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ship, and record their proceedings in the journal of proceedings, and from whose decision, there shall be an appeal to the District Court, under the same rules and regulations as appeals from Justice's Courts.

SEC. 19. The Mayor shall preside at all meetings, give the casting vote in case of a tie; call special meetings when in his opinion it is expedient; shall have power to call to his aid such assistance as is necessary in carrying out the provisions, by-laws, and ordinances adopted by the Town Council; shall sign all warrants for the payment of moneys upon the order of the council, and keep a record of the warrants so signed.

SEC. 20. The Mayor shall on the first day of February and October of each year, make, or cause to be made out, a correct statement of all moneys received and expended on account of said town during the preceding months which intervene, the time of making such statements, and shall within ten days thereafter, cause such statements to be published in some newspaper printed in the town if there be one, and if not, then he shall cause copies of such statements to be safely posted up in three of the most public places in such town, within ten days.

SEC. 21. If the Mayor shall fail or neglect to make or cause to be made public such statements as required by the preceding section, he shall forfeit and pay to the town the sum of fifty dollars, to be recovered in an action of debt before any court of record in the county having proper jurisdiction, which sum, if collected, shall be for the use of the town.

SEC. 22. The Mayor shall in case of vacancy in the office of any of the board of the town council, call a special election, giving five days' notice thereof.

SEC. 23. The Mayor shall be a conservator of the peace within the town, and ex officio justice of the peace, and is invested with jurisdiction for the violation of town ordinances, and with criminal jurisdiction of offences against the laws of the Territory committed within the town.

SEC. 24. The Town Council shall as often as necessary appoint two qualified voters as judges of election to superintend and conduct the same, and who may appoint a clerk, and who shall give public notice of elections, and the place of holding the same, by advertisement or handbills, at least ten days previous to the election. Provided:-That if the judges fail to attend the place of election on the day specified, the electors present may appoint such judge or judges who shall duly qualify, and all elections shall be by ballot; all annual elections shall be on the first Saturday of March of each year.

SEC. 25. Elections shall be kept open from ten o'clock A. M., to six o'clock P. M.; after the polls are closed, the judges shall

canvass the ballots, and give certificates of election to the persons having the highest number of votes for the respective offices.

SEC. 26. In cases of a tie, the judges shall determine the election between the persons having an equal number of votes, by lot.

SEC. 27. The clerk shall keep a correct journal of all the proceedings of the Town Council; shall record in a legible hand all ordinances and by-laws of the council; he shall issue all warrants for the payment of money ordered by the council, and sign his name thereto as clerk, and shall keep a true and correct record of the same, stating what the amount was, for what paid, and to whom, and also the number of the warrant, and the date thereof, which record shall be kept in a tablical form, leaving a column blank for the purpose of cancelling the warrant, when the same shall have been paid, and may call special meetings of the council in the absence of the Mayor.

SEC. 28. No incorporation shall be dissolved unless it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court that the notice has been given of the intended application for a dissolution of the corporation, by advertisement published in a paper in or nearest the town prayed to be disincorporated, for at least eight weeks successively prior to such application, nor until all their liabilities have either been paid or secured to the satisfaction of the county court.

SEC. 29. The County Court may dissolve the incorporation of any town when two thirds of the legal voters shall petition for the

same.

SEC. 30. No dissolution of any corporation under this act shall invalidate or affect any right, forfeiture or penalty, accruing to such incorporation, or invalidate or affect any contract entered into or imposed by such corporation.

SEC. 31. Whenever the county court shall dissolve any corporation, they shall appoint some competent person to act as trustee, who shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take an oath before some judge or justice, that he will faithfully discharge the duties of his office, and shall give bonds with security to that effect.

SEC. 32. Such trustee shall as soon as possible settle all the business of such corporation; he is the legal agent of the corporation, and may do all acts requisite to bring to a speedy close all the affairs of the corporation.

SEC. 33. The trustee shall report his proceedings to the county court at each term thereof, and when he shall have closed the affairs of the corporation, he shall pay over to the county treasurer all moneys, books, papers, records and deeds appurtaining to the dissolved corporation.

SEC. 34. The aforesaid moneys and all such annual revenues accruing to said town, as shall have been paid to the county treas

urer, shall be disposed of by the county clerk, for the benefit of said town, upon the petition of the inhabitants thereof. Approved December 7, 1859.

CHAPTER XXII.

AN ACT

To prevent the intentional Firing of Woods and Prairies in the the Territory.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson, the Governor approving:-That any person who shall wilfully or negilgently set fire to any woods, prairie, or grounds not his own property, or shall wilfully or negligently permit any fire to pass from his own prairie, woods, or grounds, to the injury or destruction of the property of any other person, shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not more than a thousand dollars, and such other punishment as the court may cause to be inflicted.

