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CHAPTER XXV.

CORPORATIONS.

DIVISION I. TOWNS.

SECTION

1. Inhabitants of town having 150 inhabitants, may become incorporated; mode of proceeding in such cases; notice given and meeting held.

2. Inhabitants to decide by vote; vote of twothirds necessary.

3. Meeting called to elect trustees; vacancies, how tilled.

4. Trustees to choose president; style of corporation; powers; duty of clerk.

5. Powers of trustees, as to police, fires, taxes, &c.

6. Duties of trustees, collectors to give bond; term
of office.

7. Mode of holding elections; proceedings to be
public; ordinances to be published; quorum.
8. How moneys appropriated; accounts to be kept;
sales for taxes; fines, how collected and paid.
9. How corporation may be dissolved.
10. Statement of polls; poll books, where deposi-
ted; oath of oflice.

11. Trustees may appoint constable; his powers and duties.

12. May abate nuisances; punish assaults, &c.; trial by jury.

13. May imprison offenders, for what time.

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SECTION 1. Whenever the white male residents of lawful age of any town in this State, having not less than one hundred and fifty inhabitants, shall wish to become incorporated for the better regulation of their internal police, it shall be lawful for the said residents, who may have resided six months therein, or who shall be the owner of any freehold property therein, to assemble themselves together, in public meeting, at the court house or other place in said town, and when so assembled, they may proceed to choose a president and clerk of the meeting from among their number, both of whom shall be sworn, or affirmed, by any person authorized to administer oaths, faithfully to discharge the trust reposed in them as president and clerk of said meeting: Frovided, hoever, That at least ten days' notice of the time and place of holding such meeting shall have been previously given by advertising in some newspaper of the town, or by setting up written notices, in at least three of the most public places in such town.

SEC. 2. The residents, as aforesaid, of any town having assembled as directed in the first section of this division, may proceed to decide by vote, viva voce, whether they will be incorporated or not, and the president or clerk, after their votes are given in, shall certify under their hands, the number of votes in favor of being incorporated and the number against being incorporated; and if it shall appear that two-thirds of the voters present, are in favor of being incorporated, the presi

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dent and clerk shall deliver a certificate of the state of the polls to the board of trustees, to be elected as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 3. Whenever the qualified voters, of any town, shall have decided in the manner herein provided, that they wish to be incorporated, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the meeting, at which they may so decide, to give at least five days previous public notice to the said voters, to assemble at the court house, or some other public place in such town, on a day to be named in such notice, to elect by viva voce vote, five residents and freeholders of such town, for trustees of the same, who shall hold their office for one year, and until other trustees are chosen and qualified; at which first election, the president and clerk of the first meeting shall preside, or in case of the absence of either of them, some suitable person shall be appointed by the electors present to fill such vacancy or vacancies. And at every succeeding election for president and trustees, the preceding board of trustees shall direct the manner in which the same shall be conducted.

SEC. 4. The board of trustees of any town, elected agreeably to the provisions of this division, shall choose a president out of their own body; and the president and trustees aforesaid, and their successors in office, shall thenceforth be considered, in law and equity, a body corporate and politic, by the name and style of "the president and trustees of the town of ;" and by such name and style shall be forever able and capable in law and equity to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, to answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended in all manner of suits, actions, plaints, pleas, causes, matters and demands, of whatever kind or nature they may be, in as full and effectual a manner, as any person or persons, bodies corporate or politic can or may do; and may have a common seal, and may alter the same at pleasure. The said president and trustees shall require their clerk to keep a fair journal and record of all their proceedings, and record all by-laws and ordinances which they may make, in a book to be provided for that purpose.

SEC. 5. The president and trustees, or a majority of them, of any town incorporated as herein directed, shall have power to make, ordain and establish and execute such ordinances in writing, not inconsistent with the laws, or the constitution of this State, as they shall deem necessary to prevent and remove nuisances, to restrain and prohibit gambling, or other disorderly conduct, and to prevent the running of, and indecent exhibitions of horses, within the bounds of such town; to provide for licensing public shows; to regulate and establish markets; to sink and keep in repair public wells; to keep open and in repair the streets and alleys of such town, by making pavements or side-walks as to them may seem needful: Provided, always, That the lot in front of which any side-walk is made, shall be taxed to pay at least one-half of the expenses of making such side-walk. The said president and trustees shall also have power to provide such means as they may deem necessary to protect such town from injuries by fires. And for the purpose of carrying the aforesaid powers into effect, the said president and trustees shall have power to define the boundaries of such town: Provided, That the same shall not exceed one mile square; and to levy and collect annually a tax, on all the real estate in such town, not exceeding fifty cents on every hundred dollars of assessment valuation thereof.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the said president and trustees, to cause all the streets and alleys of such town, and all the public roads passing from and through such town, for one mile from the centre thereof, to be kept in good repair; and to this end they are authorized to require every male resident of such town, over the

