specified in the resolve of the general assembly made at the May session, 1837, upon the petition of Dennis Bradley, John Bradley and others; and the said committee having re-surveyed so much of said road as is situated in said Litchfield, and re-assessed the damages that shall thereby accrue to individuals, shall make their report in the premises to the next county court, to be holden at Litchfield, within and for the county of Litchfield, and shall also report to said court, so much of the survey of said road as is situated in said towns of Plymouth and Litchfield, and of the damages therein assessed to individuals by the committee appointed at the May session of the general assembly, 1836, upon the petition of Ashbell Wessells and others; and if it shall appear to said court that the proceedings of said committee appointed at said May session, 1836, in laying out said road in said Plymouth and Watertown, and in assessing said damages, and also that the proceedings of the committee hereby appointed, in re-surveying so much of said road as is situated in said town of Litchfield, and in re-assessing said damages, are regular and in conformity to law, then it shall be the duty of said court to accept said report, and to order the same to be surveyed by said first committee, in said towns of Plymouth and Watertown; and so much of the same as shall be re-surveyed by the committee hereby appointed in said town of Litchfield, shall be and become a public highway; but said road shall not be opened in said town of Litchfield, until the damages assessed to individuals shall have been paid by said company.

AUTHORIZING A COMMITTEE TO COMPLETE THE LAYING OUT A TURNPIKE ROAD FROM LITCHFIELD TO THE WATERBURY RIVER TURNPIKE ROAD.

PASSED 1837.

Upon the petition of Dennis Bradley, John Bradley and others, showing to this assembly, that upon the petition of Ashbel Wessels, Ormond Marsh, Moses Morse, Erastus A. Lord and others, praying to be incorporated into a turnpike company for the purpose of making a turnpike road commencing about one mile south of the borough of Litchfield, and running down the valley of the west branch of Waterbury river, through parts of the towns of Litchfield, Watertown and Plymouth, until it should strike the Waterbury river turnpike road, near the house of Henry Terry, in said Plymouth, they, the said Ashbel Wessels, Ormond Marsh, Moses Morse, Erastus A. Lord, with others who might associate with them, were by an act of the general assembly, holden at New Haven on the first Wednesday of May, 1836, incorporated into a turnpike company for the purpose of making a turnpike road on the aforesaid route, as should be surveyed and laid out by the committee therein after mentioned, with the privilege of erecting certain gates and taking certain tolls of persons traveling thereon, and that Daniel B. Brinsmade, Nathaniel Stevens and Martin Strong, Esqrs., were by

said assembly appointed a committee to view said route, and if they deemed it expedient to survey and lay out a road on said route, where in their opinion it would best accommodate the public travel, and to assess damages to individuals through whose lands the same should pass, first giving notice in a newspaper printed in Litchfield of the time and place of their meeting, at least twenty days previous thereto, and to make return and report of their doings to the county court of said Litchfield county, at their session to be holden next after said committee should have completed the same, and which court was by said act directed and commanded to accept said report, and order the same to be recorded, unless it should be made to appear that said committee had not given the notice required by said act, or had acted corruptly, or had made mistakes on their own principles. And that said committee having accepted said trust, took upon themselves the burden of said business, and gave due notice that they should meet at the Mansion-house in said Litchfield, on the 17th day of October, 1836, at 12 o'clock at noon, for the purpose of proceeding on said business, and that said committee then and there met accordingly, and proceeded to and in fact did lay out a road on and through said route, and to assess such damages to individuals through whose lands the same passed, as they thought just and proper, and report made of their doings to the county court holden at Litchfield, on the first Tuesday of April, 1837; and further stating to this assembly, that very few persons took any interest in said petition or proposed road, and that the same passed along almost without any notice; those most interested had no knowledge that committee were attending to said business, and especially that the present petitioners had no knowledge of the fact, and were not present. That but two or three persons attended the committee through said route, and that these were deeply interested to have said road laid in the manner it was done by said committee, however injurious to the public, and therefore did not show them the route and ground most suitable and proper; and further stating, that said road might be so laid as to better accommodate the public, be made at much less expense, and with far less damage to individuals, and especially that said road, instead of being laid on the west side of said river, ought to have been laid on the east side of the same, commencing near the north side of Jabez Sherman's land, thence running southerly to Watertown line, and also through the lands of Lyman Hotchkiss and Elihu Hotchkiss, and various other places; and also further stating, that said petitioners are all of the owners of land through which said road as surveyed by said committee passes; to all of whom a small sum in damages was assessed, but in all instances amounted to a mere trifle, compared with the damage actually sustained; and especially that the amount assessed to the said Dennis and John R. Bradley, who were joint owners of the land, did not amount to more than one-eighth part of that by them sustained; and further stating, that feeling greatly aggrieved by the doings of said committee, both in the survey and laying of said road, and by the assessment of damages at the time when said report was presented to the said county court for their approval and acceptance, said petitioners appeared in court and objected and remonstrated against the acceptance thereof, and prayed said court to reject the same, but

