An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Volume | 1876/1877 |
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Law Number | 317 |
Subjects |
Law Body
Chap. 317.—An ACT to provide for the working of roads and repair-
ing bridyes in the county of Rappahannock. — -
Approved April 4, 1877.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
in the county of Rappahannock the public roads and bridges
shall be repaired and kept in order as follows: For each
magisterial district in the county there is hereby established
a board, consisting of the supervisor of the district (who
shall be chairman thereof), a road commissioner, and a jus-
tice 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 Rappahannock, 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 of the levying and
disbursing of all taxes imposed for repairing the roads and
bridges and keeping the same in order. If from any cause
either 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, shall constitute the board for the
time being, and they shall have all the power and authority
verted by this act in the board of road commissioners for said
district.
2. The justice of the peace constituting a member of the
board, shall be designated by the board of supervisors from
the justices elected and qualified in the district, and the name
of each justice so designated, shall be recorded in their order
book, as early as may be, after the passage of this act. A
road commissioner for each magisterial district shall be ap-
pointed by the county court 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 appointed and qualified. His term of office after
the first appointment shall bo two years, and shall com-
mence on the first day of July succeeding his appointment.
Road commissioners shall be appointed by the county court.
at its May term in cighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and
in every second year thereafter. Any person after being
road commissioner for two years, may give up his office, if
the roads and bridges in his district be in good traveling
order, and shall not, within two years thereafter, be reap-
pointed without his consent.
3. The road precinct shall remain as now laid out and de-
scribed by metes and bounds, in the several magisterial dis-
tricts, 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.
4. The board of road commissioners shall, as soon as they
shall be organized, proceed to appoint one overseer of roads
for each precinct established, not exceeding three for each
magisterial district, who sball reside therein, and shall have
charge of the roads and bridges in his precinct. His term
of office, after the first appointment, shall be two years, be-
ginning on the first day of August succeeding his appoint-
ment. He shall qualify before the said board, which shall
be recorded in their minute-book. He shall enter into a
bond payable to them, in a penalty of double the value of
any property and amount of any tax tickets or money likely
to come into his hands, and with security approved in writ-
ing by the said board. The said board shall, not later than
the fifteenth day of July, in the year eighteen hundred and
seventy-nine, and in every second year thereafter, appoint
one overseor of roads for each precinct in their district.
5. The duty of the overseer of roads shall be to sce that
the roads in his precinct are kept in good repair and in good
travelling order; that the bridges and crossings for foot pas-
sengers are in safe condition; that the roads are of necessary
width, well drained, and free from obstructions; that all dead
trees near the roads, likely to do damage, are cut down, and
loose stones removed from the roads; that sign-boards are
kept at.all forks and crossings of public roads, plainly indi-
cating the most noted place to which each road leads, and
the distance thereto; and he shall contract for sach tools and
implements necessary for working of roads, subject to the
approval, in writing, of the board of road commissioners,
and shall have.custody of, and be responsible for the same.
He shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by
law.
6. The overseer of roads shall receive a compensation of
one dollar a day for every day he is actually engaged in
summoning hands: provided he shall have summoned not
less than eight hands each day; and one dollar and twenty-
five cents a day for every day he is actually engaged in
working on the roads, ess the two days required of him by
law): provided he shall have employed not less than eight
hands each day. But in any case in which it shall appear to
tke board, that through the failure of those summoned to
attend as required, there have been less than eight hands
employed, but necessary and valuable work has been done,
they may allow a reasonable compensation, not exceeding
fifteen cents for each hand so employed. The overseer of
roads shall not, for any other services rendered by him, re-
ceive any further or other compensation.
7. 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 tailure or neglect to keep his roads and bridges
in good order, or perform any other duty required by law.
The amount of such liability may be recovered by the board,
or in their name by suit in court, or upon the warrant of a
justice, as the case may be; but nothing in this section shall
be construed toexempt any such overseer from liability, upon
indictment, for a failure to keep his roads and bridges in re-
pair as now provided by law.
8. The road commissioner 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 re-
fuse, 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 super-
intend 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. Hesball perform such other duties as may
be prescribed by law.
9. If any road commissioner shall neglect or refuse to per-
form 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
twenty-five dollars for each offence. But if it shall appear
to the court that such prosecution was frivolous and vexa-
tious, the court may, upon acquittal of the road commissioner,
require the prosecutor to pay the costa.