age of twenty-one years, to labor in said streets, alleys and roads, at least three days in each and every year; and if such labor shall be insufficient, to appropriate so much of the tax levied on real estate, as may be necessary to keep the said streets, alleys and roads in repair, and also to appoint and prescribe the duty of all such officers, for such town, as they may deem necessary to carry into effect the foregoing powers; the collectors of the corporation tax, and the treasurer, shall severally give bond, made payable to the president and trustees, and their successors in office, with good and sufficient securities, in such sum as may by said president and trustees be deemed advisable. And a clause shall be inserted, that if at any time additional security be required, the same shall be given: the conditions of which bonds shall be, that the officer shall faithfully perform the duties of his office; and said officers shall remain in office one year, (unless sooner removed,) and until others shall be appointed, and shall have given bonds.

SEC. 7. The said president and trustees elected under this division, shall continue in office for one year, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. And it shall be their duty, before their time expires, to give at least ten days public notice to the qualified voters under this division, to meet at such place as they may name, in such town, and elect a new board of president and trustees for such town; and all vacancies which may happen in said board by resignation, or otherwise, before their term of office expires, shall be filled by the other members of the board. The proceedings of said board shall always be public; and all their ordinances, before taking effect, shall be published for at least ten days, in a newspaper of such town or by setting up copies of the same, in three of the most public places in such town. A majority of said board shall constitute a quorum.

SEC. 8. All moneys arising from the collection of taxes, fines, penalties and forfeitures, shall be appropriated by said president and trustees towards the erecting, improving and regulating those objects which are placed under their control and jurisdiction, and to none others. And it shall be their duty to have an account current of the fiscal concerns of the corporation so kept, as will at all times, show the true situation of the same to such as may desire to inspect the same; and the said president and trustees shall have full power to enforce their ordinances, by authorizing the person or persons by them appointed to collect any tax imposed in pursuance of this division, to collect the same by distress and sale of goods and chattels of the person chargeable with the same, on giving at least thirty days public notice of the time and place of such sale; and if no goods and chattels of the person chargeable with said tax, can be found, it shall be lawful to sell any town lot, owned by such person, or so much thereof as will pay the tax due and in arrear from any such person, upon giving at least thirty days' notice of the time and place of making such sale, paying to the owner or owners, the overplus,

if any. The president and trustees may impose fines for the breach of their ordinances; but no fine shall be inflicted on any one person, for any one breach of any ordinance, of more than five dollars, which fine may be recovered before any justice of the peace, by action of debt, in the name of the president and trustees of such town, and collected by execution as other judgments of justices of the peace. All fines collected in pursuance of this division, shall, by the officer collecting the same, be paid over to the treasury of the corporation; and for an omission to do so, such officer may be proceeded against by the president and trustees, in an action of debt for the same.

SEC. 9. Two-thirds of the qualified voters of any town incorporated according to the provisions of this division shall have power to dissolve the same at any annual election for president and trustees, by voting against the incorporation, as is directed in the second section of this division.

SEC. 10. Whenever a president and trustees shall be elected for any town as herein directed, it shall be the duty of the president and clerk of the first meeting, provided for in the first section of this division, to deliver to them a certified statement in writing, of the polls at said first meeting; and it shall be the duty of such president and trustees, to deposit the same with the clerk of the county commissioners' court of the proper county, to be entered on record in his office; and before entering upon their duty, to take an oath to discharge this duty according to their best abilities.

SEC. 11. The president and trustees of towns incorporated by virtue of the provisions of this division, shall have power to appoint a town constable, and authorize him to execute all writs, process and precepts which may be issued against persons for the violation of the laws of the corporation, and to arrest, on view, all persons who may violate such laws, and to collect all fines, forfeitures and penalties which may be assessed or recovered for the use of the corporation, and to require bond and security of said constable in such sum as they may think proper.

