of vessels, tugs, boats, or other water craft navigating such channel: And, provided, further, that nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to compel said district to maintain or operate said bridges, as movable bridges, for a period of nine years from and after the time when the water has been turned into said channel pursuant to law, unless the needs of general navigation on the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers, when connected by said channel, sooner require it.

§ 19. Every sanitary district shall be liable for all damage to real estate within or without such district which shall be overflowed or otherwise damaged by reason of the construction, enlargement or use of any channel, ditch, drain, outlet or other improvement under the provisions of this Act; and actions to recover such damages may be brought in the county where such real estate is situated, or in the county where such sanitary district is located, at the option of the party claiming to be injured. And in case judgment is rendered against such district for damage, the plaintiff shall also recover his reasonable attorneys' fees to be taxed as costs of suit: Provided, however, it shall appear on the hearing of plaintiff's motion to tax such attorney's fees, that the plaintiff notified the trustees of such district in writing, at least 60 days before suit was commenced by leaving a copy of such notice with some one of the trustees of such district, stating that he claims damages to the amount of........dollars by reason of (here insert the cause of damage) and intends to sue for the same: And, provided, further, that the amount recovered shall be larger than the amount offered by said trustees (if anything) as a compromise for damages sustained.

§ 19a. No person shall be an incompetent judge, justice or juror by reason of his being an inhabitant or freeholder in any sanitary district formed under the provisions hereof in any action in which such sanitary district may be a party in interest.

APPROVED May 25, 1907.

SANITARY DISTRICTS-ELECTION OF TRUSTEES.

§ 1. Amends section 3, Act of 1889.

§3. Election of trustees-va

cancies filled by ap-
pointment.

§ 2. Emergency.

(SENATE BILL NO. 83. APPROVED FEBRUARY 27, 1907.

AN ACT to amend section three (3) of an Act entitled, "An Act to create sanitary districts and to remove obstructions in the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers," approved May 29, 1889, in force July 1, 1889, as amended by an Act approved May 11, 1905, in force July 1, 1905.

SECTION I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That section three (3) of an Act entitled, "An Act to create sanitary districts and to remove obstruc

tions in the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers," approved May 29, 1889, in force July 1, 1889; as amended by an Act approved May 11, 1905, in force July 1, 1905, be amended so as to read as follows:

83. In each sanitary district organized under this Act, there shall be elected at the November election 1905, nine trustees, three of which trustees shall hold their office for a term of one year, three for a term of three years, and three for a term of five years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified.

At every regular county election occurring after the year 1905, there shall be elected three trustees who shall hold their office for six years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified, to succeed those whose terms of office shall expire that year. In all elections for trustees each elector may vote for as many candidates as there are trustees to be elected, but no elector may give to such candidates more than one vote, it being the intent and purpose of this Act to prohibit cumulative voting in the selection of members of the board of trustees of the sanitary district.

Each elector in such sanitary district may vote for and designate (upon his ballot cast for trustees for said sanitary district) one of the candidates for trustees to be president of said board and the person so designated who shall receive the highest number of such votes shall be declared elected president of such board. The person so elected president of such board at the November election of 1905 shall hold office for a term of five (5) years and until his successor shall be elected and qualified. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of president of such board, the board of trustees shall elect one of their number, who shall perform the duties of president until such vacancy shall be filled by an election. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of trustees of any sanitary district organized under the provisions hereof within one year before the expiration of the term of such vacant office, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the board of trustees of such sanitary district, but if such unexpired term exceeds one year, the Governor shall appoint the time for an election to fill such vacancy, and shall file a notice of such time with the county clerk of each of the counties in which [such] sanitary district shall be situated.

Such sanitary district shall from the time of the first election held by it under this Act be construed in law and equity a body corporate and politic, and by the name and style of the sanitary district of and by such name and style may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, acquire and hold real estate and personal property necessary for corporate purposes, and adopt a common seal and alter the same at pleasure.

§ 2. WHEREAS, An emergency exists, this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

APPROVED February 27. 1907.

AN ACT to create sanitary districts in certain localities and to drain and protect the same from overflow for sanitary purposes.

SECTION I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That whenever any area of contiguous territory within the limits of two counties, having within its limits two or more incorporated cities or villages, and an aggregate population of not less than twenty-five thousand inhabitants, shall be so situate as to be subject to overflow from any river or tributary thereof, and the maintenance of one or more levees for the protection of the same against such overflow, and of a new or improved outlet for the drainage thereof, will conduce to the preservation of the public health and safety, the same may be incorporated as a sanitary district, in the manner following: Any three hundred legal voters resident within the limits of such proposed district, may petition the county judge of the county in which the majority of such petitioners reside, to cause the question to be submitted to the legal voters of said proposed district, whether they will organize as a sanitary district under this Act. Such petition shall contain the name of such proposed sanitary district, and a definite description of the territory intended to be embraced therein: Provided, no territory shall be included within more than one sanitary district under this Act.

