize and direct, and such additional bridge shall be subject to the provisions of § 3732.

§ 3685. Land cut off from access to highway. When any company shall take land for railroad purposes, and the effect of such taking is to cut off other land from practical access to the highway, such company may, with the approval of the commissioners, take additional land sufficient for a convenient way from the land so cut off to the highway, and shall provide for the use of the owner of the land cut off as aforesaid a suitable way over such additional land to the highway. Such way

$ 3685. Cutting off land from all access to highway held a taking. 66 C. 224. Commissioners' approval settles necessity and extent of taking. 69 C. 437.

shall remain a private way for the use of the owner of the land cut off as aforesaid, and the city or town in which it is situated shall not be liable for its maintenance nor responsible for its defects. For the purposes of this section, lands may be acquired in the manner provided by law for the taking of land by railroad companies.

No

§ 3686. Layout through cemetery restricted. company shall lay out or locate its road, or any part thereof, through any cemetery or any approach in common use from the highway thereto, and within one-quarter of a mile thereof, unless the railroad commissioners, when called upon to approve the proposed layout of such road, shall find that such cemetery, or the approach thereto, was located for the purpose of obstructing such layout, or unless said commissioners shall unanimously approve such layout or location.

1881. Rev. 1888, §3463.

1874.

§ 3687. Land how taken; damages. When any com- 1849, 1863, 1871, pany shall have the right to take real estate for railroad pur- Rev. 1888, §3464. poses, and cannot obtain it by agreement with the parties interested therein, it may apply to any judge of the superior court for the appointment of appraisers to estimate all damages that may arise to any person from the taking and occupation of such real estate for railroad purposes, and after reasonable notice of said application shall have been given to all parties in interest, such judge shall appoint three appraisers, who shall be sworn, and give reasonable notice to said parties in regard to the time and place of making such estimate, and shall view the premises and estimate such damages, but shall not include in

§ 3687. The appraisal does not establish a collectible or taxable debt until the sixty days have expired. 41 C. 210. The appraisal should include all damage that may arise from the taking or occupation. 66 C. 225. Quantity of land taken should be determined before assessment of damages, but not necessarily before appointment of appraisers. 13 C. 117; 13 C. 406. Grant of power of eminent domain to private corporations to be construed strictly; incidental injuries to property, which do not constitute a taking, may be basis for damages. 21 C. 294. Company does not acquire such an interest in land as to prevent adjoining owner from crossing. 23 C. 110. Location of steam railroad on highway an imposition of new servitude. 26 C. 259. Right of mortgagee in damages awarded is not recognized by the statute which regulates the proceedings. 52 C. 283. Damage for taking not to include incidental injury caused by railroad to other disconnected land of same owner. 61 C. 451. Inability of parties to agree is a question of fact for court to determine before appraisers are appointed. 69 C. 424. Landowner cannot raise question of constitutionality of act apportioning payment of damages between company and city. 72 C. 481.

R. R.C

1889, ch. 149.

1889, ch. 170.

such estimate the expense of erecting and maintaining fences along the line of such railroad. Such appraisers shall return an appraisal of such damages in writing, under their hands, to the clerk of the superior court in the county where the estate lies, who shall record it; and when so returned and recorded, such appraisal shall have the effect of a judgment, and execution may issue at the end of sixty days from the time of such return, in favor of the persons respectively to whom damages may be appraised; and such appraisers shall be paid by such company for the time actually spent in making such appraisal and return. No railroad shall be worked upon, or opened across, any real estate, until the damages appraised to any person interested therein shall have been paid or secured to his satisfaction, or deposited for his use with the treasurer of the county.

§ 3688. Land within location. Any company, owning a railroad which has been constructed and is being operated over land to which it has not acquired title, may take such land within the limits of its location, at any time within two years after the approval of such location by the commissioners, by proceedings under § 3687.

§ 3689. Land in highway or private way. Whenever such company shall have acquired the right to take any land used for a public highway or a private way, it shall, before taking possession of the same, apply to a judge of the superior court, as provided in § 3687, for the appointment of appraisers to ascertain all damages that may arise to any person in consequence of such taking. The appraisers so appointed shall be sworn, and shall give notice of the time and place of their meeting by posting on the signpost of the town where the highway or private way is situated, and also by advertising once a week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in said town, or if no newspaper is published in said town, then in a newspaper published in the county. They shall also give reasonable notice, in writing, to the persons owning the land occupied by the highway or private way. At the meeting of the appraisers, any person claiming that he will be damaged by the taking and occupation of such highway or private way shall be heard, whether he is the owner of the land or not; and the appraisers shall award such damages as may seem to them just and reasonable. Further proceedings in connection with the condemnation of such land shall be as prescribed by § 3687.

1858.

§ 3690. Abandonment of road; damages. When any Rev. 1888, $9465. land shall have been taken for railroad purposes and the damages shall have been appraised, and such road, or any part thereof, shall have been abandoned or discontinued before the same has been opened and worked, no execution shall issue, nor shall an action for the recovery of such damages be brought against the company which took such land, by any of the owners of land over which such road or part of a road shall have been laid out and discontinued as aforesaid; but any such owner may recover of such company the actual damage which he may have suffered in consequence of such taking, or for any unreasonable delay in opening and working such road.

§ 3691. Owner may require description of land. When any company shall take any property for the purpose of its railroad, the owner of such property may at any time within three years thereafter demand in writing of the treasurer of the company a written description of the property so taken, and such company shall within thirty days deliver to him such description; and if it fail to do so, all its rights to enter upon or use such property, except for making surveys, shall be suspended until it shall have delivered such description.

§ 3692. Plan of road to be deposited with town clerk. Within ninety days after the railroad of any company shall have been laid out in any town and approved by the commissioners, such company shall deposit with the town clerk a correct plan, signed by its president, of so much of such railroad as lies in such town, drawn on a scale of at least five inches to the mile, upon which shall be accurately delineated the direction and length of each course and the width of the land taken.

1849.

Rev. 1888, §3467.

1849. Rev. 1888, §3468.

§ 3693. Statement filed with secretary of state. Rev. 1883489. Every company shall, within six months after the final location

of its road, file with the secretary of state a statement of such location, defining the courses and distances.

§ 3694. Condemnation of corporate stock. In case 1895, ch. 232, '§1. any railroad company acting under the authority of the laws of this state shall have acquired more than three-fourths of the capital stock of any steamboat, ferry, bridge, wharf, or railroad corporation, and cannot agree with the holders of outstanding stock for the purchase of the same, such railroad company may,