Chap. 127.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections one, three, thir-
teen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and twenty-
one of an act entitled an act to provide for working and keeping in
order the public roads in the county of Page, approved February
27, 1886, and adding independent sections thereto.

Approved May 2, 1887.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
onand afterthe first day of Apr il, eighteen hundred ‘and ciehty-
six, the board of supervisors of the : county of Page shall take
charge of and have worked and kept in repair the | public roads
and bridses within the limits of said county, and shall also have
authority to open new roads in the manner hereinafter pro-
vided; and for this purpose the said board of supervisors is
authorized and empowered to levy a road tax not exceeding
in any one year ten cents upon the one hundred dollars of
assessed taxable values in said county: provided that for the
fiscal year commencing in July, eighteen hundred and cighty-
seven, the said rate of taxation may be increased to twenty-
five cents on the one hundred dollars of assessed taxable
values, to be collected, accounted for, and paid out upon the
warrant of said board, in all respects as if it were a county
levy fixed by the board, except that the fund collected from
each magisterial district shall be separate by the county
treasurer, and a different rate of tax may be prescribed for
different districts. The amount collected in each district
shall be expended in that district.

§ 3. The said board of supervisors shall, as soon as practi-
cable after the passage of this act, and annually thereafter,
at such time as it may elect, appoint a commissioner of roads
for cach magisterial district in said county, who shall qualify
at the next term of the county court of said county, by tak-
ing the usual oath of office and executing his bond, with ap-
proved sureties, in the penalty of three hundred dollars, to
the said board of supervisors, conditioned to faithfully dis-
charge the duties required of him by this act; any default
or breach in said conditions to be recovered by motion, in
the name of said board, for the benefit of the road fund, i in
the county court, after ten days notice to the commissioner
and his sureties, and the attorney for the commonwealth
shall institute and prosccute such motion.

§ 13. No public road shall be located along a water course
in such manner as to render any portion of it liable to dam-
age or overflow by an ordinary rise of the stream; and any

ublic road in said county so located, shall be changed if a
etter location can be secured.

§ 14. If it shall be ascertained by the commissioner of
roads, or the supervisor of the district, that any public road
in their district is not located according to the provisions of
section thirteen of this act, all the facts in the case shall be
reported by either of the said officers to the board of super-
visors, and if upon thorough investigation it shall be ascer-
tained by the board that the road is not located according to
law, the said board shall appoint three disinterested and dis-
erect trecholders of the county, but non-residents of the
magisterial district in which the road is located, who shall
proceed at once to change and locate the road 30 as to con-
form to the provisions ‘of section thirteen of this act, and
also to assess any and all damages that may result from
changing the road; and they shall report, in writing, to the
said board of supervisors at its next meeting,

$15. Notice of the time and place, w ‘hen and where, the
commissioners provided tor in the preceding section sball
meet, must be ziven by printed or written hand bills, posted
at some conspicuous place in the vicinity of said road, at
least five days betore the meeting. The said commissioners
shall, before they enter upon the discharge of their duties,
be severaly sworn, by any person authorized to administer an
oath, to perform their duties impartially and to the best of
their judgement. In changing and locating a road, they shail
have respeet for the shortest distance and best ground, so as
to do the Jeast injury to private property, and also, as far as
practicable, to be agreeable to the persons directly atfected
by the change; but in no case shalla yard, garden, orchard,
or any part thereof, be taken without the consent of the
owner: provided in cases where it is absolutely necessary tor
the public ewvod, and to a compliance with section thirteen of
this act, a ‘public road may be located through an orchard
without the owner’s consent.

§ 16. If any citizen of said county, who is a freeholder,
shall represent to a commissioner of reads or a supervisor
that a public road in bis district is not of lawful width, and
shall ask that it be made to conform to law, tho otiicer to
whom complaint is made shall mensure the road, and if found
to be less than thirty feet wide, be shall report the fact to
the board of supervisors; and the said board shall appoint
three freeholders, who, atter being duly sworn, sball proceed
to make the road of lawful width, and assess the damages
resulting therefrom, and report, in writing, to the board of
supervisors at its next meeting.

817. Any person feeling aggrieved by the action of the
commissioners appointed under section fourteen of this act,
may make application within thirty days to the board of
supervisors for a second appointment of commissioners, and
the said board shall thereupon appoint three other commis-
sioners, in the same manner, with powers and duties similar
in all respects to those first appointed, and after being duly
qualified, they shall proceed at once to discharge the duties
for which they were appointed: and if they fail to vive sat-
isfaction, the aucerrieved person may, within thirty days, ap-
ply for a third appointment of commissioners, and the said
board shall appoint as before; but the action of the third set
of commissioners shall be final, and no further application
shall be received by the board.

§ 21. Section twenty-one of an act approved February
twenty-seven, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, is changed
to section twenty-six.

§ 22. All applications or petitions for opening new roads
shall be addressed to the board of supervisors, and the board
shall proceed in the manner prescribed in sections fourteen,
sixteen, and seventeen of this act, as to appointment of com-
missioners, and the powers and duties of Commissioners ap-
pointed to open new roads shall be the same as those ap-
pointed to change location of roads already established; and
any person averieved by the action of commissioner ap-
pointed to open a new road shall have the same remedy pro-
vided for avgrieved persons in section seventeen of this act;
the opening of new roads shall be let to contract in the
manner prescribed for working and keeping in repair roads
already established.

§ 23. The commissioners appointed under sections four-
teen, sixteen, seventecn, and twenty-two of this act, shall
receive one dollar per day for services rendered, to be paid
by the district or districts in which the road is located, and
all damages resulting trom opening, changing, or widening
roads shall be paid by the district or districts in which they
are incurred.

§ 24. The said board of supervisors shall have authority to
accept or reject, in whole or ‘ain part, all reports of commis-
sioners appointed under this act; and the said board shall
also have authority to give practical effect to such reports,
or any part or parts thereof, as it may approve, in the man-
ner prescribed by this act.

§ 25. The said board of supervisors shall have power to
audit all claims for damages arising under this act, in the
manner prescribed by law.

§ 26. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act

e hereby repealed: provided that nothing herein contained
shall conflict with the laws now in existance providing for
the working of roads and repairing of bridges in the county
of Shenandoah.

§ 27. A fine not exceeding one hundred dollars shall be
imposed upon any person occupying a position under this
act, for refusal or neglect to perform the duties incurred
thereby; the same to be recovered, by motion in the county
court, for the benefit of the road fund, after ten days’ notice.
The attorney for the commonwealth shall institute and pro-
secute such motion.

§ 28. This act shall be in force from its passage.