§ 2. Upon the filing of such petition in the office of the county clerk of said county it shall be the duty of said county judge to call to his assistance one circuit judge, and the county judge of the other county, in which such territory is situate, and said judges shall constitute a

board of commissioners, and shall have power and authority to consider the boundaries of such proposed district, whether the same shall be described in said petition or otherwise. Four weeks' notice shall be given by said county judge of the time and place where such commissioners will meet, by publication in one or more newspapers published in each of said counties. At such meeting said county judge shall preside, and all persons in the proposed sanitary district shall have an opportunity to be heard touching the location and boundary of such proposed district; and after hearing such evidence and suggestions as may be offered, such commissioners, or a majority of them shall fix and determine the limits and boundaries of said proposed district, and for that purpose, and to that extent, may alter and amend such petition.

§ 3. Upon such determination, said county judge shall call an election and submit to the legal voters of said proposed sanitary district the question of the organization and establishment thereof, as determined by said commissioners, or a majority of them. Four weeks' notice of such election shall be given by said commissioners, in like manner as is provided in the preceding section, which notice shall state briefly the purpose of such election, and contain a description of the proposed district. Each legal voter residing within the proposed sanitary district shall have the right to cast a vote at such election, with the words thereon: "For Sanitary District" or "Against Sanitary District," as he may elect. The ballots so cast shall be received, canvassed and returned in the same manner and by the same officers as provided by law in the case of ballots cast for county officers: Provided, that the returns of such election shall be made to the county clerk of the county in which the petition for the organization of said sanitary district is filed, and the votes shall be canvassed by said county judge, and any two justices of the peace whom he shall call to his assistance, and the result of said election shall be entered upon the records of said county court. If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of the incorporation of the proposed sanitary district shall be in favor of the same, the inhabitants thereof shall be deemed to have accepted the provisions of this Act, and the same shall thenceforth be deemed an organized sanitary district under this Act, with the name stated in the petition.

§ 4. Upon the organization of such sanitary district, said county judge shall call an election to elect the corporate authorities thereof, and cause notice of the same to be posted or published, and perform all other acts with reference to such election, in like manner as nearly as may be, as he is required to perform under the laws of this State, in reference to the election of officers in newly organized cities.

§ 5. There shall be elected five trustees, who shall constitute a board of trustees for such district, and who shall hold office for three years, and until their successors are elected and qualified, except that the term of office of the first trustees shall be for three years after the first Monday in December following their election. The election of trustees after the first, shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in every three years. In all elections for trustees, each qualified voter may vote for as many candidates as there are trus

tees to be elected, or may distribute his vote among not less than threefifths of the candidates to be elected, giving to each of the candidates among whom he distributes his vote, the same number of votes or fractional parts of votes. The trustees shall choose one of their number as president.

§ 6. Such sanitary district shall be held in law and equity a body corporated [corporate], and politic, under the name and style of sanitary district, and by such name and style may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, acquire and hold real and personal property necessary for corporate purposes, have a common seal, and change the same at pleasure, and exercise all the powers in this Act conferred. All courts of this State shall take judicial notice of the existence of sanitary districts organized hereunder.

§ 7. The board of trustees, and its successors in office, shall constitute the corporate authority of such sanitary district, and shall exercise all powers and manage and control all the affairs and property of such district. Said board of trustees shall have the right to elect a clerk, treasurer, engineer and attorney for such municipality, who shall hold their respective offices during the pleasure of the board, and who shall give such bonds as may be required by said board. The board may prescribe the duties and fix the compensation of all the officers and employés of said district: Provided, however, that the salary of the president of said board of trustees shall in no case exceed the sum of $2,000.00 per annum, and the salary of the other members of the board. shall not exceed $1,000.00 per annum : And, provided, further, that [the] amount received by any attorney shall not exceed the sum of $2,500.00 per annum. Each trustee shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, execute a bond with security to be approved by the county judge, payable to the district, in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), conditioned upon the faithful performance of the duties of his office, which bond shall be filed with and preserved by the county. clerk.

§ 8. The board of trustees of said sanitary district shall, within three months after its organization hereunder, cause to be filed in the office of the recorder of deeds in each county in which said district is situated, a certified copy of the record of the county court, in the matter of such organization, showing the name and boundaries of said district, the canvass of the votes, and the result of the election, whereby said district became so organized, and the recorder of said deeds shall record the same.

§ 9. Said board of trustees shall have full power to pass all necessary ordinances, and make all orders, rules and regulations for the proper management and conduct of the business of said board of trustees, and of said municipality, and for carrying into effect the objects for which said sanitary district is formed.

§ 10. All ordinances, orders, rules, resolutions and regulations shall, before taking effect, be passed upon by the president of the board of trustees. Such as he shall approve, he shall sign, and such as he shall not approve, he shall return to the board of trustees, with his