vivor or survivors, representatives or assigns, may, together with their associates, if any, form a corporation for the purpose of owning, possessing, maintaining and operating such railroad, or such portions thereof as may be situated within this State, by filing in the office of the Secretary of State a certifi cate of the name and style of such corporation, the number of directors of the same, the name of its first directors, the period of their service not exceeding one year, the amount of the capital stock of such corporation, and the number of shares into which it is to be divided, and the par value thereof, which may consist wholly of common stock, or partly of common stock and partly of preferred stock, and the whole or any part thereof may be issued as fully paid up stock in payment or part payment for the road as purchased, and for the construction and equipment thereof, and shall not in the aggregate exceed the amount of stock which the corporation, whose road shall have been purchased as aforesaid, was entitled to issue, and the persons signing such certificate, and their successors, shall be a body corporate and politic by the name specified in such certificate, with power to sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, and to own, maintain, possess and operate the railroad referred to in such certificate, and to transact all business connected with the same; and a copy of such certificate, attested by the Secretary of State, shall, in all courts and places, be evidence of the due organization and existence of such corporation, and of the matters specified in such certificate.

B. C. & A. Ry. v. Ocean City, 89 Md. 95. B. C. & A. Ry. Co. v. Wicomico Co., 93 Md. 117.

1888, art. 23, sec. 188. 1886, ch. 134, sec. 2.

276. Such corporation shall possess all the powers, rights, immunities, privileges and franchises in respect to such railroad, or the part thereof included in such certificate, and in respect to the real and personal property appertaining to the same, which were possessed or enjoyed by the corporation which owned or held such railroad previous to such sale under or by virtue of its charter and any amendments thereto, and of other laws of this State, or the laws of any other State in

which any part of such railroad may have been situated, not inconsistent with the laws of this State.

B. C. & A. Ry. Co. v. Ocean City, 89 Md. 95. B. C. & A. Ry. Co. v. Wicomico Co., 93 Md. 117.

Ibid. sec. 189. 1886, ch. 134, sec. 3.

277. Such corporation shall also have power to make and issue bonds bearing such rate of interest not exceeding six per centum per annum, payable at such times and places, and in such amount or amounts as it may deem expedient, and to sell and dispose of such bonds at such prices and in such manner as it may deem proper, and to secure the payment of such bonds by mortgage or deed of trust of its railroad, or any part thereof; and its real and personal property and franchises, and all of the property and franchises of such corporation embraced, or intended to be embraced in any such mortgage or deed of trust, whether then held or thereafter acquired, shall be subject to the lien and operation of such mortgage or deed of trust, and in case of sale under the same shall pass to and become vested in the purchaser or purchasers thereof, so as to enable him or them to form a new corporation in the manner herein before prescribed, and to vest in such new corporation all the faculties, powers, rights, immunities, privileges and franchises possessed by its predecessor or conferred by this section. B., C. & A. Ry. Co. v. Ocean City, 89 Md. 95. B., C. & A. Ry. Co. v. Wicomico Co., 93 Md. 117.

Ibid. sec. 190. 1886, ch. 134, sec. 4.

278. Any railroad company incorporated under the provisions of the three preceding sections shall have power to sell, lease, assign or transfer its stock, property and franchises to, or to consolidate the same with those of any other railroad company incorporated under the laws of this or any other State, or of the United States, whose railroad within or without this State shall connect with or form a continuous line with the railroad of the company incorporated under said sections, upon such terms as may be agreed upon; provided, however, that the agreement for any such sale, lease, assignment, transfer or consolidation, shall be submitted to the stockholders of the rail

road company incorporated under said sections at a special meeting called for considering the same, and shall be sanctioned by the holders of two-thirds of the stock represented at such meeting in person or by proxy, and if sanctioned at such meeting, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State of this State; and provided further, that such agreement shall contain no provisions in conflict with the provisions of this article, or which shall exempt such railroad, so far as it lies within this State, from the operation of the laws of this State. B. C. & A. Ry. Co. v. Ocean City, 89 Md. 95.

1888, art. 23, sec. 191. 1886, ch. 134, sec. 5.

