Chap. 181.—An ACT to provide for working the roads and repairing
the bridges in the county of Rockbridge.

Approved March 11, 1878.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
in the county of Rockbridge the public roads and bridges
shall be repaired and kept in order as follows: For each
mavisterial district in the county, there is bereby estab-
lished a board, consisting of the supervisors of the district,
who shall be chairman thereof, a road commissioner, and a
justice of the peace, who shall be clerk of the board. The
said board shall and is hereby declared to be a body politic
and corporate, under the name and style of The Board of
Road Commissioners for the Magisterial District in the
County of ———; and by such name may sue and be sued.
The said board shall have the control of all the roads and
bridges within the district, and disbursing of all taxes im-
posed for repairing the roads and bridges, and keeping the
same in order. Tf) from any cause, cither of the members
of said board shall be prevented from attending any meeting
thereof, the other members may, in case of emergency, call
in any justice of the peace for the district, who, with them,
khall constitute the board for the time being, and they shall
have all the power and authority vested by this act in the
board of road Commissioners for said district.

2. The road commissioners for cach macisterial district
shall, after ascertaining the amount necessary to repair or
build the read, bridges, and so forth, in their respective dis-
tricts, under this law, make such report to the board of su-
pervisors, whose duty it shall be to make levies on persons
and property for each magisterial district in conformity with
said report.

3. The justice of the peace constituting a member of the
board, shall be designated in writing by the supervisor and
road commissioner, which writing shall be recorded by the
said board in the minute book. A road commissioner for
each magisterial district shall be elected by the qualified
voters of the magisterial district in which he is to serve, as
early as practicable after the passage of this act. He may
at once qualify and enter upon the performance of his duties,
and shall hold office until his successor is elected and quaili-
fied. His term of office, after tbe first election, shall be
two years, and shall commence on the first day of July suc-
ceeding his election.

4. The road precincts shall remain, as now, laid out and
described by metes and bounds in the several magisterial
districts, until changed by the board of road commissioners.
The said board shall have power, and it shall be their duty,
to make such changes therein as may be proper. The sur-
veyors in charge of said precincts when this act goes into
effect, shall continue in the performance of their duties until
the overseers hereinafter provided for shall be appointed and
qualified.

5. The board of road commissioners shall, as soon as they
shall be organized, proceed to appoint overseers of roads for
each precinct established by them, not exceeding one to
every three miles, nor less than one to five miles.

6. The duty of the overseer of roads shall be to see that
the roads in the precinct are kept in good repair; that the

bridges and crossings for foot passengers are in safe condi-
tion; that the roads are of .necessary width, well drained,
and free from obstructions; that all dead trees near the
roads are cut down, and all loose stones removed from the
roads; that neat sign boards are kept at all forks and cross-
ings of public roads, plainly indicating the most noted place
to which each road leads, and the distance thereto; and he
shall contract for all tools and implements necessary for the
working of roads, subject to the approval of the board of
road commissioners, and shall have custody of the same.
He shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by
law.

7. The overseer of roads shall receive a compensation of
one. dollar a day for every day he is actually engaged in
working on the roads (less the two days required of him by
law). The overseer of roads shall not for any other services
rendered by him, receive any further or other compensation.

8. The overseer of roads and the sureties on his official
bond, in addition to their liability for all property, tickets,
and money which may come into his hands as overseer,
and for which he shall fail to account when required, shall
be liable for any failure or neglect to keep his roads and
bridges in good order, or to perform any other duty required
by law. The amount of such liability may be recovered by
the board by suit in court, or upon the warrant of a justice,
as the case may be. |

9. The road commissioners shall have general supervision
of all the roads and bridges in his district, including bridges
built jointly by his county and any adjoining county across
streams which constitute the boundary between such coun-
ties. The overseers of roads in his district shall be under
his authority and subject to his orders. Upon complaint by
him to the board, that any overseer neglects or refuses to
perform his duties, the board may, if satisfied of the correct-
ness of such complaint, remove said overseer and appoint
another in his place. And if any overseer shall neglect or
refuse, after notice in writing from the road commissioner,
to perform any duty required of him, it shall be the duty of
the road commissioner to cause the required work to be
done. It shall also be the duty of the road commissioner to
superintend the changing of any road, opening of any new
road, or building of any bridge which may be required of
him by the county court. He shall perform such other
duties as may be prescribed by law.

