himself aggrieved or damaged thereby, it shall be the duty of the County Court of the county within which said lands are, on the application of such person, and on notice to said association (to be served on the president or any director), to appoint five discreet and disinterested persons as commissioners, who shall severally take an oath before any person authorized to administer oaths, faithfully and impartially to perform the duties required of them by this chapter; and it shall be the duty of said commissioners, or a majority of them, to make a just and equitable appraisal of all the loss or damage sustained by said applicant by reason of said lines, posts, piers, or abutments, duplicates of which said appraisement shall be reduced to writing, and signed by said commissioners, or a majority of them; one copy shall be delivered to the applicant, and the other to the president, or any director, or officer, of said association or corporation, on demand; and, in case any damage shall be adjudged to said applicant, the association or corporation shall pay the amount thereof, with costs of said appraisal, said costs to be liquidated and ascertained in said award, and said commissioners, for their services, shall receive such compensation as the court may award.

SEC. 152. Any person who shall unlawfully and intentionally injure, molest, or destroy any of said lines, posts, piers, or abutments, or the materials, or property belonging thereto, shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the County Jail, not exceeding one year; or both, at the discretion of

the court before which the conviction shall be had.

SEC. 153. It shall be lawful for any association of persons organnized under this chapter, by their articles of association, to provide for an increase of their capital, and the number of the association.

SEC. 154. It shall be the duty of the owner, or the association owning any telegraph line, doing business within this state, to receive despatches from and for other telegraph lines and associations, and from and for any individual; and, on payment of their usual charges for individuals for transmitting despatches, as established by the rules and regulations of such telegraph lines, to transmit the same with impartiality and good faith, and shall not disclose any communication, transmitted on said line or lines, directed to a third person, in the penalty of five hundred dollars for every neglect or refusal so to do, or confidential disclosure, to be recovered with costs of suit in the name and for the benefit of the person or persons sending or desiring to send such despatches.

SEC. 155. It shall likewise be the duty of every such owner or as

which received.

sociation to transmit all despatches in the order in which they are in order in received, under the penalty of one hundred dollars, to be recovered with costs of suit by the person or persons whose despatch is postponed out of its order, as herein prescribed; Provided, however, that Proviso. an arrangement may be made with the proprietors or publishers of newspapers for the transmission, for the purpose of publication, of intelligence of general and public interest out of its regular order.

CHAPTER VII.

BRIDGE COMPANIES.

companies may

SECTION. 156. Any number of persons, not less than five, may be Bridge formed into a corporation for the purpose of constructing and owning be formed. a bridge across any stream of water, as hereafter provided, upon complying with the following requirements: First. They shall severally subscribe articles of association, in which shall be set forth the name of the corporation, the number of years the same is to continue (which shall not exceed fifty years), the amount of the capital stock of the corporation (which shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each), the number of directors and their names who shall manage the concerns of the corporation for the first year, and until others are elected, the location of such bridge, and the plan thereof. Second. Each subscriber to such articles of association shall subscribe thereto his name and place of residence, and the number of shares of stock taken by him in such corporation. Third. Whenever one fourth part of the amount of the capital stock specified in the articles of association shall have been subscribed, and, on complying with the provisions of the next Section, such articles may be filed in the office of the Clerk of the county, or counties, in which the bridge is built; and thereupon the persons who have subscribed the articles of association, as aforesaid, and such other persons as shall become stockholders in such company, and their successors, shall be a body corporate, by the name specified in such articles of association.

ciation-when

SEC. 157. Such articles of association shall not be filed as afore- Articles of assosaid until ten per cent. on one fourth the amount of the stock of to be filed such company, fixed as aforesaid, shall have been actually paid in, in good faith, to the directors named in such articles of association, in cash, nor until there shall be endorsed thereon, or annexed thereto, an affidavit made by at least three of the directors named in such articles of association, that the amount of stock required by the 156th section of this chapter to be subscribed, has been subscribed, and that ten per cent. on the amount has been actually paid in as aforesaid.

Certified copies of articles of association evidence.

Business to be

managed by Board of Directors.

Election of
Directors.

Election after time hereby prescribed.

SEC. 158. A copy of such articles of association, filed in pursuance of this chapter, with a copy of such affidavit endorsed thereon, or annexed thereto, and certified to be a copy by the proper officer, shall in all courts and places be presumptive evidence of the facts therein contained.

SEC. 159. The business and property of every such corporation shall be managed and conducted by a Board of Directors, consisting of not less than five nor more than nine, who shall be chosen, except those for the first year, at such place within a county in which the bridge of such corporation, or some part thereof, shall be located, as shall be prescribed by the laws thereof. The directors shall give notice of every such election previous to the holding thereof, by publishing the same once in each week for four successive weeks, in a public newspaper, published in each county in which such bridge, or any part thereof, shall be located; and if, in any such county, no paper shall be published, such notice shall be published in some county adjoining such last mentioned county. All elections of directors shall be by ballot, and by a majority of all votes given thereat; and every stockholder, being a citizen of the United States, and attending in person or by proxy, shall be entitled to one vote for each share of stock which he shall have owned absolutely, or as executor, administrator or guardian, for thirty days previous to such election. No person shall be a director unless he shall be a stockholder, owning at least four shares of stock absolutely in his own right, or as executor, administrator or guardian, and entitled to vote at the election at which he shall be chosen, nor unless he shall be a citizen of this state; and a majority of the directors shall, at the time of their election, be residents of the county or counties in which such bridge shall be located. Whenever any vacancy shall happen in the Board of Directors, it shall be supplied until the next election by the remaining directors. The directors of every such company shall be elected in the same month, in each and every year, and such election after the first shall be held on the first Tuesday of such month, and the direc tors chosen at any election shall hold their offices to, and including Tuesday next after that appointed by law for holding the elec tion, next succeeding that at which they were chosen. If an election of directors shall not be held on the day prescribed by this chapter for holding the same, the directors in office on that day shall hold their offices until their successors shall be elected; but after the expiration of their regular term of office, as prescribed by this section, they shall be incapable of doing any act as such directors, except such as may be necessary to give effect to an election of directors.

