Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/47



by him held shall be entitled to one share in the capital stock and estate of said company. And if any stockholder, after thirty days’ public notice in a newspaper printed in the District of Columbia, of the time and place appointed for the payment of any portion or dividend of the sum subscribed in said stock, shall neglect to pay the same for the space of thirty days after the time so appointed, the share or shares on which such delinquency has taken place, may be sold at public auction, and transferred by them to any person or persons willing to purchase for such price as can be obtained; or in case any proprietor shall fail to pay any instalment which shall be duly assessed, such instalment, or any part thereof, that shall remain deficient or unpaid, may be recovered of the person or persons so failing to pay, by warrant from a justice of the peace, if the amount shall not exceed twenty dollars; and if the sum so due shall exceed twenty dollars, the same may be recovered by motion, in the name of the said company, on ten days’ notice, or by action at law in the usual course of judicial proceedings, in any court of record in the District of Columbia; and in all instances where the person so failing to pay his instalment cannot be found in the said District, then recovery shall be had against him by such mode of judicial proceeding as is authorized by the laws of the country where such defaulter shall be found; and in all such warrants, motions or actions, the certificate of the clerk, or recording officer of the said company shall be conclusive evidence of the defendant’s being a member of the company, and prima facie evidence of the amount due on the share or shares held by such defendant.

. And be it further enacted, That the said president and directors shall meet at such times and places as shall be agreed upon for transacting their business; at which meetings any three members shall form a quorum, who, in the absence of the president may choose a chairman, and shall keep minutes of all their transactions fairly entered in a book; and a quorum being met, they shall have full power and authority to appoint a treasurer and all other officers necessary and convenient, and agree with and appoint all such surveyors, intendants, artists or other agents, as they shall judge necessary to carry on the intended works, and to fix their salaries, wages or compensation; to direct and order the times, manner, and proportions, when and in which the stockholders shall pay moneys due on their respective shares; to draw orders on the treasurer for all moneys due from the said company, and, generally, to do and transact all such other matters, acts, and things as by the by-laws, rules, and regulations of said company, shall be required or permitted.

. And be it further enacted, That upon application of the said president and directors of the said company, to the circuit court of the District of Columbia, or to the judges thereof out of court, the said court, or the judges, or any two of the judges thereof out of court, shall appoint three commissioners, not interested in any of the lands through which the said road may be laid out, nor interested in the stock of the company hereby created, nor in the stock of any other turnpike company, who shall each receive from the said president, directors, and company, two dollars for every day they shall respectively be actually necessarily employed in or about the affairs of the said company. And each of the said commissioners, before he proceeds to act as such, shall take and subscribe on oath, or solemn affirmation, in the presence of a justice of the peace, that he will well, faithfully and impartially, according to the best of his skill and judgment, and without unnecessary delay, execute and perform all the duties required of him as a commissioner under the sixth section of the act of Congress, entitled “;” which oaths or affirmations so subscribed and certified by the justice, in whose presence they shall be severally taken and subscribed, shall be