10. If any road commissioner shall neglect or refuse to
perform the duties required of him by law, he shall be liable,
on presentment of a grand jury, to pay a fine of not more
than thirty dollars for each offence; but if it shall appear to
the court that such prosecution was frivolous and vexatious,
the court may, upon acquittal of the road commissioner,
require the prosecutor to pay the costs.

11. Every petition to alter, change, or discontinue a public
road, to open a new road, or build a bridge, or establish a
ferry, must hereafter be first reforred to the board of road
commissioners for the district to which the petitioners belong,
who shall endorse thereon their approval or disapproval of
the same, and the reasons therefor. The petition, with said
endorsement, shall then be presented to the board of super-
visors, Who shall likewise endorse, when the petition shall
then be presented to the county court, and there proceeded
With as prescribed by the general statutes in such cases made
and provided; but the board of road commissioners may
order any change in a road which does not involve the con-
demnation of land or payment of damages, as where the
Jand owner consents.

12. When the location of any road now is, or hereafter
may be, on a line dividing two magisterial districts, the road
commissioners of the adjoining districts shall equitably divide
the expense of said road between such districts; or, upon
their failure to agree, the county court shall divide the sume,
and direct What part of said road shall be kept in repair by

each mavisterial district.

13. The board of road commissioners for each magisterial
district, at its annual mecting in July, shall assess and levy
atax upon the property, real and personal, of the district
assessed for state revenue, suflicient, with the labor contri-
buted under the twenticth section of this act, to pay the ex-
pense of keeping all the public roads and bridges in the dis-
trict in good repair, and for all other purposes provided for
in this act: provided that the assessment on property shall
not be more in any one year than seven and a half cents on
the hundred dollars. The tax levied on each precinct shall,
as far as practicable, be expended therein. Land lying
partly in one district or precinct, and partly in another, shall
be assessed in the district or precinct in which the greater
part thereof lies.

14. The board of road commissioners shall annually, by
the first day of August, through their clerk, furnish to each
overseer a statement of the taxes assessed against each per-
son in his precinct, and the aggregate amount of such tax,
which tax the overseer shall collect in money, or labor, or
partly in money and partly in labor, as the board may pre-
scribe; and so much of said tax as he shall be unable to col-
lect, he shall, at such time as may be designated by the
board, turn over, with ten per centum added for costs of col-
lection, to the county treasurer; or, if the board so order, to
a constable, taking his receipt for the same. The treasurer
or constable receiving such tax account, shall proceed to col-
lect the same as other taxes are collected, and after deducting
the commission of ten per centum above provided, pay over
the net proceeds to the clerk of the board of road commis-
sioners. The overseer shall expend so much of the money
coming into his hands under the preceding section, as may
be necessary, in connection with the labor provided for in
the twentieth section, to keep his roads and bridges in order,
and to pay for too.:s and implements, and shall pay to the
clerk of the board of road commissioners, on the second
Saturday in June of each year, any surplus remaining in his
bands, after deducting such compensation for himself as
shall be allowed by the board.

15. The board of road commissioners for each magisterial
district shall fix a schedule of prices for labor, hire of teams,
and other services upon roads in their district: provided that
a day’s work under this act shall be ten hours. The said
board shall annually, on the second Saturday in June, audit
all claims arising under this act, including the accounts of
the commissioner and overseer of roads, which accounts
shall be verified by affidavits. They shall enter all claims
allowed by them in a book to be kept for the purpose, and
paid for out of the fund provided for in section thirteen of
this act, and shall pay said claims out of any moneys in the
hands of the clerk of the board.

