Chap. 62.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled: An act to amend
an act entitled: An act to provide for the opening and working of roads and
keeping the same in repair, and to provide for erecting and maintaining
bridges in the county of Culpeper, approved January 25, 1898, and as amended
and re-enacted March 14, 1906.

Approved February 21, 1908

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
approved January twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight,
entitled “an act to provide for the opening and working of roads, and
keeping the same in repair, and to provide for erecting and maintaining
bridges in the county of Culpeper, as amended by an act approved March
fourteenth, nineteen hundred and six, be amended and re-enacted so as
to read as follows: That it shall be lawful for the county of Culpeper
to locate, open, change and repair highways, roads and bridges, as
follows:

2. For each magisterial district in the county of Culpeper there is here-
by created and established a board, consisting of the supervisor, who shall
be chairman of the board, a commissioner of roads, and one of the justices
of the peace for the district, who shall be clerk of the board, which board
shall have the exclusive control of the roads, bridges and ferries within
its limits, and of all district taxes levied under the provisions of -this act
for road purposes and for building and repairing bridges, which taxes
shall be expended by said board in said magisterial district, except as
hereinafter provided.

The justice of the peace constituting a member of said board shall be
chosen and designated by the justices of the peace elected and qualified
for the magisterial district of said board, and the commissioner of roads
shall be appointed by the judge of the circuit court as hereinafter pro-
vided.

The designation of the justice who is to serve on.said board shall be
in writing, ‘and shall be preserved and recorded by said board. The board
hereby created and constituted is declared to be a body politic and cor-
porate, and shall be known and designated as the road board for ........
Leen eee eee eee eee magisterial district.

3. Annually in the month of January each road board shall divide
the roads of its district into as many sub-districts as shall be most ex-
pedient, and for each sub-district shall appoint an overseer of roads, whose
term of office shall be for one year, beginning on the first day of March
next, and who shall have charge of the roads of his sub-district. If any
such overseer, after acceptance of such appointment, fail to work the
roads in his district according to law, when directed by the road commis-
sioner, or when it shall be his duty, he shall be liable to fine not exceeding
fifty dollars. His duties shall be to see that the roads in his district
are kept in good repair and free from obstruction and loose stones, and
that the bridges are in safe condition; and he shall contract for all tools
and implements necessary for working the roads, subject to the approval
of the road board for his district, and shall have custody of the same,
and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law or di-
rected by the road board for his district. His compensation shall be
fixed by the board of supervisors of the county, or in case of their failure
to do so, by the road board for his district.

Biennially, at some term of the circuit court, between the first day of
September and the first day of December, there shall be appointed by the
judge of the circuit court for each magisterial district one commissioner
of roads, whose term of office shall be for two years, beginning on the
first day of January next succeeding his appointment; he shall reside
in the district for which he is appointed. Hach commissioner of roads
thus appointed shall qualify before the judge of the circuit court, in
court or during vacation, and shall at the time of his qualification give
bond with good personal security in the sum of two thousand dollars.

5. The commissioner of roads shall be the executive officer of his road
board and, as such, shall have charge of all the roads and supervision of
all the overseers in his magisterial district; he shall also have charge of
any tools, implements, machines, or other property of his road board not
in charge of an overseer ; and in the discharge of his duty he shall execute
or have executed the plans and orders of his road board. His duty shall
be to see that all 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 obstruction, and may recover the expenses,
with costs, from the trespasser upon judgment of a justice of the peace;
and if said obstructions are intentionally placed in any public road or
any drains leading therefrom, or if the same are not removed after notice
as aforesaid, the person placing the same there or refusing to remove
them shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for each offense.
He shall examine the roads in his district at least twice each year, in the
months of June and November unless some other times are fixed therefor
by his road board, and shall see that the roads and bridges are kept in
good repair by the overseers and contractors; and if he shall find any
overseer or contractor delinquent, he shall give him notice in writing,
and on his failure to comply with the law or his contract, shall make the
necessary repairs and enforce upon the delinquent party the penalty of
law. If any such commissioner of roads fail to discharge his duties as
provided in this act, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars
for each failure.