SEC. 12. The said president and trustees are also vested with power to declare what shall be considered a nuisance within the limits of the corporation, and to provide for the abatement or removal thereof; also, to regulate the speed which horses and other animals may be rode or driven within the limits of the corporation; to provide for the trial and punishment of persons who may be engaged in assaults, assaults and batteries, and affrays within the limits of the corporation, and to provide that such punishment may be inflicted for any offence against the laws of the corporation, as is or may be provided by law for like offences against the laws of the State: Provided, That no person shall be deprived of the right of trial by jury in any case, when such person would be entitled to a trial by a jury for a like offence against the law of the State.

SEC. 13. The president and trustees as aforesaid, are further authorized to provide for the punishment of offenders by imprisonment in the county jails, in all cases where such offenders shall fail or refuse to pay fines which may be assessed, or for forfeitures or penalties which may be recovered: Provided, That no person shall be imprisoned under the provisions of this section, for a longer period than twelve hours for every five dollars of any fine assessed, or forfeiture or penalty recovered. SEC. 14. The said president and trustees are also authorized to adopt such laws for the security of wagons and other carriages which may be used within the limits of the corporation, and for the protection of the inhabitants against injury by reason of horses or other animals fastened to such wagons or carriages running with the same, as they may deem necessary; also, to provide for the punishment of persons who may at any time, disturb the peace of the inhabitants of the town, or the deliberations or proceedings of any public meeting of such inhabitants.

SEC. 15. The said president and trustees shall also have power to regulate the fees and compensation of all officers of the corporation.

SEC. 16. Whenever any town shall be incorporated under the provisions of this division, all other laws incorporating the same, or made to regulate in any way, the internal police of such town, shall be considered as repealed. The inhabitants of any town so incorporated, shall not be required to work upon any road except as herein

required. And whenever any town corporation shall be dissolved, according to this division, all persons having any funds belonging to such corporation, in their hands, shall pay the same into the county treasury; and all bonds and securities taken for the same by such corporation, shall vest in the county commissioners for the use of such county, who may have and maintain any proceedings thereon in law or equity, which might have been had by the said corporation.

SEC. 17. Whenever any county commissioners or other person or persons wish to lay out a town in this State, or an addition or subdivision of out-lots, said commissioners or other person or persons shall cause the same to be surveyed, and a plat or map thereof made by the county surveyor, if any there be, of the county in which said town or addition is situated; but if there be no county surveyor in the county, then, and in that case, by the county surveyor of an adjacent county; which plat or map shall particularly describe and set forth all the streets, alleys, commons or public grounds, and all in and out-lots, or fractional lots, within, adjoining or adjacent to said town, giving the names, widths, corners, boundaries and extent of all such streets and alleys.

SEC. 18. All the in-lots intended for sale shall be numbered in progressive numbers, or by the squares in which they are situated, and their precise length and width shall be stated on said plat or map; and all out-lots which shall not exceed ten acres in size, shall in like manner, be surveyed and numbered, and their precise length and width stated on the plat or map, together with any streets, alleys or roads which shall divide or border on the same.

SEC. 19. The county commissioners, proprietor or proprietors of the town, addition or subdivision of out-lots, by themselves or agent, shall, at the time of surveying and laying out the same, plant and fix at a corner of the public ground, or at the corner of a public lot, if any there be, and if there be none, then at the corner of some one of the in-lots in the town, and at the corner of each out-lot a good and sufficient stone, of such size and dimensions, and in such manner as the surveyor shall direct, for a corner from which to make future surveys; and the point or points where the same may be found, shall be designated on the plat or map.

SEC. 20. The plat or map, after having been completed, shall be certified by the surveyor and the county commissioners, and every person or persons whose duty it may be to comply with the foregoing requisitions, shall, at or before the time of offering such plat or map for record, acknowledge the same before a justice of the supreme court, justice of a circuit court, or a justice of the peace in the county where the land lies; a certificate of such acknowledgment shall be by the officer taking the same indorsed on the plat or map; which certificate of the surveyor and acknowledgment shall also be recorded, and form a part of the record.

SEC. 21. The plat or map, when made out, certified, acknowledged and recorded, as required by this division, and every donation or grant to the public, or any individual or individuals, religious society or societies, or to any corporation or bodies politic, marked or noted as such on said plat or map, shall be deemed in law and in equity a sufficient conveyance to vest the fee simple of all such parcel or parcels of land as are therein expressed, and shall be considered to all intents and purposes as a general warranty against such donor or donors, their heirs and representatives to the said donee or donees, grantee or grantees, for his, her or their use, for the uses and purposes therein named, expressed or intended, and for no other use or purpose whatever. And the land intended to be for streets, alleys, ways, commons or other public uses, in any town or city, or addition thereto, shall

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