Chap. 206.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to
amend and re-enact an act for working and keeping in repair the roads
of Tazewell county, approved February 24, 1888, and further to pro-
vide for permanent improvement of the roads in said county, approved
February 29, 1892, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved
February 12, 1894, as amended by an act approved January 11, 1900,
and as amended and re-enacted by an act approved January 27, 1900,
and 2s amended and re-enacted by an act approved December 17, 1901,
and as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 8, 1910, and
as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 13, 1912, and
as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 4, 1914, and to
provide for the working, repairing, maintaining and improving the
roads in Tazewell county. (S. B. 268.)

Approved March 16, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to amend
and re-enact an act for working and keeping in repair the roads
of Tazewell county, approved February twenty-fourth, eighteen
hundred and eighty-eight, and further to provide for permanent
improvement of the roads in said county, approved February
twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, as amended and
re-enacted by an act approved February twelfth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-four, as amended by an act approved January
eleventh, nineteen hundred, and as amended and re-enacted by
an act approved January twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred, and
as amended and re-enacted by an act approved December sev-
enteenth, nineteen hundred and one, and as amended and re-
enacted by an act approved March eighth, nineteen hundred and
ten, and as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March
thirteenth, nineteen hundred and twelve, and as amended and
re-enacted by an act approved March fourth, nineteen hundred
and fourteen, and to provide for the working, repairing, main-
taining and improving the roads of Tazewell county, be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

1. For the purpose of establishing, altering and discon-
tinuing, working and keeping in order the roads and bridges
of Tazewell county, and for all supervision and control of same,
except as hereinafter otherwise provided, there shall be and
is hereby created for each of the three magisterial districts of
the said county, a board of road commissioners, to be composed
of the supervisor of such district who shall be the chairman,
and two public-spirited, intelligent citizens, who shall be quali-
fied voters of the district.

2. At the February term, nineteen hundred and sixteen, or
thereafter in vacation, and every two years thereafter, there
shall be appointed by the circuit court of Tazewell county, Vir-
zinia, upon the joint recommendation of the board of super-
“sors and the Commonwealth’s attorney of said county, two in-
telligent public-spirited citizens of each of the magisterial dis-
tricts, who shall be selected as far as practicable from the dif-
ferent sections of such districts, and who shall be qualified
voters in the districts for which they are appointed. These per-
sons shall qualify as such road commissioners by appearing be-
fore the clerk of the circuit court of Tazewell county and taking
and subscribing the oaths of office prescribed by law.

3. The said two persons so appointed and qualified for any
magisterial district of said county, together with the supervisor
of such district, shall constitute the board of road commissioners
for such district.
4. The board of road commissioners shall, before the second
Tuesday in April, nineteen hundred and sixteen, meet at the
courthouse of Tazewell county, and organize by electing one of
their members clerk of the board of road commissioners, whose
duty it shall be to keep a record of the proceedings of all meet-
ings of the board.

5. There shall be two regular meetings of the board of road
commissioners in each year. One shall be held on the second
Tuesday in April and the other on the second Tuesday in Sep-
tember. Said meetings to be held at the courthouse, and the
board may hold other meetings at such times and at such places
as the supervisor, as the chairman of the board, may designate,
provided that said commissioners shall not receive compensation
for more than six meetings during any one year, except when
they are summoned and meet in cases of application for a new
road, or changing or discontinuing an existing road, as herein-
after provided for. The supervisors and road commissioners
hereby provided for shall receive as compensation two dollars
and fifty cents for each day actually engaged in the duties de-
volving upon them under the provisions of this act. Said sums
to. be paid out of the district road funds for the respective dis-
ricts.