279. Any railroad company incorporated under the provisions of Sections 275, 276 and 277, shall also have power to purchase or contract for the use and enjoyment, in whole or in part, of any railroad or railroads lying within or withont this State, if the same shall connect with or form a continuous line with the railroad of the company incorporated under said sections.

Ibid. sec. 192. 1886, ch. 134, sec. 6.

280. Any corporation organized under the provisions of said sections, which shall have purchased an incompleted railroad, shall have ten years from the date of its organization to complete and finish the main line of its railroad.

Ibid. sec. 193. 1886, ch. 134, sec. 7.

281. No corporation shall be established under the provisions of said Sections 275, 276 and 277, unless it shall allow and issue to this State the same proportion of its common stock, if any, as the State shall own of the capital stock of the corporation whose railroad shall have been purchased as aforesaid.

1900, ch. 217, sec. 193A.

282. It shall be lawful for any railroad company heretofore or hereafter incorporated under the laws of this State to acquire, own and hold, pledge, sell or otherwise dispose of, and to endorse, guarantee or assume the stocks, bonds and other securities of other railroad companies of this or any other

State, and of any inland, coast or ocean transportation company or companies.

1908, ch. 309.

283. Whenever the several railroads of this State, operated by steam, shall cross any public highway at grade outside the corporate limits of cities, and any such highway shall be believed to be of such a character as to render the passage of locomotives and trains thereon dangerous to life and property, it shall be the duty of the Commissioners of the county in which such point of crossing shall be located, to notify the company owning or operating the railroad at such point, by serving a written notice on the superintendent or other agent of such railroad company in said county, that the said County Commissioners will, thirty days thereafter, consider the necessity of further protection against danger at said crossing, and if, after the expiration of said thirty days, said County Commissioners, or a majority of them, shall determine that such protection is necessary, they shall notify said railroad company, through its superintendent or ticket agent in said county, that within sixty days thereafter said railroad company shall either place a flagman at said crossing, whose duty it shall be to give timely notice to all persons using said crossing of the approach of all locomotives or trains, or shall change the said grade crossing so as to pass said highway with an under or over grade crossing, in which case neither a flagman nor safety gate shall be required, or shall erect safety gates at said crossing, which shall be closed not less than one-half minute before the passage of every railroad train or locomotive across said highway.

Ibid. sec. 195. 1886, ch. 294, sec. 2.

284. If any railroad company shall neglect or refuse to comply with the requirements of the said County Commisioners, as provided for by Section 283, said railroad company shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars per day for each and every day it shall neglect or refuse so to do.

1888, art. 23, sec. 196. 1886, ch. 294, sec. 3.

285. It shall be the duty of said County Commissioners to enforce the payment of fines imposed by the preceding section,

as other fines are collected, before the Circuit Court for said county; and the State's Attorney thereof shall attend to the prosecution of all such suits when directed so to do by the said County Commissioners.

Ibid. sec. 197. 1886, ch. 107.

286. Every railroad company of this State, heretofore or hereafter incorporated, wherever it shall find it necessary in the construction of its railroad or any lateral branch, is hereby authorized to cross at, under or over grade any railroad now or hereafter constructed; and if the said railroad company cannot agree with the company or companies owning and operating such railroad or railroads, whose track is or tracks are to be crossed, as to the compensation and terms upon which such crossing or crossings shall be made, then the said railroad company may condemn the easement of such crossing or crossings in the same mode prescribed for the condemnation of the lands of individuals in and by Section 251 of this article; provided, that if any of the said crossings shall be made at grade, then the said railroad company shall, at its own expense, erect a proper signal station at such crossings and keep a watchman thereat; and the trains of the company owning or operating the said road so crossed at grade shall have precedence over the trains of the company so crossing said track or tracks; and provided further, that if the said crossings shall be under or over grade, they shall be so constructed by the said railroad company so crossing as not to interfere with the passage of trains under or over the same by the company or companies operating the railroad so crossed.

Ibid. sec. 198. 1838, ch. 244, sec. 1. 1841, ch. 266. 1846, ch. 346.

287. Railroad companies shall be responsible for injuries resulting in death or otherwise inflicted upon any stock, as cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and so forth, or by fire occasioned by their engines or carriages, upon any of their roads and the branches thereof, unless the said companies can prove to the satisfaction of the justice or other tribunal before which the suit may be tried that the injury complained of was committed