6. If the cost of building any bridge will be less than fifty dollars, the
same shall be built under the direction of the commissioner of roads
for the district or the overseer for the sub-district, as the road board of
that district may determine; and said bridge shall be paid for out of the
road fund of the district in which it is located. If the cost of such
building will be fifty dollars or more, then application shall be made by
the commissioner of roads for said district, or if the location be between
two districts, by the commissioner of roads of either of said districts, to
the board of supervisors of the county, to authorize the said bridge to be
built at the expense of the county. Said board, after hearing evidence
as to the necessity therefor, shall determine whether the building thereof
is expedient, and if it shall decide in favor of the application, it shall di-
rect the road commissioner or commissioners of the district or districts
in which the bridge is to be located, to contract for the work; but all
such contracts must be ratified and approved by the board, and the said
board of supervisors may, in its discretion, direct the work to be done by
the commissioner of roads in such manner and upon such terms as may be.
deemed most expedient. The costs of building such bridges shall be paid
out of the county treasury, after the work shall have been accepted and
approved by the board of supervisors; but if either before or after the
work has been done, it is ascertained that the cost of building such
bridge is or will be less than fifty dollars, then such cost shall be paid
by the road board of the district in which said bridge is located, or in case
said bridge be located between two districts, by the road boards of said
two districts, each paying one-half of said cost. Every bridge shall be
kept in repair by the party or parties that have built the same.

%. Every petition for a new road, or to lay out, open, alter or change a
public road, must first be presented to the commissioner of roads for the
district in which the road is or is proposed to be, who shall examine the
ground of said road or proposed road and ascertain and report to the
board of supervisors of the county as to the practicability of and necessity
for the same, and whether, in his judgment, a more desirable location
can be obtained, ‘and shall endorse upon said petition his approval or
disapproval of the same, with his reasons therefor as above provided,
which petition and commissioner’s report shall be laid before the board
of supervisors at its next meeting. If the board is of opinion from the
said report of the commissioner of roads that there is probable necessity
for the said road or proposed change of road and that it may be ex-
pedient to open or change the same, it shall appoint five discreet free-
holders, any three of whom may act, to view the ground of such new road
or proposed change; but if the commissioner of roads has disapproved
the said road or proposed change, the board may, for reasons satisfactory
to itself, at the meeting at which the petition is filed, or at any succeed-
ing meeting, hear evidence upon said petition, and if it then be of the
opinion that there is a probable necessity for the said road or change
and that it may be expedient to open or change the same, it shall like-
wise appoint five discreet freeholders, any three of whom may act, to
view the ground of such new road or proposed change. At least three of
the viewers appointed must view, but a majority of those who actually
view may decide for or against the proposed new road or change, -and they
may view and make report of and estimate for any modification or change
of the route. The county or other competent surveyor shall accompany
the viewers if they so wish, and shall make such surveys and plots as
may be ordered by the viewers or the board of supervisors; and in no
case shall a new road be opened, or any change involving departure
from an old road be made, until a complete survey and plot thereof has
‘ween made and filed with the board of supervisors.
8. Notice of the time and place of meeting of the viewers shall be
given in some public manner in the vicinage of the proposed road or
change at least five days before the time of meeting. Before they pro-
ceed to discharge their duties, the viewers shall be severally sworn by the
commissioner of roads, who shall meet with and accompany them while
viewing, or by some other person authorized to administer oaths, to per-
form their duties impartially and to the best of their judgment. They
shall examine the proposed new road or change of road, and ascertain and
report as to the practicability thereof and necessity therefor, the character
of the work to be done in order to properly open and establish the same,
and all such facts as will advise the board of the propriety of opening, es-
tablishing, or changing said road as asked in the petition. They shall
further report for probable cost of the work, and shall also ascertain and
report whether a more feasible or desirable route can be obtained; and
if they recommend a different route from that asked in the petition, they
shall report as to it in the same manner as they are required to report
with reference to the road asked in the petition. If they decide that there
is public necessity.for the road or change, they shall lay out the same,
having respect for the shortest distance and best ground and so to do the
least injury to private property which may be practicable in securing
the best route, and also, so far as practicable and expedient, to be agree-
able to the petitioners. They shall assess the damages done to the land
through which the road passes, taking into consideration the advantages
to be derived from the road passing through the land, and they shall
report in writing to the board of supervisors.