16. The clerk of the board of road commissioners shall
qualify and enter into bond, in a penalty of not less than
two hundred dollars, before the county court, and with secu-
rity to be approved by the court, before the first day of July
succeeding his appointment. It shall be his duty to keep all
papers, books, and records of the board, and to receive and
pay out all moneys which they may direct or the law pre-
scribe.

17. The board of supervisors shall, upon the application of
the board of road commissioners for the respective magiste-
rial districts, cause to be delivered to the clerks of said board,
all papers, books, and documents pertaining to the roads and
bridges in said districts which lately belonged to the corres-
ponding townships; and shall, upon like application, deliver
to the clerks of the respective boards, warrants upon the
county treasurer for any balance of the moneys of the corre-
sponding townships paid into*the county treasury under the
fifty-sixth section of chapter two hundred and ninety-six of
the Acts of Assembly of eighteen hundred and seventy-
four-five, approved March twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred
and seventy-five, which shall remain after payment of the
debts of said townships. The money so paid over to the
clerks of the boards of road commissioners shall constitute
a part of the road fund of the respective districts, and be
expended in improving and keeping the roads and bridges
thereof in order.

18. Each member of the board of road commissioners shall
receive one dollar and fifty cents for every day’s service on
the board, or in the performance of any other duty required
of him by law: provided that for services on the board, no
member shall receive more than eight dollars in any year:
and provided further that the clerk shall, for all other services
performed by bim during the year, receive not more than
twenty dollars additional compensation; and the road com-
missioner shall, for all other services performed by him
during the year, receive not more than twenty dollars, ex-
eept that for services rendered in superintending the
changing or opening of roads, or building bridges under
order of the county court, he may receive such additional
sum, not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents a day, as the
board of supervisors may allow. All claims for compensa-
tion under this section shall be audited by the board of
supervisors, Who shall issue their warrants upon the county
treasurer for the sums allowed them,

19. If the board of road commissioners shall neglect or
refuse to perform any duty required of them by this act, the
county court may, upon the application of any party inter-
ested, by mandamus, compel said board to perform such
duty.

20. All male persons in each road precinct, except such as
are exempt by law, shall be appointed by the board of road
commissioners for each magisterial district for that precinct,
and compelled to work two days in each year on some public
road thercin, as near as may be to their homes. The two
days here required, shall not include any time such persons
may be required to work in changing or opening a road
under the general road law.

21. Kvery person required to work sball, either in person or
by a sufficient substitute, attend, when required by the over-
seer of roads for his precinct, with proper tools, and work the
roads as required in the preceding section. Every person
failing to so attend, shall, if adult, be liable to pay an addi-
tional road tax of cighty cents for each day he fails to work;
or, if he be a minor, bis parent or guardian shall be so liable,
and said tax, if not paid to the overseer in twenty days
thereafter, may be levied for and collected as other district
road taxes are collected, under the fourteenth section of this
act. Any money so recovered by the overseer, shall be
expended by him in the repair ©f his roads and bridges.

22. The cost of changing roads, opening new roads, and
building bridges, shall hereafter be borne by the respective
districts in which they are located; and when located partly
in one district and partly in another, the cost shall be appor-
tioned equitably between them by the board of supervisors;
but whenever the road to be changed or opened, or the bridge
to be built, is of such public and general importance as to
make it proper that the cost thereof shall be borne by the
whole county, the board of supervisors may so order. The
board of supervisors shall be authorized to make such addi-
tional levy, or assessment, upon any district or districts, not
exceeding five cents in the hundred dollars’ worth of pro-
perty, real and personal, in any year, as may be required to
defray the expenses incurred under this section.

23. Such provisions of the general road law of the state as
do not conflict with this act, shall continue in force in the
county named herein; and nothing in this act contained
shall be so construed as to interfere with existing contracts
for working of roads in said county.
24. So much of the act approved March fifth; eighteen
hundred and- seventy-seven, as refers to the county of Rock-
bridge, is hereby repealed.

25. This act shall be in force from its passage.