6. The office-of district superintendent of roads heretofore
created be, and the same is hereby abolished.

7. The board of supervisors of said county shall employ a
competent road engineer, herein designated as county road engi-
neer, and such county road engineer shall also be an expert ac-
countant, and he shall supervise and have charge of the re-
pair and maintenance of the macadam roads of Tazewell county,
and bridges connected therewith, and, subject to the supervision
and control of the boards of road commissioners for their re-
spective districts, he shall have charge of the construction and
improvement of all other roads of said county, and he shall see
that all roads in the county are of proper width and clear of
obstructions, and in places where they are not of proper width,
or where obstructions have been placed thereon, or where the
ditches draining said roads have been obstructed by filling in
stone, timber or other material, he shall give notice in writing
to the person or persons obstructing said roads or ditches, re-
quiring him or them to remove the obstructions, and if the
obstructions are not removed within three days after the giving
of such notice, he shall cause the same to be removed, and report
same to the board of supervisors of the county, who shall re-
cover the expenses incident thereto, with the cost, from the
person or persons obstructing such roads or ditches, by a judg-
ment of a justice of the peace, and any money so recovered shall
be turned into the district road fund of the district in which
such obstructions occurred. Any persons who may, bv threat,
force or otherwise, hinder, delay or prevent, or attempt to
hinder, delay or prevent said county road engineer from per-
forming his duties under this act shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor, and shall be fined not less than twenty dollars, nor more
than one hundred dollars, or be confined in the county jail not
exceeding six months, or both.

Said county road engineer shall, subject to the approval of
the board of road commissioners of the several magisterial dis-
tricts, have authority to purchase on behalf of the respective
magisterial districts all tools, equipment and materials neces-
sary to successfully carry on said work under this act, and may
have such work done by contract, force, account or convict labor,
subject also to such approval. The county road engineer shall
make a separate report for each magisterial district to the board
of supervisors on the second Tuesday in each month, of work
done by him, or under his direction, during the preceding month,
in each district, and an itemized account of all expenses incurr2d
by him, or through or under him, during such preceding month,
the time worked by such laborer and foreman, the amount due
each and the work done under contract, and if the work has been
done under contract, the amount due such contractor or con-
tractors for the preceding month, and all amounts due for such
preceding month on account of work done by or incident to the
construction, improvement, repair or maintenance by convict
road labor as to each district, all of which shall be verified by
oath of such county road engineer. The board of supervisors
shall allow all claims so incurred to be paid out of the district
road levies of the respective districts in which said road work
was done.

8. In opening new roads, or making changes in location of
old roads, said board of commissioners may let the same to con-
tract to the lowest responsible bidder, after duly advertising the
same, or if they may see fit, require the county road engineer to
take personal charge of such work. and have the same done by
force account, contract or convict labor.

9. For the purpose of the repair, maintenance and unkeep
of the macsdam roads and bridges connected therewith of said
county, it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors of said
county to levy an annual tax not exceeding twenty-five cents,
on the one hundred dollars worth of all property in the magis-
terial district of said county, both real and p2rsonal, taxable for
county purposes, excepting all incorporated towns. The amount
from each magisterial district shall be kept separate, and shall
be known as the “district maintenance road fund,” and shall be
expended on the macadam roads and bridges connected there-
with in the district from which it is collected, under the direc-
tion and authority of the county road engineer.

And for the purpose of the repair and maintenance of other
roads and bridges in said county, and for the purpore of open-
ing and changing the other roads of said county, and for the
purpose of the permanent improvement of the other roads of
the county, and construction of bridges connected therewith, it
shall be the duty of the board of supervisors of said county to
levy an annual tax not to exceed thirty-five cents on the one hun-
dred dollars worth of all property, both real and personal, tax-
able for county purposes, excepting all incorporated towns, in
the respective magisterial districts of said county.

The amount from each magisterial district shall be kept sep-
arate, and shall be known as the “district road fund,” and shall
be expended on the roads and bridges in the district from which
it is collected, under the authority and direction of the road
board for said magisterial district.

