Chap. 73.—An ACT to provide for the Working of Roads in the Coun-
ties of Shenandoah, Page, and Rockingham.

Approved February 17, 1876.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be lawful for the counties of Shenandoah, Page, and
Rockingham, after the first day of May, eighteen hundred
and seventy-six, to change and repair highways, roads, and
bridges as follows:

2. That for each magisterial district in the counties of
Shenandoah, Page, and Rockingham, there is hereby created
and established a board consisting of the supervisor, a com-
missioner of roads, and one of the justices of the peace for
each district, which board shall have the exclusive control of
the roada, bridges, and ferries within its limits; and all taxes
levied for road purposes, and for building and repairing
bridges, shall be expended in said magisterial district, except
as hereinafter provided.

3. The justice of the peace constituting a member of said
board shall be chosen and designated by the three justices
of the peace elected aud commissioned in each magisterial
district, and the commissioner of roads shall be appointed
by the county judge, at the May term of the county court.
next succeeding the passage of this act, who shall hold his
office until his successor is elected and qualified as hereinaf-
ter provided. The designation of the justice who is to serve
on said board shall be in writing, and shall be preserved and
recorded by the board of commissioners of roads.

4, The board hereby created and constituted is declared to
be a body politic and corporate, and shall be known and
designated as The Board of Commissioners of Roads for
- Magisterial District.

5. The sub-road districts, as now laid out and described by
metes and bounds, within the lines of the present magiste-
rial districts, shall remain as they now are in the counties of
Shenandoah and Page. But the road districts as they existed
in the county of Rockingham at the time of the adoption of
the amendment to the constitution in respect to county or-
ganization, shall constitute the sub-road districts for said
county, provided for in this act, unless and until they shalt
be changed as provided for in this section in any of the above
named counties.

6. That there shall be appointed by the said board, not
later than the fifteenth day of July, one overseer of roads
for each sub-road district, whose term of office shall be for
two years, begining on the first day of August succeeding
his appointment. He shall reside in the district for which
he shall have been appointed, and shall have charge of the
roads of his district. If any such overseer shall refuse to
serve after being appointed, or fail to keep in good order the
roads in his district, he shall be liable to a fine or present-

ment by the grand jury, not exceeding fifty dollars. But
any person who has served as overseer may, at the expira-
tion of the term for which he was appointed, give up his
office on producing a certificate to the board from the com-
missioner of roads, or other satisfactory evidence, that the
roads in his district are in proper order, and he shall not
within two years thereafter be appointed overseer without
his consent.

7. That his duties shall be to see that the roadsin hia district
are kept in good repair, that the bridges are in safe condition,
that the roads are kept free from obstructions, that all loose
stones are removed; and he shall contract for all tools and
implements necessary for working roads, subject to the ap-
proval of the commissioner of roads, and shall have custody
of the same, and shall perform such other duties as may be
prescribed by law or directed py the board of commissioners
of roads. His compensation shall be one dollar and fifty
cents per day for each day actually employed.

8. That at the regular election in May there shall be elected
in each magisterial district one coammissioner of roads, who
shall reside in the district for which he is elected, and whose
term-of office shall be for two years, beginning on the first
day of July next succeeding his election. Each commissioner
of roads appointed or elected, shall qualify at the time and
in the manner prescribed by law for the qualification of
magisterial district officers, and shall at the time of his quali-
fication, or before he enters upon the discharge of his duties,
give bond with .good personal security in the sum of two
hundred dollars. - :

' 9. That the commissioner of roads shall have charge of
all the roads in his magisterial district. His duty shall be
to see that all the roads in bis district are of the proper
width, and in all cases where they are not, to notify the per-
sons trespassing, by written notice; and if the obstructions
are not removed after reasonable notice, not to exceed ninety
days, he shall direct the overseer of the district to remove
the fencing or other obstructions, and may recover the ex-
pense with costs from the trespasser upon judgment of a
justice of the peace: provided however, that where there is
a road of less width than thirty feet now in use, and the
commissioner of roads is satisfied that no inconvenience will
result to the public on account of the width of said road, he
may continue the same. He shall examine the roads in his
district twice in each year, in the months of May and Octo-
ber, and see that the roads and bridges are kept in good re-
pair by the overseer. His compensation shall be one dollar
and fifty cents per day for each day in which he has been or
may be actually employed in discharging his duties under
the provisions of this act, and to be paid by the county trea-
surer in the manner hereinafter prescribed.

10. That every petition to alter or change a public road,
must first be presented to the commissioner of roads in the
district in which the road is, who shall endorse thereon his
approval or disapproval of the same and his reasons there-
for, which petition and commissioners report shall be laid
before the county court at its next term in open court, and
the court may appoint three discreet freeholders to view the
ground of any proposed change; the county, or other com-
petent surveyor, shall accompany the viewers, and if neces-
sary survey and map the road. The whole number of viewers
must view, but a majority may decide for or against; and
they may view and make report of and estimates for any
modification of the route. )

11. That notice of the time and place when and where
the viewers shall meet, shall be given in some public man-
ner in the vicinage of the proposed road at least five days
before the time of meeting. The viewers, before they pro-
ceed to discharge their duties, shall be severally sworn by
the commissioner of roads, as some other person authorized
to administer oaths, to perform their duties impartially and
to the best of their judgment. If they decide that there is
puviic necessity for the change, they shall lay out the same,

aving respect for the shortest distance and the best ground,
so as to do the least injury to private property, and also as
far as practicable to be agreeable to the petitioners. They
shall assess the damage done to land through which the road
passes, taking into consideration the advantage to be derived
from the road passing through the land, and shall report in
writing to the next term of the county court; but in no case
shall any yard, garden, orchard, or any part thereof, be taken
without the consent of the owner.

