Chap. 162.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 5 of an act entitled an act
to provide for the establishment, proper construction and permanent im-
provement of the public roads and landings, for building and keeping in
good order and repair of all public roads, bridges, causeways and
wharves, in the several counties of this State, and to repeal chapter 43 of
the Code of Virginia, approved March 12, 1904.

Approved March 14, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
five of an act entitled an act to provide for the establishment, proper
construction and permanent improvement of the public roads and land-
ings, for building and keeping in good order and repair of all public
roads, bridges, causeways and wharves in the several counties of this
State, and to repeal chapter forty-three of the Code of Virginia, ap-
proved March twelfth, nineteen hundred and four, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

85. Upon the return of said process duly executed, defense may be
made to the said proceedings by any party, and the board of supervisors
may hear testimony touching the expediency or propriety of establish-
ing or altering the road or landing. Upon such hearing, unless the
board of supervisors be of opinion that the road or landing ought not
to be established or altered, in which case it shall so order, it shall pro-
ceed to fix upon a just compensation to the proprietors and tenants for
the land proposed to be taken and the damage accruing therefrom.

But if any tenant or proprietor desire it, or if the board of super-
visors see cause for-doing, it shall appoint five disinterested resident
freeholders of the county as commissioners (any three of whom may
act) for the purpose of ascertaining a just compensation for the land to
be used for road or landing. They shall meet on the lands of such pro-
prietors and tenants as may be named in the order of the board of
supervisors, at a certain place and day therein also specified, of which
notice shall be given by the sheriff to such proprietors and tenants, or
their agents, except only that it need not be given to one present at the
time of making the order. Any one or more of the commissioners
attending on the land as aforesaid may adjourn, from time to time, till
the business shall be finished. The commissioners, in the discharge of
their duties, shall comply in all respects with the provisions of the act
concerning the exercise of the power of eminent domain, approved Jan-
uary eighteenth, nineteen hundred and four, so far as applicable, and
forthwith make return of their report and the certificate of the justice
to the board of supervisors; and unless good cause be shown against the
report the same shall be confirmed. If, however, good cause be shown
against the same, or the commissioners report their disagreement, or
fail to report: within a reasonable time, the board of supervisors, as often
as scems to it proper, may appoint other commissioners for the pur-
pose of ascertaining the compensation aforesaid. When any report is
confirmed, the board of supervisors shall establish or alter the road or
landing, and with or without gates, as to it may seem proper, and pro-
vide for the payment of the compensation allowed.

If such applicant, proprietor, or tenant, is dissatisfied with the de-
cision of the board of supervisors in respect to the opening or location
of the proposed road or the amount of compensation allowed, he may of
right appeal to the circuit court of said county, and the said court shall
hear the matter de novo, with the further right of appeal as provided
by general law. Upon the hearing of said appeal, the said court shall
ascertain, and by its order determine, first, whether said road ought to
be established at all; and if so, where located; second, if established,
the amount of compensation to which such proprietor is entitled, and
shall certify the same to the said board of supervisors, who shall pro-
ceed to carry out the judgment of the court: provided, however, that the
board of supervisors shall be summoned to appear at the hearing of said
appeal, and due weight shall be given by the court to the financial con-
dition of the county as it may appear from all the evidence produced.