But in no case shall any road run within less than fifty feet of a dwell-
ing house or through any graveyard without the consent of the owner,
except in towns and villages, where a road shall not run within less than
ten feet of a dwelling house.

9. Upon the filing of said report the proprietors and tenants of lands
upon which said road will be, if established, shall be summoned to show
cause against the said report, and any proprietor or tenant of lands on
which said road will be, if established, or any citizen interested, may
enter himself a party defendant to the said petition, after which the
same proceeding shall be had as under the general road law of the State.
If no person is entered a party defendant to the said petition, and the
board is satisfied that the public interest will be subserved by opening
the said road or making the proposed change and the payment of the
costs and damages as reported, it shall approve said report and order the
said road to be opened or the proposed change to be made and the damages
to be paid; provided, however, that the board may, in its discretion,
adopt any other route which may appear most feasible and to the public
interest; provided, further, that the board may, if it thinks proper,
direct the commissioner of roads to let the opening or change of said
road by contract, and may direct the reception of bids therefor, ratify
or reject the same or any of them, direct the plan, specifications, and
manner of execution of the work and the materials to be used, or it
may, in its discretion, limit the expense to be incurred in opening or
changing any proposed road. Any applicant or defendant shall have the
right of appeal to the circuit court from any final order of the board in
any proceeding to open or change a road, upon which appeal the same
proceedings shall be had as are had in cases of appeals in road cases
under the general laws of this State; and no such opening or change shall
be made through any enclosed lands except by consent of the proprietor
until the damages allowed him shall have been actually paid.

10. The costs of opening or changing any road, including all costs
incurred in the proceedings, shall be chargeable as under the general road
law of the State, except as hereinafter provided. Whenever the commis-
sioner of roads shall have approved any petition for a new road or change
of road, the petitioners shall not be chargeable for the costs incurred in
the proceedings before the board of supervisors: whenever any person
enters himself a party defendant to a petition for opening or changing
any road, and the board of supervisors decides in favor of said petition, the
costs incurred in hearing the question of opening or changing said road
shall be awarded against the defendant: and, whenever any person whose
land is taken or damaged in opening or changing any road shall appear
before the board of supervisors to object to the amount allowed him for
damages by the report of the viewers, and the board of supervisors shall
not allow such party a greater amount than was allowed by the viewers,
the costs of the hearing upon the amount of damages shall be awarded
against such party. The costs awarded against any party to these pro-
ceedings shall be a judgment against such party, which may be dock-
eted, as other judgemnts are docketed upon which executions may be
issued by the clerk of the county where docketed, upon the adjournment
of the board of supervisors for the meeting at which the judgment shall
have been awarded. In these proceedings witnesses may be summoned
by the clerk of the board of supervisors by subpoenas addressed to the
sheriff of the county in which the witnesses reside, and such as fail to
appear or refuse to testify fully and in a proper manner may be pun-
ished by said board summarily as for contempt. Said witnesses shall be
allowed the same attendance fees and mileage as are allowed by law to
witnesses in civil cases, which allowances shall be taxed in the costs of
the proceedings to the party or parties at whose instance such witnesses
shall have been summoned. The officer executing any process of * * *
the board of supervisors shall be entitled to the same fees as those
allowed by law for like services in civil cases, provided the costs thereof
are awarded against any person appearing before the board as peti-
tioner or defendant; but no such costs shall be taxed against the
county. Any judgment as to costs shall be certified by the clerk of
the board of supervisors to the clerk of the county for docketing.

11. The board of supervisors, at the time when any new road is es-
tablished, may direct what width the road-bed shall be made, and shall
have power to regulate the width of all roads; but the land condemned
for any new road shall not be less in width than thirty feet.