12. That the court shall examine the amount of damages
assessed, and if satisfied the public interest will be subserved
by its payment and by making the proposed change, shall
approve the report and order the damages to be paid by the
magisterial district or districts through which the road may
pass, in such proportion as the damages may have been as-
sessed in the said districts, respectively; but upon the return
of the report of the viewers, the proprietors and tenants of
lands upon which said road will be, if so changed, shall be
summoned to show cause against said report; and any pro-
prietor or tenant of lands on which said road will be if so
changed, may enter himself a party defendant to said peti-
tion, after which the same proceedings shall be had as under
the general road law of the state, upon the return of the re-
port of the commissioners of roads: provided, that the
viewers and surveyor shall be paid out of the county trea-
sury upon the order of the county court.

13. That in case the changing of a road shall place it on
a line dividing two magisterial districts, the commissioners
of roads of the adjoining districts shall equitably divide the
expense of said road between such districts, if they can
agree, and in case they cannot agree, the county court shall
divide the same,.and direct what part of said road shall be
opened and kept in repair by each magisterial district.
14. The board of commissioners of roads*for each magis-
terial district, at its annual meeting in July, shall assess and
levy a tax upon the property, real and personal, of the mag-
isterial district assessed for state revenue, an amount which,
with the labor contributed under the nineteenth section of
this act, shall be sufficient to pay the expense of keeping all
the public roads in its magisterial district in good repair, and
of such width and condition as may be requirgd by law, 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 ten cents on the hundred dollars; the assessment
to be made upon the same basis as that upon which state
revenues are levied.

15. That the board of commissioners of roads in each
magisterial district, shall annually make an estimate of the
probable amount necessary to pay the expense of changing
roads, repairing bridges, paying allowances to officers pro-
vided for in this act, and any other expense they may deem
likely to arise under the provisions of this act, and shall,
before the first day of August in each year, fyrnish to the
county treasurer a statement of such portion of the tax as-
sessed against each person in their district as will aggregate
a sum sufficient to meet such expenses, and which tax said
treasurer shall be required to collect as other revenues
are collected, and for which h* shall receive a like compensa-
tion; and said board of commissioners shall in like manner
furnish to each overseer in their district, a statement of the
balance of the tax assesseu against each person in his road
district, which tax the overseer shall collect in money or
labor, or partly in money and partly in labor as the person
against whom the taxes assessed may elect. The overseer
shall expend so much of the money coming into his hands
under the preceeding section, as may be necessary, in connec-
tion with the labor provided for in section nineteen, to keep
his roads in order, and shall pay to the commissioner of roads
any amount not so required to be held by him, subject to the
order of the board of commissioners of roads for his district.

16. The board of commissioners of roads of each magis-
terial district shall fix a schedule of prices for labor, hire of
teams, and other service upon roads in their district.

17. That the board of commissioners of roads in each
magisterial district shall, annually, on the first Tuesday in
December, examine and audit all claims arising under the
provisions of this act, and shall furnish to the. county trea-
surer a certified statement setting forth all claims so audited
and allowed, which he shall be required to enter in a book
to be kept for that purpose, which said claims shall be paid
by him out of any funds in his hands for that purpose.

18. That the justice of the peace and the supervisor who,
with the commissioner of roads, constitute in each magiste-
rial district a board of commissioners of roads for that dis-
trict, shall each receive one dollar and fifty cents per day for
each day actually employed in accordance with the provi-
sions of this act.

19. That all male persons in each road district, except such
as are exempt by law, shall be appointed by the overseer of
roads for that district, and compelled to work two days in
each year on some public road therein as near as may be to
the place of their residence, or in opening a new road.

20. Every. person required to work, shall, either in person
or by a sufficient substitute when required by the overseer
of roads for his district, attend with proper tools and work
the roads on such days, (not exceeding two in each year,) as
the said overseer of roads may direct. For every day on
which there may be a failure, eighty cents shall be paid as a
fine to the said overseer of roads, within twenty days there-
after, by the person in default, if a person of full age, or if he
be an infant, by his parent or guardian. If the money be
not paid, it shall be recoverable by the overseer of roads with
costs before a justice, and said justice shall issue a writ of
fieri facias for said fine and costs, which, when collected, shall
be paid to gaid overseer of roads. Any money received by
an overseer of roads under this section, after the payment of
costs, shall be applied to the improvement of roads in his
district. |

21. The general road law of this state, except so far as the
same is in comflict with this act, shall be in force in thé coun-
ties of Shenandoah, Page, and Rockingham.

- 22. This act shail be in force from its passage.