10. Every petition to alter, change, or discontinue a pablic
road, or to open a new road, or build a bridge, must hereafter
be first referred to the board of commissioners for the district
in which the same is to be done, who shall endorse thereon
their approval or Cleapprova, and the reasons therefor. The
petition, with said endorsements, shall be presented to the
county court, and there proceeded with as. 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 condemnation of land, or payment of
damages, as where the owner consents; and such consent
shall be entered, as a matter of record, in the minute-book
of said board. -
11. When the location of any road, now is or hereafter may
be on a line dividing two magisterial districts, the road com-
missioners of the adjoining districts shall equitably divide
the said road between such districts, or upon their failare to
agree, the county court shall divide the same, and direct
what part of said road shall be kept in repair by each magis-
terial district.
12. The board of road commissioners for each magisterial
district, at its annual meeting in July, shall levy a tax upon
the property, real and personal, of the district assessed for
state revenue, sufficient, with the labor contributed under the
nineteenth section of this act, to pay the expense of keeping
all the public roads and bridges in the district in good repair,
and in good traveling order, and for all other purposes pro-
vided for in this act: provided that the assessment on prop-
erty shall not be more in any one vear than seven and one-
half cents on the hundred dollars. The tax levied on each pre-
cinct shall, as far as practicable, be expended therein. Land
lying partly in one district or precinct, and partly in another,
shall be deemed to be in the district or precinct in which the
greater part thereof lies.
13. The board of road commissioners shall annually, by the
first day of August, through their clerk, furnish to each over-
seer a statement of the taxes levie1 against each person 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 prescribe; and
so much of said tax as he shall be unable to collect, he shall
turn over, with ten per centum added for costs of collection,
to the proper collecting officer, taking his receipt for the
same. The treasurer, or other collector receiving such tax
account, shall proceed to colléct 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 commissioners. The overseer shall
expend so much of the money coming into his hands under
this act, and the preceding scction, as may be necessary in
connection with the labor provided for in the nineteenth sec-
tion, to keep his roads and bridges in order, and to pay for
tools 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 deduct-
ing such compensation for himself as shall be allowed by the
board.
14. The board of road commissioners for each magisterial
district sball fix a schedule of prices for labor, material, hire
of teams, and other services upon rvads in their district.
The said board shall annually, on the second Saturday in
June, audit all claims arising under this act, including the ac-
counts of the commissioners and overseers of roads; which
accounts shall in all cases be verified by affidavits filed there-
with. They shall enter all claims allowed by them in a book
to be kept for this purpose, and shall pay said claims out of
any moneys in the bands of the clerk of the board.
15. The clerk of the board of road commissioners shall
qualify and enter into bond, in a peralty of not less than two
hundred dollars, before the county court, and with security,
to be approved by the court, before the first day of July suc-
ceeding 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.
16. 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 the said
boards, all papers, books, and documents pertaining to the
roads and bridges in said districts which lately belonged to
the corresponding 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
corresponding 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 ex-
pended in keeping the roads and bridges thereof in order.
17. 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 tbat for services on the board, no
member shall receive more than eight dollars in any year:
and provided further, that tbe clerk shall, for all other ser-
vices performed by him during the year, receive not more
than fifteen dollars additional compensation; aud the road
commissioner shall, for all other services performed by him
during the year, receive not more than eighteen dollars, ex-
cept, that for services rendered in superintending the chang-
ing 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 compensation under
this section, shall be audited by the board of supervisors, who
shall’ issue their warrants upon the county treasury for the
sums allowed by them.
18. 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.
19. All male persons in each road precinct, except such as
are exempt by law, shal: be allotted by the overseer of roads
for that precinct, and compelled to work two days in each
year on some public road therein as near as may be to their
homes.
20. Every person required to work, shall, eitber in person
or by a sufficient substitute, attend when required by the
overseer of roads for his precinct, with proper tools, and
work the roads as required in the preceding section. Every
person fuiling to so attend, shall, if an adult, be liable to pay
an additional road tax- of eighty cents for each day he fails
to work; or if he be a minor, his 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 thirteenth section
of this act. Any money so recovered by the overseer shall
be expended by him in the repair of his roads and bridges.
21. 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 ap-
portioned equitably between them by the county court; 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 court may so order. The board of sapervisors
shall be authorized to make such additional levy or assess-
ment upon any district or districts, not exceeding five cents
in the hundred dollars worth of property, real and personal,
in any year, as may be required to defray the expenses in-
curred under this section. .
22. Such provisions of the gencral 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 the
working of roads, or building bridges, in the county to which
its provisions apply.
23. Tbis act shall be in force from its passage.