12. The board of supervisors, may in its discretion, recommend any
report of viewers to the same or other viewers for a further report
upon the same or any other route. The viewers and commissioner
of roads shall each be paid two dollars per diem, and the surveyor
employed four dollars per diem.
13. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall keep a road docket,
and all proceedings in regard to roads in the county shall be kept
on record and indexed.

14. In case of a road being the dividing line between two magis-
terial districts, the commissioners of roads of the said districts shall
divide the said road between said districts in such way as will equi-
tably divide the expense of keeping the same in repair, if they can
agree; and in case they cannot agree, the board of supervisors shall
divide the same and direct what part of the road shall be kept in repair
by each magisterial district.

15. The road board of any district may, in its discretion, purchase
teams, harness, wagons, machines, implements, tools, camping outfits,
and anything else needed for working its roads, and employ a fore-
man and force of hands to work upon the roads of said district under
the supervision of its commissioner of roads and according to the
directions of said road board. The said foreman and force of hands
may supplement the work of any overseer of roads in his sub-district,
or the foreman may be put in entire charge of one or more sub-dis-
tricts and no overseer be appointed for said one or more sub-districts.
In this latter case, the commissioner of roads for the district shall,
so far as the roads and bridges of said one or more sub-districts are
concerned, have the same duties, be under the same obligations, and
be liable to the same penalties as have been prescribed in this act for
the overseers of roads.

16. Any commissioner of roads or overseer of roads or foreman
acting under the direction of his commissioner of roads or any person
acting by authority and under the direction of the board of super-
visors, shall have power to enter upon any lands to build new roads
or make necessary repairs, drains, or ditches or to obtain necessary
material He may * * * take from the most convenient lands
so much wood, stone, gravel, or earth as may be necessary to be used
in constructing or repairing any road, bridge, or causeway, and, for the
purpose of draining the road, may cause a ditch to be cut through
any lands adjoining the same: provided that such material be not
taken from, and such ditch be not cut through, any yard or garden
adjacent to a dwelling house without the consent of the owner, and
provided that no fruit tree nor ornamental or shade tree nor any hedge
planted or left as a protection for cattle shall be cut,-defaced, or de-
stroyed without the consent of the owner: provided further, that the
same does not in any wise interfere with travel along said road or
with keeping said road in good repair.

1%. If the owner or tenant of any such land shall think himself
injured by any such action of a road official or other person acting
under the provisions of the preceding section, and the said road official
or other such person can agree with said owner or tenant as to the
amount of damage, they shall report the same to the road board of
the said official’s district; or, if they cannot agree, a justice, upon ap-
plication to him, shall issue a warrant to three freeholders requiring
them to view the said land and ascertain what is a just compensation
to such owner or tenant for the damage to him by reason of anything
done under the preceding section. The said freeholders, after being
sworn according to the provisions of section eight of this act, shall
accordingly ascertain such compensation and report the same to the
road board aforesaid. Said board may allow the full amount so agreed
upon, or reported by said freeholders, or so much thereof as upon in-
vestigation they may deem reasonable, subject to such owner’s or ten-
ant’s right of appeal to the circuit court as in other cases.

18. The board of supervisors of. the county shall annually levy,
along with the county levy, a road tax upon the property, real and
personal, assessed for taxation in the several magisterial districts,
which shall be applied by the road boards for the several districts to
the working, keeping in order, and repairing the public roads in their
respective districts. Such tax shall be not more than twenty cents
upon every one hundred dollars in value of such property, except as
hereinafter provided; and different rates of tax may be prescribed for
the different magisterial districts. Such tax shall be collected as if it
were a county levy, except that the fund from each magisterial dis-
trict shall be kept separate by the county treasurer, accounted for by
him to the road board of said district, and paid out by him upon war-
rants of said road board signed by its chairman and clerk. The commis-
sioners of revenue and treasurer of the county shall receive the same
commissions on such tax as if it were a county levy, the commissions on
the fund of each district to be paid out of said fund by the road board
for said district.