said court decided that as they were directed to accept said report and order the same to be recorded, unless it was shown that the legal notice had not been given, or that said committee had acted corruptly or had made mistakes on their own principles, they were not authorized either to reject said report or to grant the petitioners any relief whatever, but feeling the importance of the subject, and that both the public and said petitioners were deeply interested therein, for the purpose of affording said petitioners an opportunity to make application to the general assembly for relief, they ordered said report to be continued to the then next term of said court, which was done accordingly. And praying this assembly to take said case into consideration, and enquire into the truth of the facts set forth in said petition; and that on finding them true, to authorize and empower said committee to take back said report so by them made and presented to said court, and (first giving such notice as this assembly should direct) at the expense of said company, to review so much of said route as lies within the town of Litchfield, and to make such changes and alterations from the road so surveyed and described in said report, as they should deem expedient and proper, and to assess damages to individuals, through whose lands said road so altered might pass, and report of their doings make to said county court, at some future time, and to authorize said county court, upon any remonstrance to said report, and to the acceptance thereof by any person or persons aggrieved, to hear any reasons by him or them offered, why said report should not be accepted, or why the damages assessed by said committee should be increased, and to hear any proper evidence relating thereto, and after a full hearing, to either accept or reject said report, or any part thereof, or to increase the damages by said committee assessed, as they shall judge just and reasonable; or if this assembly should be of opinion that the report already made and pending before said court, so far as relates to the survey and location of said road, should be accepted by said court, that in such case, upon the application of any person or persons owning land in the town of Litchfield, through which said road passes, for a reassessment or increase of damages, to authorize and empower said county court, either by themselves or by a committee not exceeding three, to be by said court appointed, to enquire into the facts set forth in such application, and the grounds of such complaint, and on such enquiry, before the final acceptance of said report, if said court shall judge proper to increase the damages to such an amount as they shall judge just and reasonable, or in some other way grant said petitioners relief, as per petition on file, dated the 20th day of April, 1837. Said petition having been duly served upon the respondents, and duly returned to and entered in the office of the secretary, and the petitioners having duly appeared to present said petition, this assembly proceeded to enquire into the truth of the facts and allegations stated and set forth in said petition, and on such enquiry do find them proved and true; therefore,

Resolved by this Assembly, That the said committee, Daniel B. Brinsmade, Nathaniel Stevens and Martin Strong, Esqrs., be and they are hereby re-appointed a committee for the purpose before mentioned, and are

hereby authorized and empowered to receive and take back their said report, so made to said county court, and said court are hereby authorized and directed to cause said report to be delivered back to said committee, before, and without any acceptance thereof.

And be it further resolved, That said committee (first giving notice of the time and place of their meeting, by publishing the same in a newspaper printed in Litchfield, at least twenty days previous thereto,) are hereby authorized and empowered, at the expense of said turnpike company, to review so much of said route as lies within the limits of the town of Litchfield, and to survey and lay out a road or highway thereon, and to locate the same on such ground, and in such manner as they shall deem proper, and will best accommodate the public, with the least injury to individuals, and to assess such damages to the individuals through whose lands said road may pass, as they may suffer thereby, in the same manner and to the same extent as if no former report or survey had been made or damages assessed, that part of said report being considered null and void, and to have no influence on said committee, as to the location of said road, or to their assessment of such damages, except when they lay said road on the same ground, the course, distances and monuments contained in said report may be adopted, and said committee having made such re-survey and assessment of damages, shall make their report thereof, together with their former survey and assessment of damages on that part of said route which lies and is located in the towns of Plymouth and Watertown, to the county court to be holden at Litchfield, in and for said county, next after said survey and report shall be completed, which if no sufficient objections are offered, said court may accept said report and order the same to be recorded, but said road shall not be opened until the damages assessed to individuals shall have been paid.

And be it further resolved, That if any person or persons shall feel themselves aggrieved by the doings of said committee, he or they may remonstrate against the acceptance of said report, and on sufficient reasons being shown to the satisfaction of said court, they may either reject or correct or alter said report in such manner as they shall judge proper.

CONFIRMING ACTS OF THE MIDDLETOWN AND BERLIN TURNPIKE COMPANY.

PASSED 1841.

Upon the petition of the Middletown and Berlin Turnpike Company, praying for the confirmation of certain acts of said company:

Resolved, That the present location of the west gate on said company's road, between the village of New Britain and the town of Farmington, being about one-fourth of a mile west of the dwelling house of Ezekiel Andrus, be and the same is hereby established as the legal location of the

same. And said company are hereby exonerated and discharged from all liability to any person or persons by reason of having heretofore taken toll at said gate.

Provided, however, that this act shall not affect any suit or suits which may be pending in relation to said gate or toll.

MIDDLETOWN, DURHAM AND NEW HAVEN TURNPIKE COMPANY.

PASSED 1846.

Upon the petition of the Middletown, Durham and New Haven Turnpike Company, praying for an alteration in their turnpike road, at its point of intersection with the Hartford and New Haven railroad, at Cedar Hill, in the town of New Haven:

Resolved by this Assembly, That the prayer of said petition be granted, and that the road as now traveled, diverging from said turnpike road at a point in the center thereof, ten rods southwest of the dwelling house of Elmon Blakesly, in said New Haven, and thence running north 52 deg. east, 43 rods, thence north 76 deg. east, 16 rods, thence south 574 deg. east, crossing the Hartford and New Haven railroad, 19 rods to the center of said turnpike road, be and the same is hereby established as the road of said turnpike company, instead of the road between said points as originally laid out.

THE MIDDLETOWN AND MERIDEN TURNPIKE COMPANY EMPOWERED TO ERECT A GATE, AND ITS LOCATION.

PASSED 1841.

Upon the petition of Miles Hall, of Middletown, in Middlesex county, in the state of Connecticut, against the Middletown and Meriden Turnpike Company, for the removal of a turnpike gate whereof he is now the keeper, situate in front of his dwelling house in said Middletown, on a turnpike road leading from Meriden meeting house, in the town of Meriden, in the county of New Haven, to the city of Middletown, in the county of Middlesex, owned and maintained by the respondents in said petition, as per petition on file, dated the 27th day of April, 1841, duly served and returned, may more fully and at large appear. This assembly do find the facts stated in said petition to be true, and therefore it is