CHAP. 57.—-An ACT to work and keep in repair the public roads im
the county of Orange, and authorizing the qualified voters to vote
upol its acceptance or rejection.

Approved April 1, 1879.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be lawful for the county of Orange after the first day
of June, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, to
change and repair highways, roads and bridges as follows:

2. That for each magisterial district in the county of Orange
there is hereby created and established a board consisting of
the supervisor, 2 commissioner of roads, and one of the jus-
tices of the peace for each district, which beard shall have the
exclusive control of the roads, 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 and commissioned in each magisterial district,
and the commissioner of roads shall be appointed by the county
judge at the June 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 hereinafter provided. The designa-
tion of the justice who is to serve on the 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 desig-
nated 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 magisterial
districts shall remain as they now are in the county of Orange.

6. That there shall be appointed by the said board not later
than the first day of July one overseer of roads for each sub-
road district, whose term of office shall be for two years, begin-
ning 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, on presentment by the grand jury, not ex-
ceeding fifty dollars. But any person who has served as over-
seer may, at the expiration of the term for which he was
appointed, give up his office on producing a certificate to the
board from the commissioner 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 roads in his dis-
trict are kept in good repair, that the bridges are in safe con-

dition, that the roads are kept free from obstructions, that ail
loose stones are removed; and he shall contract for all tools
and implements necessary for working roads, subject to the
approval 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 by 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 commissioner 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 man-
ner prescribed by law for the qualification of magisterial district
officers, and shall at the time ef his qualification, or before he
enters upon the discharge of his duties, give bond with good
and approved personal security in the sum of two hundred dol-
lars.

9. That the commisstoner of roads shall have charge of all
the roads in his magisterial district. [lis duty shall be to see
that all the roads in his district are of the proper width, and in
all cases where they are not, to notify the persons 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 expense with costs from the
trespasser upon judgment of a justice of the peace other than
the justice who may be upon the board of commissioners of
roads for the district in which such motion is made: 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 ex-
amine the roads in his district twice in each year in the months
of May and October, and see that the roads and bridges are
kept in good repair 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
treasurer in the manner hereinafter prescribed.

10. That every petition to alter or change a public read 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 4e same and bis reasons therefor, which petition
and commissioner's report shall be laid before the county court
at its next term in open court. And the court may appoint
three discreet frecholders to view the ground of any proposed
change. The county or other competent surveyor shall accom-
pany the viewers, and if necessary 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 the notice of the time and places when and where
the viewers shall meet shall be given in some public manner
in the vicinage of the proposed road at least five days before
the time of meeting. The viewers, before they proceed to
discharge their duties, shall be severally sworn by the com-
missioner of roads or some other person authorized to admin-
ister oaths to perform their duties impartially and to the best
of their judgment If they decide that there is a public ne-
cessity for the change they shall lay out the same, having
respect for the shortest distance and the best ground, so as to
do the least injury to private property, and also as far as prac-
itcable 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 con-
sent 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 ap-
prove the report and order the damages to be paid by the magis-
terial district or districts through which the road may pass in
such proportion as the damages may have been assessed in the
said districts respectively, but upon the return of the report of
the viewers, the proprietors and tenants of lands upon which
the said road will be if so changed, may enter himself a party
defendant to said petition, after which the same proceedings
shall be had as under the general road law of the state, upon
the return of the report of the commissioner of roads: pro-
vided that the viewers and surveyor shall be paid out of the
county treasury, 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 ex-
pense 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 the 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 upon the property, real and personal, of the magisterial
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 expenses of Keeping all the public roads
in its magisterial district in good repair and of such width and
condition as may be required by law and for all other purposes
provided in this act: provided that the assessment on property
shall not be more in any one year than ten cents on the hun-
dred dollars, the said board of commissioners being authorized
to levy said tax in their respective magisterial districts, said tax
not to be less than five cents nor more than ten cents upon 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 magis-
terial district shall annually make an estimate of the probable
amount necessary to pay the expense of changing roads, repair-
ing bridges, paying allowances to officers provided for in this
act. and any other expenses they may deem likely to arise
under the provisions of this act, and shall, before the first day
of August in each year, furnish to the county treasurer a state-
ment of such portion of the county tax assessed against each
person in their district as will aggregate a sum sufficient to
meet such expenses, and which tax said treasurer shajl be re-
quired to collect as other revenues are collected, and for which
he shall receive a like compensation. And said board of com-
missioners shall, in like manner, furnish to each overseer in
their district a statement of the balance of the tax assessed
against each person in his road district, which tax the overseer
shall collect in money or labor, or partly in meney 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 preceding section as may be neces-
sary in connection with the labor provided in section nineteen
to keep his roads in order, and shall pay to the commissioners
of roads any amount not so required to be held by hin, subject
to the order of the board of commissioners of roads for his
district.

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

17. That the board of commissioners of roads in, each magis-
terial 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 treasurer 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 pur-
pose, which said claims shall be paid by him out of any funds
in bis hands for that purpose.

18. That the justice of the peace and the supervisor, who
with the commissioner of reads constitute in each magisterial
district a board of commissioners of roads for that district,
shall each receive one dollar and fifty cents per day for each
day actually employed in accordance with the provisions of
this act.

19. That alf male persons in each road district, except such
as may be exempt by law, shall be appointed by the overseer
of roads for that district, and compelled to work two days in
such 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

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overseer of roads within twenty days thereafter by the person
in default, if a person is 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 jus-
tice of the peace, other than the justice who may he a member
of the board of commissioners of roads, and said justice shall
issue a writ of flerit facias for said fine and costs, which, when
eollected, shall be paid to said 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. At the general election to be had in the county of Orange
for county officers on the fourth Thursday in May, eighteen
hundred and seventy-nine, the commissioners of election shall
at each voting precinct in said county open a poll and test the
sense of the qualified voters upon the acceptance or rejection
of the provisions of this bill, Those voting in favor of the
acceptance shall have upon their tickets, printed or written,
“for the road law,” and those for rejection “ Against the road
law ;* and should a majority vote in favor of the road law, then
the same shall be in full force and effect, and should a majority
vote against the road law, the provisions of this act shall be
null and void.

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