19. The board of supervisors may increase: the road tax for any
magisterial district to a rate not exceeding forty cents upon every one
hundred dollars worth of property upon the conditions hereinafter
provided. The circuit court of the county, upon the petition of a
majority of the board of supervisors, or of twenty-five per cent. of the
qualified voters of the district affected, a majority of which voters
shall be freeholders, shall order the question as to such tax, to be sub-
mitted to the people of said district as to whether such tax shall be
increased or not. Such election shall be held under the provisions of
law in regard to the issuance of bonds for road purposes, except that
upon. the ballot used shall be printed “for increase of road tax” and
“against increase of road tax;” and provided, that no voter whose res-
idence in a town exempts him from said tax shall be allowed to vote on
said question. The said increase of road tax may be limited, so that
the rate shall not exceed any given rate less than forty cents upon every
one hundred dollars worth of property, by a request to such effect in
the petition to the court as aforesaid.

20. The road boards for the several magisterial districts shall an-
nually, in the month of August, audit, adjust and settle the accounts
of the county treasurer for their respective districts. They shall charge
the treasurer with the full amount of the road tax levied in the dis-
trict, and shall credit him by his commissions, delinquents, and all
payments made by him upon their warrants. The said road boards
shall also cause to be kept by their respective clerks records of their
proceedings and itemized accounts of all their receipts and disburse-
ments. The said clerks shall annually make off statements of said ac-
counts for their respective districts, and have the same published in
some paper published in the county of Culpeper or posted at the court-
house and each voting place of the district for which the statement is
made. ,

21. Each commissioner of roads shall receive as compensation for
his services two dollars per diem for each day in which he may ‘be
actively employed in discharging his duties under the provisions of this
act, not to exceed fifty dollars in any one year; except that in any dis-
trict where a foreman and force of hands is employed and is under his
supervision, as hereinbefore provided, his compensation may be in-
creased, at the same rate per diem, by the road board of his district
to an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars in any one year. The
cJerk of the board shall receive as compensation for his services two
dollars per diem for the time actually engaged in attendance upon the
meetings of the board, not to exceed sixteen dollars in any one year,
and an additional sum for his clerical services, which sum shall be
fixed by his road board but shall not exceed fifteen dollars in any one
year. The chairman of the board shall receive as compensation for his
services two dollars per diem for the time actually engaged in attend-
ance upon the meetings of the board not to exceed sixteen dollars in
any one year. ,

22. Any person or persons causing water to be diverted from its
natural course and conveyed across a public road, or who, by the erec-
tion of waste gates or any other means, shall cause water to flow or be
conducted over such public road, shall place and keep in good repair
bridges over the same at his or their expense; and if the commissioner
or overseer of roads shall notify such person or persons that his or
their bridge is unsafe, and such person or persons fail to make the
necessary repairs, he or they shall be held responsible for all damages,
.to be recovered by warrant before a justice of the peace or court of
competent jurisdiction, that may result from such failure. Within
ten days after such failure the commissioner or overseer may make
such repairs, and require such party or parties to pay all costs thereby
incurred, which costs may be recovered before a justice of the peace
or court of competent jurisdiction.

23. At the discretion of the board of supervisors the general road
law of the State, except so far as the same is in conflict with this act,
may be in force in the county of Culpeper.

24. The board of supervisors may fix and regulate the prices to be
allowed and paid by the several road boards in their respective dis-
tricts for any or all materials and labor and for use of teams, wagons,
machines, and implements; and in case the board of supervisors fails
so to do, then said prices shall be fixed and regulated by the several
road boards for their respective districts.

25. All incumbents of office under the road law now in force in
Culpeper county will continue in office. and discharge the duties of the
same until their successors are duly appointed and qualified under the
provisions of this act, and the sub-districts into which the roads are
now divided within the several magisterial districts shall remain as
they now are until changed under the provisions of this act.
26. All acts heretofore passed by the general assembly of Virginia
in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

2%. It being necessary that the provisions of this act be immediately
effective an emergency is declared to exist and this act shall be in force
from its passage.