leave to construct

SEC. 160. (1) When any bridge corporation shall be desirous of con- Application for tructing a bridge, or any part thereof, in any county, it shall apply bridge. to the Court of Sessions of such county, at any regular term thereof, for authority to construct such bridge, of which application such corporation shall give notice by publishing the same in at least two public newspapers, from time to time, a copy of the articles of association of such corporation certified to by the Surveyor General of this state, or by the Clerk of the Court where such articles are filed, shall be attached to and filed with the application. No such corporation shall be authorized to bridge any stream in any manner that will prevent, endanger, or obstruct the passage of any vessel or steamboat, where the same is navigable by vessels or steamboats.

authorized to

SEC. 161. If, after hearing such application, such court shall be of Company may be opinion that the public interest will be promoted by the construction construct bridge. of such bridge on the proposed site, it may, if the Court of Sessions shall assent thereto, by an order to be entered in its minutes, authorize such company to construct such bridge as shall have been specified in the application, which shall be particularly described in such order, such corporation shall cause a copy of such order, certified by the Clerk of the Court, with a copy of such application, to be recorded in the clerk's office of such county, before it shall proceed to do any act by virtue thereof; and such court shall cause such appli- Application to cation, when it shall have finally acted on the same, to be filed at the expense of the corporation, with all the other papers relating thereto, or to the proceedings of said court thereon, in the office of the Clerk of the county in which it shall have been made. Any corporation formed under this chapter, may use, in such manner as such court shall prescribe, so much of any public highway, on either side Public highways of any stream, as may be necessary for the construction and main- may be used. tenance of such bridge and toll-houses.

be filed.

SEC. 162. In case any bridge shall be constructed under the Bridges over pro- streams navivisions of this chapter, over any stream navigable by rafts, it shall gated by rafts. be the duty of the corporation constructing such bridge, at all times to keep the channel of said stream both above and below said bridge, free and clear from all deposits in any way prejudicial to the navigation thereof, which may be formed or occasioned by the erection of such bridge.

to persons

SEC. 163. Any corporation organized under the provisions of this To pay damages chapter, which shall construct any bridge over any stream navigable injured. by rafts as hereinbefore provided, shall be liable to pay all persons

(1) Substitute inserted from Stat. 1851, page 426.

Bridges-how to be built.

Toll gate may be erected.

When toll not payable.

Directors may make calls.

Shares personal property. Transfer of

shares and in

who may be unnecessarily or unreasonably hindered or delayed in passing such bridge, all damages which they shall sustain thereby, to be recovered with cost of suit.

SEC. 164. Every bridge constructed by virtue of this chapter, shall be built with a good and substantial railing, or siding, at least four and a half feet high. Whenever such bridge shall be completed, and a certificate signed by the County Judge of the county in which such bridge is situated, or if such bridge shall be located in more than one county, by the County Judge of each of such counties, and such certificate filed in the office of the Clerk of such county, or of each of said counties, if such bridge shall be located in more than one county, that such bridge is constructed and completed in a manner safe and convenient for the public use, the Directors may direct a toll gate at such bridge, and demand and receive such sum as shall be from time to time prescribed by the court of the county or counties where the bridge is located.

SEC. 165. No tolls shall be collected for crossing any bridge constructed by any corporation formed under this chapter, from any person going to or from public worship, or to or from a funeral; or to or from school; or to or from a town meeting or election at which he is entitled to vote, for the purpose of giving such vote, and returning therefrom; or to or from a military parade which he is by law required to attend; or to or from any court which he shall be required to attend as a juror or a witness; or to or from his legally required work upon any public highway.

SEC. 166. The directors of any incorporation formed under this chapter, may require payment from the stockholders of the sum subscribed to the capital stock, at such times, and in such proportions, and on such conditions as they shall see fit, under the penalty of the forfeiture of their stock, and all previous payments thereon; and they shall give notice of the payments thus required, and of the place and time when and where the same are to be made, at least thirty days previous to the time fixed for the payment of the same, for the time and in the manner hereinbefore prescribed for giving notice of the election of directors, and by sending such notice to such stockholders by mail, directed to him at his usual place of residence.

SEC. 167. The shares of any corporation formed under this chapter, shall be deemed personal property, and may be transferred in crease of capital. such manner as shall be prescribed by the by-laws of such corporation; and the Directors of every such corporation may at any time, with the consent of a majority in amount of the stockholders in such corporation, provide for such increase of the capital stock thereof, as may be necessary for the completion or reconstruction of such bridge,