Chap. 76.—An ACT to provide for the Division of the Counties of the
Commonwealth into Magisterial Districts.

Approved February 5, 1875.

‘1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the several
townships of the’ counties of this commonwealth, as they
existed on the third dayeof November, eighteen hundred
and seventy-four, (the date of the ratification of amendment
to-the constitution res ecting county organization) sball
constitute, and are hereby declared to be, the magisterial
districts into which the counties are directed to bo districted
by virtue of said amendment, and the boundary lines, names,
and voting places in said townships, as recorded in the
clerk’s office of the several counties and in the office of the
secretary of the commonwealth, shall and are hereby de-
clared to be the boundary lines, names, and voting places of
the magisterial districts of the several counties, except as
the same may be changed as is hereinafter provided.

2. It shall be lawful upon petition of fifty qualified voters
of any magisterial district (as organized in the first section
of this act) that may be affected thereby, after the same has
been posted for at least thirty days at the courthouse of the
county, and at the voting place or places of the said magis-
terial district or districts, for the judge of the county courts
of the several counties, by an order entered of record, for
good cause, to rearrange, increase or diminish the number of
magisterial districts, change the name thereof, establish or
change the place or places of holding elections therein ; but
at or before the trial of said petition, any citizen or citizens
of said district shall have the right to enter himself or them-
selves as defendants thereto, after which said cause shall
proceed, in all respects, as other causes on the docket of said
court; but after one petition under this section has been re-
jected by said county court, no petition for that purpose
shall be again entertained for tho space of twelve months
from the date of such rejection.

3. If, upon the hearing of the petition mentioned in the
second section of this act, the county court should be of
opinion that such a change should be made in magisterial
districts of the county as to affect the whole county, or upon
a petition by a majority of the board of supervisors of said
county, it shall be lawful, and it is hereby declared to be the
duty of suid county court to appoint ono discreet man in
each magisterial district of said counties to redivide their
respective counties into magisterial districts. Said commis-
sioners, a majority of whom may act, shall proceed without
delay to lay off and divide their respective counties into
compactly located magisterial districts, as nearly equal as
may be in territory and population, with a view to the
proper sub-division of said magisterial districts into school
districts, so that thero be not less than three nor more than
eleven magisterial districts in any one county, so that after
three bnve been formed, no additional district shall be formed
containing less than thirty square miles, and for this purpose
said commissioners are authorized: provided, one of said
commissioners be not competent to make such survey, to
employ a competent surveyor, by whose aid they shall lay off
said magisterial districts by metes and bounds, and when, in
their opinion, the same is necessary, cause memorial stones
to be placed at prominent points on the boundary lines of
said magisterial districts. Said cofmissioners shall establish
one or more voting places in each magisterial district for all
elections in this commenwealth, in which the voters of said
magisterial district shall have the right to vote; and the
magisterial districts so laid off, and the voting places so estab-
lished, shall be the magisterial districts and voting places for
said counties. I[t shall be the duty of said commissioners to
make at the earliest practicable day, not more than ten days
after laying off said districts and completing said surveys, a
written report designating, as accurately as possible, the
boundaries of said magistcrial districts, and designating the
same by appropriate names, as magisterial district of

county, and declaring the place or places established
by them in each magisterial district for opening polls as
hereinbefore provided, together with all other matter deemed
pertinent by them, and make return thereof to the clerk’s
office of their several counties, respectively: provided, that
no town or city having a separate organization, or a popula-
tion of five thousand or more inhabitants, shall be embraced
in any of said magisterial districts; and provided further,
that before entering upon the discharge of his duties, each
commiasioner and surveyor shall take an oath or affirmation,
before some one authorized by law to administer oaths or
affirmations, that he will faithfully and honestly discharge
the duties required of him under this act.
4. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the county court for
each county of the commonwealth, wherein there has been
a rearrangement of magisterial districts under this act, to
enter the same of record at once in the deed book of his
office, and furnish the secretary of the commonwealth with
an attested copy thereof.

5. The commissioner and surveyor employed under the
third section of this act, shall each be allowed the sum of
three dollars a day for the time necessarily employed in the
discharge of his duties under this act, together with all
necessary expenses incurred by him, to be paid by the county
aud levied for upon certificates of the county court; and tho
clerks of the courts shall, for the duties required of them
under this act, be allowed the same fee3 as are allowed them
for recording deeds, which, together with all necessary ex-
penses incurred in carry out this act, shall be paid by the
counties, respectively.

6. It shall be the duty of the keeper of the rolls to pub-
lish, with the Session Acts of the general assembly, the
names of the several magisterial districts in this state.

7. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act, be
and the same are hereby repealed.

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