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"Hillsdale and Coldwater Plank Road Company," and shall be capable in their corporate name to purchase and hold such real and personal estate as may be necessary for the construction or repair of said road, the bridges and toll gates thereon, or for the erection of toll houses or other necessary buildings.

Subject to

visions.

SEC. 2. The said corporation shall be subject to the provisions of chapter fifty-five of the revised statutes, approved May 18th, 1846, certain proexcept so far as the same are inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

SEC. 3. The capital stock of said company shall be one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, to be divided into five thousand shares of twenty-five dollars each; and it shall be lawful for the said commissioners whenever twenty-five thousand dollars shall have been subscribed, (if within three years from the passage of this act,) to call a general meeting of the subscribers at such time and place as they may appoint, giving twenty days' notice thereof in some newspaper published in each of the counties of Hillsdale and Branch, at which meeting, the said subscribers, or such of them as may attend, being a majority in interest of the stockholders, may proceed to organize said company by the determination and election of proper officers and the adoption of suitable bylaws not inconsistent with this act; and every stockholder, either in person or by proxy, shall be entitled to one vote for each share held by him.

Capital sto'k

To pay $1

share.

SEC. 4. At the time of subscribing for such stock, each subscriber shall pay into the hands of the said commissioners one dollar on on each each share subscribed, and at the said first meeting of said company no person not having made such payment shall be permitted to vote or act as a member thereof; and said commissioners shall pay over all money paid to them on said stock as aforesaid to such officers as said company shall direct after the same shall have been organized.

company.

SEC. 5. The said company shall have power, in such manner, Power of and at such times, as it shall by vote determine, to make calls on each share of capital stock until the whole amount of capital subscribed is paid in, and may declare forfeited and sell all shares on which such calls shall not be duly paid.

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Damages:

Com'rs to cause

SEC. 6. The said commissioners, or a majority of them, are hereby empowered and authorized to survey and lay out on the line of any existing highway or elsewhere, a road commencing at the village of Hillsdale, and running thence westerly on the most eligible route to Coldwater: Provided, That said road shall not be laid out on the line of any existing highway without the written consent of the highway commissioners of the township in which such highway may be.

office of re

gister of deeds.

SEC. 7. The damages sustained by any person or persons by reason of the laying out and opening of said road may be ascertained by the agreement of the owner or agent of the owner of the land through which said road may be run with the commissioners aforesaid; and in case such agreement be not made, or in case the owner or agent of the owner of the land shall not in writing release all claim for damages for the right of way to said corporation, the same shall be assessed by six disinterested freeholders of the county in which the land lies, who shall be summoned, and shall, as near as applicable, proceed in making such assessment in the manner provided by the laws of this state for assessing damages sustained by laying out publle highways, and a certificate of such assessment filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the land lies.

SEC. 8. Said commissioners shall cause a correct map and surto be made vey of so much of said road as shall be laid out by them in and each county, to be made and filed in the office of the register of deeds of such county, designating such parcels of land through which they have laid said road upon which the damages as aforesaid have been assessed; and upon the payment of the amount so assessed, or a tender thereof by said company to the owner or his agent, and when such owner is not a resident of the county where the land lies, upon payment of the same to the county treasurer of that county for the use of such non-resident owner, the right of way through such land shall be as fully vested in said company as if the same had been conveyed by the owner of the land to said company.

To constru't and keep in

SEC. 9. The said company shall, and is hereby authorized and ronair plank empowered, to construct and keep in repair, a plank road on the

route so laid out and established, from the village of Hillsdale to the village of Coldwater; said road to be built of good plank, not less than eight feet long and three inches in thickness, and shall have power to grade, ditch and drain the road in such a manner as may be necessary or convenient for that purpose; and at the intersection of said road with other roads, it shall be so constructed as to afford easy and safe access thereto or passage thereover, for wagons, carriages or other vehicles.

SEC. 10. The said company, while constructing said road, shall cause no unnecessary impediment or obstruction to the travel on any highway on which they may constrnet said road.

subscribers.

SEC. 11. The directors of said company may commute with the May comsubscribers to the stock of the company by allowing them in lieu mute with of paying their subscription in money, to take contracts (on giving satisfactory security for the fulfillment thereof) for the furnishing of materials or the executing of any part of the work to be done on said road.

com'rs.

