Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/808



place of abode, or given to his or her guardian, if an infant, or if out of the county, by publishing notice thereof, for six weeks in some public print of the county; and the marshal, on receiving the said warrant, shall summon the said jury, and when met, shall administer an oath or affirmation to every juryman, who shall swear or affirm, as the case may be, that he will justly, faithfully, and impartially, value the land, and all damages the owner thereto will sustain by the road passing through the same, having regard to all circumstances of convenience, benefit or disadvantage, according to the best of his skill and judgment; and the inquisition thereupon taken shall be signed by the marshal and seven or more of the said jury, and shall be conclusive; and the same shall be returned to the clerk of the county, to be by him recorded at the expense of the levy court; and the valuation expressed in such inquisition shall be paid by the said levy court to the owner of the land, or his legal representative, before the levy court proceed to open the said road: in case no such application shall be made within the aforesaid periods, the land thus appropriated shall be adjudged to be conclusively condemned, and no compensation be hereafter required therefor.

. And be it further enacted, That the board of commissioners or levy court, as soon as they shall have laid out, marked and opened a road, and complied with the foregoing provisions, shall return the courses, bounds and plat thereof to the clerk of the county, to be by him recorded at the expense of the said court; and the said road, so laid out and returned, as aforesaid, shall be thereafter taken, held and adjudged, a public road and common highway.

. And be it further enacted, That in all cases, where stone, gravel or other material, shall be necessary for making or repairing a road, the levy court may agree with the owner for the purchase thereof, or with the owner of the land on which the same may be, for the purchase of the said land; and in case of disagreement, or in case the owner should be a feme covert, under age, or non compos, or out of the county, on application to a justice of the county, may proceed, in all respects, in the same manner for condemning the said materials for the use of said road, as in like cases where lands are directed to be taken and condemned as aforesaid, for making the said road: and the said parties respectively, shall have the same benefit and advantage of the said proceedings as they have under, and in virtue of the said provision for condemning land herein before mentioned.

. And be it further enacted, That if a road shall be carried through any fields of ground in actual cultivation, such fields shall not be laid open, or used as a public road, until after the usual time of taking off crops then growing thereon.

. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall alter or change, or in any manner obstruct or encroach on a public road, or cut, destroy, deface or remove any mile stones set up on said road, or put or place any rubbish, dirt, logs, or make any pit or hole therein, such person may be indicted in the circuit court for the district of Columbia, and being convicted thereof shall be fined or imprisoned in the discretion of the court, according to the nature of the offence.

. And be it further enacted, That the board of commissioners or levy court may, for the aforesaid and all other general county purposes, annually lay a tax on all the real and personal property in the said county, except within the limits of the city of Washington, any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, not exceeding twenty-five cents in the hundred dollars value of said property, for the collection, safe keeping and disbursement of which they are hereby empowered to appoint the necessary officers, and to use all the means now in force and necessary for the assessment and collection of taxes in the said county, and to insure a due and regular accountability for the same, and all existing