§ 3. All acts and parts of acts requiring the payment of state tolls by any railroad company for the transportation of property on any railroad are, after the said first day of December next, so far as they Conflict with this act, hereby repealed.

Chap. 53.

AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act in relation to railroad corporations," passed February 13, 1851.

Passed March 25, 1853.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The third section is hereby amended by inserting after the word "1848" the words or "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations and to regulate the same," passed April 2, 1850, so that said section as amended shall read as follows: Any railroad company which, prior to the passage of this act, has been duly formed under the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations," passed March 27, 1848, or "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations and to regulate the same," passed April 2, 1850, and which is duly continued in existence, when at least ten thousand dollars for every mile of its railroad, proposed to be. constructed in this state, shall be in good faith subscribed to its capital stock, and ten per cent thereof paid in, may apply to the court for the appointment of commissioners, and all subsequent proceedings may be had to obtain the title to lands necessary for its construction, to the same extent and in the same manner as if the whole amount of the capital stock specified in its articles of association was in like manner subscribed.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 62.

AN ACT to regulate the construction of roads and streets across railroad tracks.

Passed March 29, 1853.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate ana Assembly do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. It shall be lawful for the authorities of any city, village or town in this state, who are by law empowered to lay out streets and highways, to lay out any street or highway across the track of any railroad now laid or which may hereafter be laid, without compensation to the corporation owning such railroad; but no such street or highway shall be actually open for use until thirty days after notice of such laying out has been served personally upon the president, vice-president, treasurer or a director of such corporation.

§ 2. It shall be the duty of any railroad corporation, across whose track a street or highway shall be laid out as aforesaid, immediately after the service of said notice, to cause the said street or highway to be taken across their track, as shall be most convenient and useful for public travel, and to cause all necessary embankments, excavations and other work to be done on their road for that purpose; and all the provisions of the act, passed April second, eighteen hundred and fifty, in relation to crossing streets and highways, already laid out, by railroads, and in relation to cattle-guards and other securities and facilities. for crossing such roads, shall apply to streets and highways hereafter laid out.

§3. If any railroad corporation shall neglect or refuse, for thirty days after the service of the notice aforesaid, to cause the necessary work to be done and completed, and improvements made on such streets or highways across their road, they shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty dollars for every subsequent day's neglect or refusal, to be recovered by the officers laying out such street or highway, to be expended on the same; but the time for doing said work may be extended, not to exceed thirty days, by the county judge of the county in which such street or highway, or any part thereof, may be situated, if, in his opinion, the said work cannot be performed within the time limited by this act.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 502.

AN ACT to authorize stockholders of railroad and plank-road companies to make payments upon mortgages in process of foreclosure against such companies, and thereupon to become interested in said mortgages.

Passed June 30, 1853.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Whenever default shall be made by any railroad or plank-road company in the payment of principal or interest of any bonds of such company, which are secured by a mortgage of the property of such company, it shall be lawful for each and every stockholder of said company, at any time during the process of such foreclosure, to pay to the mortgagees named in such mortgage, for the use and benefit of the holder and holders of such bonds, such a proportion of the sum due and of the sum secured to be paid by the whole of the bonds secured by such mortgage as such stockholders' stock shall bear to the whole stock of said company; and on so paying, such stockholder shall, to the extent of such payment, become and be interested in said mortgage and protected thereby.

§ 2. In case of the foreclosure of any mortgage given by any railroad or plank-road company to secure the payment of any bond of such company, any stockholder of such company shall, for the period of six months after the sale under such foreclosure, have the right on paying to the purchaser or purchasers at or under such sale, or to the mortgagees named in such mortgage, for the use and benefit of said purchaser or purchasers, a sum equal to such proportion of the price paid on such sale, and the costs and expenses thereof, as such stockholders' stock in said company shall bear to the whole capital stock of said company; and on so paying, such stockholder shall be entitled to have the same relative amount of stock or interest in said railroad or plank-road company and its road, franchises and other property.

Chap. 140.

AN ACT relative to the construction of railroads in cities. Passed April 4, 1854.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The common councils of the several cities of this state shall not hereafter permit to be constructed in either of the streets or avenues of said city a railroad for the transportation of passengers, which commences and ends in said city, without the consent thereto of a majority in interest of the owners of property upon the streets in which said railroad is to be constructed being first had and obtained. For the purpose of determining what constitutes said majority in interest, reference shall be had to the assessed value of the whole located upon such street or avenue.

§ 2. After such consent is obtained, it shall be lawful for the common council of the city in which such street or avenue is located to grant authority to construct and establish such railroad upon such terms, conditions and stipulations in relation thereto as such common council may see fit to prescribe. But no such grants shall be made except to such person or persons as shall give adequate security to comply in all respects with the terms, conditions and stipulations so te be prescribed by such common council, and will agree to carry and convey passengers upon such railroad at the lowest rates of fare. Nor shall such grants be made until after public notices of intention to make the same, and of the terms, conditions and stipulations upon which it will be given, and inviting proposals therefor at a specified time and place, shall be published under the direction of the common council in one or more of the principal newspapers published in the city in which said railroad is proposed to be authorized and constructed.

§ 3. This act shall not be held to prevent the construction, extension or use of any railroad in any of the cities of this state which have already been constructed in part, but the respective parties and companies by whom such roads have been in part constructed and their assigns are hereby authorized to construct, complete, extend and use such roads in and through the streets and avenues designated in the respective grants, licenses, resolutions or contracts under which the same have been so in part constructed, and to that end the grants, licenses and resolutions aforesaid are hereby confirmed.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Chap. 282.

AN ACT to amend the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations, and to regulate the same," passed April 2, 1850.

Passed April 15, 1854.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The fifth section of the said act is hereby amended, so as to read as follows:

§ 5. There shall be a board of thirteen directors of every corporation formed under this act, to manage its affairs; and said directors shall be chosen annually, by a majority of the votes of the stockholders voting at such election, in such manner as may be prescribed in the by-laws of the corporation, and they may and shall continue to be directors until others are elected in their places. In the election of directors, each stockholder shall be entitled to one vote, personally or by proxy, on every share held by him thirty days previous to any such election; and vacancies in the board of directors shall be filled in such manner as shall be prescribed by the by-laws of the corporation. The inspectors of the first election of directors shall be appointed by the board of directors named in the articles of association. No person shall be a director unless he shall be a stockholder, owning stock absolutely in his own right, and qualified to vote for directors at the election at which he shall be chosen; and at every election of directors, the books and papers of such company shall be exhibited to the meeting, if a majority of the stockholders present shall require it. And whenever the purchaser or purchasers of the real estate, track and fixtures of any railroad corporation which has heretofore been sold, or may be hereafter sold, by virtue of any mortgage executed by such corporation, or execution issued upon any judgment or decree of any court, shall acquire title to the same in the manner prescribed by law, such purchaser or purchasers may associate with him and them any number of persons, and make and acknowledge and file articles of association, as prescribed by this act, such purchaser or purchasers and their associates shall thereupon be a corporation, with all the powers, privileges and franchises, and be subject to all the provisions of said act.

§ 2. The fifteenth section of the act aforesaid is hereby amended, and shall read as follows: