Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/845



where such benefit shall exceed, in the estimate of the jury, the value and damages ascertained as aforesaid; and the inquisition thereupon taken, shall be signed by the sheriff and some twelve or more of the jury, and returned by the sheriff to the clerk or prothonotory of his county, and unless good cause be shown against the said inquisition, it shall be affirmed by the court and recorded; but if the said inquisition should be set aside, or if from any cause no inquisition shall be returned to such court within a reasonable time, the said court may, at its discretion, as often as may be necessary, direct another inquisition to be taken in the manner above prescribed; and, upon every such valuation, the jury is hereby directed to describe and ascertain the bounds of the land by them valued, and the quality and duration of the interest and estate in the same, required by the said company for its use; and their valuation shall be conclusive on all persons, and shall be paid for by the said president and directors to the owner of the land or his legal representatives; and on payment thereof, the said company shall be seized of such land as of an absolute estate in perpetuity, or with such less quantity and duration of interest or estate in the same, or subject to such partial or temporary appropriation, use, or occupation, as shall be required and described, as aforesaid, as if conveyed by the owner to them. And whenever, in the construction of the said canal, or any of the works thereof, locks, dams, ponds, feeders, tunnels, aqueducts, culverts, bridges, or works of any other description whatsoever appurtenant thereto, it shall be necessary to use earth, timber, stone or gravel, or any other mateiral to be found on any of the lands adjacent or near thereto, and the said president and directors, or their agent, cannot procure the same for the works aforesaid by private contract of the proprietor or owner, or in case the owner should be a femme covert, or non-compos, or under age, or out of the state or county, the same proceedings in all respects shall be had as in the case above mentioned of the assessment and condemnation of the lands required for the said canal, or the works appurtenant thereto.

16. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the company hereby incorporated, to cut, make, and construct, the said canal, with good and sufficient locks, on the most improved plan for expedition in the use thereof, and with a width of not less than forty feet at the surface of the water therein, or of twenty-eight feet at the bottom thereof, unless the quality of the soil shall require a narrow base to admit of a sufficient slope to preserve the banks from sliding down, and sufficient to admit, at all seasons, the navigation of boats and rafts, with a depth of four feet water at the least; and whenever wastes shall be essential to the security of the said canal, and in no other situation whatever, along the same, the waste water of the said canal may be, from time to time, sold or disposed of by the said company for the purpose of supplying such works and machinery as require a water-power. And along one side at least of the said canal, and such aqueducts as it may render necessary, there shall be provided, throughout its whole extent, a towing-path of sufficient breadth to apply the power of horses to the navigation thereof.

17. And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for any of the said stockholders to transfer his or her shares, by deed executed before two witnesses, and registered, after the proof of the execution thereof, in the company’s books, and not otherwise, except by devise, which devise shall also be exhibited to the president and directors, and registered in the company’s books before the devisee or devisees shall be entitled to draw any part of the profits from the said tolls or dividends: Provided, That no transfer shall be made, except for one or more whole share or shares, and not for part of such share or shares; and that no share or shares shall, at any time, be sold, conveyed, or held in trust for the use and benefit, or in the name of another, whereby the said president and directors, or the stockholders of the said company, or any of them, shall or may be challenged, or made to answer concerning any such trust, but that every person appearing as aforesaid to be a stockholder, shall, as to the others of the said company, be, to every intent, taken absolutely as such; but, as between any trustee and the person for whose benefit any trust shall be created, the common remedy may be pursued.

18. And be it enacted, That if the said capital, and the other aids already granted by this act, shall prove insufficient, it shall and may be lawful for the said company, from time to time, to increase the said capital by the addition of so many whole shares as shall be judged necessary by the said stockholders, or a majority of them, present at any general meeting of the said company; and the said president and directors, or a majority of them, are hereby empowered and required, after giving at least two months’ previous notice thereof, in