SEC. 2. Whenever the prairie or woods are on fire in this Territory, it shall be the duty of all persons knowing the same, to use all reasonable means in their power to extinguish the same.

SEC. 3. Any persons wilfully neglecting to comply with the second section of this act, may be punished by a fine not less than ten dollars, nor more than twenty dollars.

Approved December 2d, A. D. 1859.

CHAPTER XXIII.

AN ACT

Concerning Enclosures and Trespassing Animals.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson, the Governor approving:-That any structure, hedge or ditch, in the nature of a fence, used for purposes of enclosure, which is such as good husbandmen generally keep, and as shall on the testimony of practiced agriculturalists, appear to be sufficient, shall be deemed a lawful fence.

SEC. 2. If any domestic animal break into an enclosure, the person injured thereby shall receive the amount of damage done, if it should appear that the fence through which said animal broke, was lawful; but not otherwise.

SEC. 3. If, before the trial, the owner of such trespassing animal shall have tendered to the person injured any costs which may have accrued, and an amount in lieu of damages, which shall equal the amount of damages afterwards awarded by the court or by a jury, or shall offer in writing to confess judgment for the same, and if, not withstanding the said injured party refusing the said offer, causes the trial to proceed, he shall pay the costs and receive only the damages awarded.

SEC. 4. When any domestic animal shall break into the enclosure of any person, such person, without regard to the season of the year, may take up such animal as an estray, whether the owner be known to him or not, and shall proceed as provided by law of estrays.

SEC. 5. Such taker-up, before posting or advertising, shall procure from two disinterested persons an examination and assessment of damages, with a certificate of the same including reasonable charges for such assessment.

SEC. 6. The owner shall not be entitled to demand the trespassing animal from such taker-up, unless he proceed, as in case of estrays, to prove his property and pay costs allowed in the case of estrays, and also damages and the costs of assessment.

SEC. 7. When a trespassing animal is sold, the taker-up, in addition to the usual costs and allowances in the case of estrays, may retain out of the value of such estray, the damages sustained by such trespass, and the costs of their assessment. Approved December 6, 1859.

CHAPTER XXIV.

AN ACT

To Regulate Wills.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson, the Governor approving:-Every person of twenty-one years of age and upwards, of sound mind, may by last will, devise all his estate, real, personal and mixed, and all interest therein, saving to the widow her dower.

SEC. 2. Every person over eighteen years, of sound mind, may by last will, dispose of his goods and chattels.

SEC. 3. Every will shall be in writing signed by the testator or some person by his direction in his presence, and shall be attested by two or more competent witnesses subscribing their names to the will in the presence of the testator.

SEC. 4. Every person who shall sign the testator's name to any will by his direction, shall subscribe his own name as a witness to such will and state that he subscribed the testator's name at his request.

SEC. 5. No will in writing except in the cases hereinafter mentioned, nor any part thereof, shall be revoked except by a subsequent will in writing, or by burning, cancelling, tearing, or obliterating the same by the testator, or in his presence, and by his consent and direction.

SEC. 6. If the testator have a mansion, house or known place of abode in any county, his will shall be proved before the county court of such county, or before the clerk of said court in vacation. If he have no place of residence within this Territory, the will shall be proved in the county in which he died.

SEC. 7. Wills may be proved by one or more of the subscribing witnesses appearing before the said court or clerk, and stating upon oath or affirmation that the testator signed the writing as his last will, or that some person signed it for him at his direction and in his presence, that he was of sound mind, and that the witness subscribed his name thereto in the presence of the testator, and at his request.

If it shall so happen that all of the subscribing witnesses are dead, insane, or their residences unknown, then such proof shall be taken of the hand writing of the testator and of the subscribing witnesses, and such other circumstances as would be sufficient to prove such will on a trial at common law.

SEC. 9. Whenever any will is proven to the satisfaction of the court or clerk in vacation, the county clerk shall grant a certificate of probate, or if the proof be rejected, shall grant certificate of rejection.

SEC. 10. Any testator may appoint the executor or executors of his last will, and give general directions how his estate shall be managed and provide by his last will that his executor or executors may take charge of his whole estate and settle the same according to the provisions of his will without giving bond or taking out letters testamentary of administration on such estate. In such case it shall be lawful for such executor or executors after having proven such will as provided by the seventh, eighth, and ninth sections of this act, to take charge of all the estate of such testator, and settle and dispose of the same according to the provisions of such wills.

SEC. 11. The word "will," as used in this act, shall be so construed as to include all codicils as well as wills.

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