Ibid.

Width of

road, grade

1

sions of the charter of such company, and upon filing such grant in the office of the township clerk of such township, the said company may at once enter upon, take and use such highway or street for all the purposes aforesaid: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prejudice any legal claim for private damages of any person on the line of such public highway or street, by reason of the granting the said highway or street to the use of any such company: And provided further, That the amount received by said supervisors and commissioners for granting any such highway to any such company, shall be by them expended in improving the highways or in purchasing the right of way for highways in such township.

Sec. 15. Whenever any portion of any public highway shall be granted to the use of a plank road company, as aforesaid, any person who shall claim damages by reason of the granting such highway, to such use, as aforesaid, may have such damages appraised within the same time and in like manner as is prescribed by law for the appraisal of damages, on the altering and laying out of public highways: Provided, That the same notice shall be given to one of the board of di rectors, as is required to be given to the highway commissioners; and if any damages be awarded or appraised, the person in whose favor the same is awarded, may bring an action of assumpsit for the recovery of the same against the company, and if in any such action the court shall be of opinion that such person had any legal ground to claim damages against such company, such person shall be then entitled to a judgment for the amount of damages so awarded and legal costs of suit.

Sec. 16. Every plank road made, shall be laid out at least two, and and other de- not more than four rods wide, and shall be so constructed as to have scription.

at least sixteen feet width of good, smooth and permanent road, eight feet of which, at least, shall be made of plank not less than three inches thick, and of such grade as not to exceed an ascent or descent on any part of said road, of more than one foot in ten feet, and which roadway shall be constructed so as to permit carriages and other vehicles conveniently and easily to pass each other, and also as to permit carriages readily and easily to pass on and off where such road is intersected by other roads; and no obstruction shall be suffered unnecessarily to remain upon such plank road at any such intersection.

where gates inay be erec

Sec. 17. Whenever any such company shall have completed their When and road, or any five consecutive miles thereof, the directors thereof may wa erect toll gates and exact tolls from persons traveling on their road, Rates of tol. for so much as may be completed, at a rate not exceeding two cents per mile, for any vehicle or carriage drawn by two animals, and one cent per mile for every sled or sleigh so drawn, and if drawn by more than two animals, three quarters of a cent per mile for every additional animal; for every vehicle, sled, sleigh or carriage, drawn by one animal, one cent a mile; for every score of sheep or swine, half a cent a mile; for every score of neat cattle, two cents a mile; and for every horse and rider or led horse, one cent a mile; such toll gates, so to be erected by such company, may be as many in number, and located at such points as such company may deem necessary: Provided, however, That any person using such road, may, upon the payment of the requisite amount of toll, demand and receive at any gate a ticket or other evidence that he has paid the toll for the use of the whole or a part of said road, which ticket may be shown by him at each gate through which it may entitle him to pass, and shall be surrendered by him to the toll gatherer through whose gate he is last entitled to pass : Provided, That if any person shall forcibly and illegally pass any of the gates provided by this act, he shall forfeit and pay to the said com. pany, a sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars for each and every such offence, to be recovered for the benefit of said company, before any justice of the peace of the county in which such gate is situated: And provided, That no farmer shall be required to pay any toll for the use of said road by himself or persons in his employ, engaged in empt from the business of the farm, in passing from one part of the farm to ano- cases. ther, with his team or other stock.

Sec. 18. Each and every plank road company shall pay to the treasurer of the State of Michigan an annual tax, at the rate of one per cent. on the whole amount of capital paid in upon the capital stock of said company, and also upon all sums of money borrowed by said company, which tax shall be paid on the first day of July in each year, and shall be estimated upon the last preceding report of such company, and said state tax shall be in lieu of all other taxes upon all the property of said company.

Sec. 19. Every plank road company shall cease to be a body corpo

Farmers ex

toll in certain

State tax.

When road

to be commenced.

Shall complete within 10 years.

Exemption of toil.

Further subscription.

Duties of directors, &c.

rate, if within two years from and after the passage of the act incorporating them, they shall not have commenced construction of their road, and actually expended thereon at least ten per cent. of the capital stock of such company.

Sec. 20. If within ten years from and after the passage of the act incorporating them, such road shall not be completed according to the provisions of this act, by any company, then such company shall forfeit all rights to so much of said road as shall not be completed in a continuous line.