10. That application for a new road, or changing or dis-
continuing an existing road, must be upon written petition ad-
dressed to the district board of road commissioners in which
said road is now, or is asked to be located, or in which a part
thereof is, stating specifically the change, the discontinuance or
route of the new road from point to point, also stating the names
of the land owners through whose lands the proposed new road
or alteration extends, which shall be signed by the petitioner
or his counsel, and forwarded to the clerk of the circuit court
of Tazewell county, who shall forthwith issue a summons to the
members of the road commission in whose district the proposed
road. alteration or discontinuance is: and if in more than one
district, then also to the members of the road commission of any
other district affected thereby, to appear at a point on the pro-
posed road, change. alteration or discontinuance to be named in
the summons, at the time named therein, and not more than
thirty days from the issuance thereof, and together they shall
view said route for the new road, change and discontinuance
and hear such evidence relevant thereto as may be offered them,
and cause said change, new road or discontinuance to be made
jn accordance with said application, or, if such road commission,
upon view cf such proposed route is of opinion of a better loca-
tion for such proposed new road, or change can be obtained by
viewing another route, then in that event the said commiss‘on
may cause such change to be made, or new road to be opened,
and in their report give the reasons for the alteration made by
it from the location specified in the petition, stating clearlv and
specifically the change of route of the new road from point to
point, also stating the names of the land owners through whose
lands the propoced new road or alteration extends, or reyort
adversely, according to their judgment. They, or any of them
attending. may adiourn the proceedings from time to time. and
place to place, and shall have the same power to summons and
compel the attendance of witnesses that the courts now have;
may employ ean engineer when necessary, who shall be allowed
reasonable compensation for the services rendered. The major-
itv of the members of the commission shall rule on all questions.
The clerk of the circuit court of Tazewell will. at the time of
the issuznce of the summons to the members of the road com-
mission issue a summons to land holders named in said petition
to appear at the same time and place named in the summons to
the said commission to show cause against the establishment,
alteration or discontinuance, and should said petition omit any
land owner interested, .the summons to said interested land
owner, may be issued on the application of any party in interest,
either by said clerk or by any one of said road commissioners,
and said summons may be served in any manner that notices
under the law may now be served, or in any manner that the
general law allows notice to land owners to be served under
the general road law. The action of the board of road commis-
sion in establishing, changing or discontinuing such road or re-
fusing to establish, alter, change or discontinue the same shall
be final, except as to the amount of damages, for which an ap-
peal may be had as hereinafter provided, unless the intention to
appeal from such action be filed with the chairman of the road
commission within five days from the day such action or de-
cision is made, and if so noted an appeal may be taken to another
commission composed of two supervisors and one road commis-
sioner from other districts; provided that no supervisor or road
commissioner from whose action an appeal is taken, shall be a
member of the commission hearing such appeal. When such an
appeal is taken the chairman of the commission whose action
or decision is appealed from, shall at once notify the clerk of
the circuit court who shall summon two supervisors and one
road commissioner from other districts to hear such appeal, and
the said commission shall hear and decide the matter as if they
were hearing it originally and shall enter their decisions
upon the merits of the case, giving due regard to the interests
of the applicants and land owners as well, and from the decision
of such commission there shall be no appeal except in the mat-
ter of damages, as herein provided. When the members of
such district road commission, or either of them, are personally
interested in the opening or location of such road or are the
owners of, or have any interest in the lands, or any portion
thereof, or are closely related to any person so interested or is
so situated in his opinion as to render it improper for him to
pass upon the opening or location of such road, change or dis-
continuance, then the clerk of the circuit court of Tazewell
county shall summon from one of the other districts in said
county some other member of the road commission, who will
act in his place instead. Should said commission establish a
road or make any change or alterations in same, they shall
assess damages to the land owners, and file in the clerk’s office
of the circuit court of Tazewell county a report of their action,
with a full description of the road established, alteration made
or road discontinued, stating the width and percentage of
grade of the road established or alterations made, and shall also
file a plat of the road establ'shed. or alterations with said re-
port, and said report and plat shall be recorded by the clerk of
said court in a book kept for the purpose, and shall notify the
attorney for the Commonwealth of all damages allowed against
the county, and such damages shall not be payable until the
Commonwealth’s attorney has been so notified, and such notice
entered on the record book of the board of supervisors; and said
report made by said commission establishing a road or making
any changes or alterations in any existing road shall be final,
except as hereinafter provided, but any land owner damaged, or
the Commonwealth’s attorney or the board of supervisors in
behalf of the county shall have the right to appeal to the circuit
court, if the sum reported by the commissi‘n or commissions, is
deemed by him or any of them insufficient or excessive.