SEC. 12. As soon as the said company shall notify the governor or To appoint acting executive of the state, that at least five miles of said road is constructed, he shall thereupon appoint three discreet and disinterested persons as commissioners to view the same, and report in writing to him whether the road is constructed according to the provisions of this act; and if they shall report in the affirmative, he shall forthwith authorize the said company to erect so many gates upon and across said road as may be necessary and sufficient to collect the dues and tolls hereinafter granted to the said corporation from all persons travelling on or using the same; and this may be done as often thereafter as any other portion of said road shall be finished, not less than five miles in extent; but not more than two whole toll gates, or one whole toll gate and two half toll gates, shall ever be placed across said road, and not more than a proportionate number, according to the distance said road shall be completed.

SEC. 13. As soon as five miles of said road shall have been com- May appoint toll gatherpleted, and permission granted as aforesaid, to erect a whole or ers. half toll gate or gates upon and across the same, it shall and may be lawful for the directors of said company to appoint toll gatherers to collect and receive of and from all and every person and per

sons using or travelling on said road at each and every of said whole toll gates, and at each half toll gate or gates in proportion, such tolls and duties to wit: For cattle, driven over the road, six cents Rates of toll for every score; for every wagon drawn by two horses, mules or oxen, twelve and a half cents, and four cents for each additional horse, mule or ox; for every coach, pleasure wagon or carriage drawn by two horses, twelve and a half cents, and each additional horse, four cents; for every chaise, sulkey, wagon or pleasure vehicle drawn by one horse, ten cents; for every cart drawn by two oxen, ten cents; for every horse or mule, led or driven, not attach ed to a vehicle, four cents; for every horse and mule, with its rider, six cents; for all sleighs and sleds drawn by horses, mules or oxen, if the same are used for burthen, half the tolls on wagons, and if the same are used for pleasure, half the tolls on pleasure vehicles on wheels; and it shall be lawful for every toll gatherer to stop and detain any person or persons, and any property above named in this section until the lawful toll be paid: Provided, That no toll shall be demanded from any person going to or returning from funerals or public worship, or from any person going to or returning from part of the farm on which such person resides, or from any person using said road for a distance not exceeding one mile either way from the residence of such person, nor from any troops

Penalty.

in the service of the United States or of this state.

SEC. 14. If any toll gatherer shall unreasonably detain or hinder any traveller or passenger, or property at either of said gates, or shall demand or receive more tolls than by this act are established, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay twenty-five dollars, to be recovered by the person or owner of the property so unreasonably detained, for his own use, with costs of suit, before any justice of the peace in the county where such detention occurred: Provided, That if no goods and chattels of such toll gatherer can be found to satisfy such judgment and costs, then, in that case, the personal property of said company shall be liable to execution issued on said judgment, and the same may be taken on such execution in the same manner as if said execution was against said company in its corporate name.

SEC. 15. Whenever complaint shall be made to either of the three

Duty of

commissioners appointed in pursuance of the twelfth section of this act, that any part or parts of said road is out of repair, it shall com'r. be the duty of such commissioner to give notice to the other two commissioners, who, with him, shall proceed to examine such part or parts of such road, and if they find the same to be out of repair, then the said commissioners shall give notice in writing of such defect to the toll gatherer or person attending the gate nearest the place so out of repair, and may also, in their discretion, in the said notice, order such gate or gates to be thrown open; and the said gate or gates so ordered to be thrown open, shall, after service of such notice as aforesaid, be and remain open, and no tolls shall be demanded until after such road is put in complete repair; and if such keeper of the gate shall not immediately, after the receipt of such notice, open the gate and keep the same open until such repairs are completed, or shall hinder or detain any person or persons in passing said gates, or shall take or demand any toll from any person or persons, after receiving such notice, and until such repair are completed as aforesaid, the toll gatherer or gate keeper so detaining any person as aforesaid, shall forfeit and pay to the person so detained the sum of twenty-five dollars for each and every offence, to be recovered in an action of debt before any justice of the peace in the county where such detention occurs; and the property of the said company shall be liable on said judgment, and the same may be taken on any execution issued thereon, in the same manner as if the same were against said company in its corporate name; and the said commissioners, appointed under and by virtue of this act, shall receive as a compensation for their ser vices, at the late of one dollar and fifty cents per day for the time actually employed, to be paid by the toll gatherer nearest to where the service was rendered, on the warrant of the secretary, countersigned by the president, out of the moneys collected at such places; and in default of such payment, the toll gatherer and the stockholders of said company shall be individually liable to said commissioners.

SEC. 16. The said directors shall keep a set of corporate books, Books to be open at all times, to any or all of the stockholders, in which shall kept open. be entered the cost of the construction of said road and fixtures,

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