Sec. 21. Persons going to and returning from military parades, which by law they are required to attend, and persons going to and returning from funerals, shall be exempt from the payment of any toll to any plank road company for such use of their road.

Sec. 22. If the entire capital stock of any such company shall not be subscribed at the time first provided for by this act, it shall be lawful for the board of directors of any such company, at any time, to open the books for the further subscription of the capital stock, first giving the notice required in the 4th section of this act.

Sec. 23. The board of directors of any such company shall have at all times, after the erection of any toll gate or gates upon any plank road, and the exaction of toll thereat, keep such portions of the road in good repairs, and in case of any dilapidation of the superstruction, or the breaking or removal of any plank or other portion of the surface of said road, as to endanger the safe passage of any team, animals or vehicles, it shall be the duty of said board of directors, without unnecessary delay, to make such repairs as shall restore said road to its proper condition; and in case said board of directors shall fail to comply with the provisions of this section, they shall for every such neglect or refusal, be liable to a forfeiture of ten dollars, to be recovered in action of debt, by any person aggrieved or injured: Provided, That in all cases, one of said board of directors shall first have been notified of any such defect, and the necessary time for its repairs shall have fully elapsed after such notice, and before the commencement of any such suit.

Sec. 24. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 13, 1848.

No. 63.

AN ACT to provide for the laying out and establishing a certain state

road.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- Com'rs to tives of the State of Michigan, That Charles H. Dewey, S. Callender lay out ros and Simon D. Barden, be and they are hereby authorized and empowered to lay out and establish a state road from the village of Ceresco, in Marshall, through the town of Convis, to intersect the state road leading from Battle Creek to Bellevue, on the most feasible and eligible route, and file the survey of so much of said road, in the office of the township clerk of each township through which said road shall pass, as shall be laid out in such township, and it shall be the duty of each township clerk to record the same in the road book of the township. Sec. 2. That in laying out and working said road, the state shall not State not liebe liable for any damages, and the commissioners of highways in each township through which the same passes, shall district the same and cause it to be worked as other highways in such township.

Sec. 3. The state shall not be liable for any expenses incurred or damages sustained by reason of this act, and in case the road mentioned in the preceding section of this act shall not be laid out in one year from the passage of this act, the provisions herein contained shall be void.

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 14, 1848.

ble.

No. 64.

State to have

cases.

AN ACT relative to specific State taxes on plank road, mining, and other corporations, not enumerated in the revised statutes of 1846. Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, That in all cases, when any incor- lien in een a porated company hereafter to be incorporated, is made subject to the payment of a specific state tax, this state shall have a lien on all of the property of said company, to secure the payment of said tax, which hen shall take precedence of all other liens or incumbrances whatever. Sec. 2. The payment of any such tax may and shall be enforced Tax may be

enforced.

according to the provisions of sections seven, eight and nine, of chapter twenty-one of title five of the revised statutes of eighteen hundred and forty-six.

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 14, 1848.

lay out road.

No. 65.

AN ACT to lay out and establish a certain state road.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of RepresentaComm'rs to lives of the State of Michigan, That Hartford Cargill, Ephraim Fletcher and George C. Holmes, be and they are hereby authorized and empowered to lay out and establish a public state road from Flint village, in the county of Genesee, through the township of Gaines, thence on the most direct and eligible route to Byron, in the county of Shiawassee, intersecting the state road at that place.

Duties of com'rs and

survey

Sec. 2. The above named commissioners shall file so much of the of the above mentioned road in the office of the township clerk of town el'ks of each township through which the above mentioned road shall pass, as shall be laid out in such township, and it shall be the duty of the several township clerks to record the same in their respective township books, and the decision of the said commissioners, in regard to the laying of said road may be appealed from, as in case of the laying out of roads by the highway commissioners of the several townships, and post the notice required by law.

Duties of highway

com'rs.

State not lia

Me.

Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the commissioners of highways in the several townships through which said road may pass, to open and work said road in the same manner, and by virtue of the same law as township roads are required to be opened and worked: Provided, That the right of way first be obtained of the owners of real estate on the line of said road.

Sec. 4. The state shall not be liable for any expense incurred or damages sustained, by reason of this act, and in case the road mentioned in the preceding sections of this act, shall not be laid out and established within two years from the passage of this act, the provisions therein contained shall be void.