If any landholder damaged desires to appeal to the circuit
court on the question of damages, he may, within thirty days
after the said report is filed in the clerk’s office of the circuit
court, apply to said circuit court, or to the judge thereof in
vacation, for an appeal on said question of damages, or the
Commonwealth’s attorney may, in the same manner, when he
thinks the damages allowed excessive, take such appeal for the
county, or the board of supervisors may direct the Common-
wealth’s attorney to take such appeal and no bond shall be
required in any case where the county is appellant; and the
same shall be allowed by said court or judge, and the cause
placed on the docket for trial at the next term of the circuit
court; no appeal shall be allowed a landowner after the expira-
tion of the said thirty days, but the Commonwealth’s attorney
may on his own motion, or upon direction of the board of super-
visors, take such appeal within thirty days from the time the
Commonwealth’s attorney has been notified of the award of
damages against the county in any case.

11. A trial of said appeal shall be by jury unless the same
be waived by all parties and without formal pleading, and shall
be final except to appeal as to points of law. In all questions
of damages the question of compensating advantages shall be
fully considered in awarded damages for the opening, changing
or extending any road, and in case of every appeal, and every
other matter connected with this act, the road commission shall
be represented by the Commonwealth’s attorney of Tazewell
county.

12. Whether any such appeal on the question of damages
shall be taken or not, the board of road commissioners, for the
district or districts in which such road shall be located, on pay-
ing into the circuit court of Tazewell county in term or to the
clerk of said court in vacation, the sum ascertained by the com-
missioners locating the same, as shown by their report returned
to the said clerk’s office, may, notwithstanding the pendency of
proceedings, enter into and construct their work upon or through
that part of the land described in such report, and no order
shall be made or any injunction awarded by any court or judge
to stay the proceedings of such board of road commissioners
in the prosecution of their work, unless it be made manifest
that they, their officers, agents or servants are transcending
their authority, and that the interposition of a court is neces-
sary to prevent injury that cannot be adequately compensated
in damages.

13. When after such payment into court, upon appeal taken
from such report, if the sum thereby ascertained exceed what
was so paid, Judgment shall be given against the county for the
amount such excess, and if what was so paid exceed the amount
of the sum ascertained upon such appeal, the excess shall be
paid back to the county road fund, and judgment therefor and
the cost of appeal shall be rendered against the appellant.

14. When an appeal is. taken, and the money paid into
court, the court shall disburse the same to the parties entitled
thereto, and when no appeal is taken the same shall be disbursed
to the parties entitled thereto by the commission.

15. Whenever any of the land owners are infants or suf-
fering under any legal disability, the proceedings shall not be
stayed, but the clerk of the circuit court of Tazewell county
shall appoint for such persons a guardian ad litem in the same
manner as he is authorized to appoint a guardian ad litem for
infant defendants, and said guardian ad litem shall represent
said infant, or such person under legal disabilities, and shall
receive the same compensation, payable in the same manner and
from the same source, had the matter been pending in the court,
the amount of the guardian ad litem’s fees to be determined by
the circuit court of Tazewell county, and all notices and sum-
mons may be served by the sheriff and his deputies, and their
compensation, and the compensation of the clerk of Tazewell
circuit court, shall be the same as allowed said officers for simi-
Jar service, and any road commissioner in the discharge of his
duties under this act, whenever the same may be necessary, is
empowered to administer an oath. .

