Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 6.djvu/524

 424  CONGRESS. Sess.I. Ch. 104. 1830. and the works thereon erected, shall at any time hereafter be imposed, unless under sanction of a law of the United States. pu,-crmé of Sec. 13. And be in further enacted, That it shall and may be soil. lawful for the President and Directors, or a majority of them, to agree with the owners of any land, through or on which it is intended that the said canal, or any of the works thereunto appertaining, shall pass, or be situated, or of the land necessary for the construction of a basin at the termination of the said canal at Alexandria, for Damages as- the purchase or use and occupation thereof; and in case of disagree- ’°"°d· ment, or in case the owner thereof shall be a femme-covert, under age, non compos, or out of the District of Columbia, on application to a justice of the peace of the county in which such land shall be, the said justice of the peace shall issue his warrant, under his hand and seal, to the marshal ol' the District of Columbia, to summon a jury of eighteen inhabitants of that county,not related to the parties, nor in any manner interested, to meet on the land to be valued, at a day to be expressed in the warrant, not less than ten, nor more than twenty days thereafter; and the marshal, upon receiving the said warrant, shall forthwith summon the said jury, and, when met, shall administer an oath, or affirmation, to every jurymen who shall appear, being not less than twelve in number, that he will faithfully, justly, and impartially, value the land, and all damages the owner thereof shall sustain by cutting the canal through such land, or the use or occupation for the purposes and period necessary, of such land, according to the best of his skill and judgment, and that, in such valuation, he will not spare any person for favor or alfection, nor any person grieve for malice, hatred, or ill-will; and in In gggggging every such valuation and assessment of damages, the jury shall be, and g¤m¤§¢¤» l>€D¤· they are hereby, instructed to consider in determining and lixing the d;:§d_° °°“S" amount thereof, the actual benefit which will accrue to the owner, from conducting the said canal through, or erecting any of the said works upon his land, and to regulate their verdict thereby, except that no assessment shall require any such owner to pay or contribute anything to the said company, 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 marshal, and some twelve or more of the jury, and returned by the marshal to the clerk of the county, and unless good cause be shown against the said inquisition, it shall be affirmed by the court, and recorded; but, if the said proceedings inquisition should be set aside, or il`, from any cause, no inquisition on the zmess- shall be returned to such court within a reasonable time, the said court ”‘°"*· may, at its discretion, as olten 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 quantity and duration of the interest and estate in the same, required by the said company for its use; and their valuation shall be conclusive upon all persons, and shall be paid by the said President and Directors to the owner of the land, or Em,,, Ortho his legal representatives; and on payment thereof, the said Company Company. shall be seised of such land as of an absolute estate in perpetuity, or with such less quantity and duration of interest in the same, or subject to such partial or temporary use or occupation, as shall be required and described as aforesaid, as if conveyed by the owner of them; and whenggmgym. pm, ever in the construction of the said canal, or any of the works thereof, ceedirgzs asto locks, dams, ponds, feeders, tunnels, aqueducts, bridges, or works of m‘“°'*“l“· any other description whatsoever uppurtenant thereto, it shall be necessary to use earth, timber, stone, or gravel, or any other material, 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