16. The district road commission, in establishing a road,
may direct that it be opened and kept in order by persons for
whose corvenience the same is desired, and the same shall not
be an established road until the person or persons so designated
in the commissioner’s report shall file with the chairman of the
district in which the road is, an agreement that he or they will
open same and keep the same in order. That all new roads
established, changes or alterations made shall be of the width to
be determined by the road commission viewing, establishing or
changing the same, the grade, in no case, except on roads to be
opened and kept in repair by persons for their own private con-
venience, shall exceed seven per centum, except on locations
where Feavier grades carnot be avoided. and the same shall be
establ'shed with or without gates as thev deem best. and in
case they report adversely upon any petition, the petitioners
shall pay into the county road fund all costs accruing through
said petition, and unless said commission in their discretion
relieve said petitioner from such costs, and the same may be re-
covered from petitioner by suit at law or warrant before a
justice in the name of the board of supervisors of Tazewell
county.

17. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall, in a suitable
book kept for that purpose, open an account with each magis-
terial district of the county, on which shall be charged all war-
rants drawn on the district road fund, and district maintenance
road fund, date, number and amount of each warrant, and to
whom and for what payable, and the said clerk shall, on the
first Monday of January, April, July and October of each year,
file a written report, addressed to the board of supervisors of
Tazewell county, of money expended under this act in each of
the three magisterial districts, and the board of supervisors
shall at once have said reports published in a county newspaper,
at the expense of the respective districts.

No supervisor, road commissioner or county road engineer
of roads shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any
contract given under the provisions of this act.

18. If the supervisors, road commissioners or county road
engineer, or any of them, intentionally or negligently violate
any of the provisions of this act, or intenticnally or negligently
fail to perform any of the duties required by this act, they
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be convicted
or pun’'shed by a fine of not less than twenty dollars, nor more
than one hundred dollars, and may be removed from office by
the circuit court of Tazewell county. All prosecutions for the
violations of this act shall be in the circuit court of Tazewell
county and shall be by indictment. And it shall be the duty of
the judge of the circuit court of Tazewell county to charge every
regular grand jury as to the provisions of this act, and to re-
quire the county road engineer to be sent before every grand
jury as a witness. All mcney now in the hands of the treasurer
of Tazewell county, belonging to the road fund of the respective
magisterial districts of Tazewell county, including the funds
known as the district road funds and the permanent road funds,
shall be expended under this act.

19. The county road engineer, before entering upon the
discharge of his duties, shall enter into a bond, payable to the
said board of supervisors, in such amount as the board of super-
visors may deem advisable, not exceeding five thousand dollars,
and conditioned to faithfully perform and discharge his duties
under this act; and the board of supervisors is vested with
nuthority to remove any such county road engineer from office.

20. The board of supervisors of the county shall sue and be
sued in relation to the enforcement of all rights, remedies and
liabilities connected with the roads of the countv not otherwise
herein expressly provided for; however. in case any district
board of road commissioners, or appeal board, shall exceed or
attempt to exceed its authority under this act, nothing herein
contained shall prevent any person from applying to a court
of equity for relief against such board so exceeding its authority,
its officers, agents and servants, as provided by law. All acticns
and suits instituted by the board of supervisors shall be at the
cost and expense of the district or districts in which are located
the portions of the road to be affected thereby, which costs and
expenses shall be paid out of the road fund of such district;
and in case any money is recovered in any proceeding, it shall
be turned into the road fund of such district. All actions and
suits against the board of supervisors shall show an account of
what district the liability is claimed, and all judgments recov-
ered against said board of supervisors shall be payable out of
the district road fund of the district in which the liability was
incurred, together with all fees, costs and expenses incident
thereto.

It having been uncertain under the provisions of the said
act approved March thirteenth, nineteen hundred and twelve,
as to whether or not the board of supervisors of the county or
the district road boards of the respective districts should sue
and be sued in relation to the enforcement of rights, remedies
and liabilities connected with the roads of the county, and it be-
ing necessary to forthwith institute certain proceedings for the
protection and betterment of the roads of the county, an emer-
gency exists, and this act shall be in force from its passage.