the writ or process of mandamus, or by the ordinary process of the court of chancery, and shall for that purpose be invested with full chancery powers in the premises, and it may allow to either party such costs as it may deem proper, and issue execution therefor.

SECT. 8. No other railroad corporation shall subscribe for, take, or hold any stock or bonds of any railroad corporation organized under this act, whether directly or indirectly, unless specially authorized by the legislature.

SECT. 9. There shall be not less than five directors of any railroad established under this act, and a majority of them shall be inhabitants of this State.

SECT. 10. If any corporation formed under this act shall not, within eighteen months after its articles of association are filed and recorded in the office of the secretary of State, begin the construction of its railroad and expend thereon five per cent. on the amount of its capital stock, or shall not finish its railroad and put it in operation in seven years from the time of filing its articles of association as aforesaid, its corporate existence and powers shall cease, except as to so much of the road as may have been completed.

SECT. 11. The legislature at any time may alter, amend or repeal this act or any part thereof, or may annul or dissolve any corporation formed under it; but such alteration, amendment, repeal, annulment, or dissolution, shall not take away or impair any remedy given against any such corporation, its stockholders or officers, for any liabilities which shall have been previously incurred.

SECT. 12. Nothing in this act shall relate to horse railroads. Approved, November 20, A. D. 1872.

No. 31.-AN ACT IN ADDITION TO SECTION NINETY-EIGHT OF CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE GENERAL STATUTES, ENTITLED “RAILROADS.”

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont :

SECT. 1. The provisions of section ninety-eight of chapter twenty-eight of the General Statutes are hereby extended so as to include the notes and bonds of the trustees and managers of railroad property in this State.

SECT. 2. This act shall take effect from its passage.

Approved, October 25, 1872.

No. 32. AN ACT IN

AMENDMENT OF SECTION

TWENTY-ONE OF CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT of THE GENERAL STATUTES.

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:

SECT. 1. Section twenty-one of chapter twenty-eight of the General Statutes is hereby amended by adding the following:

Provided, When any railroad company shall have entered upon or taken any lands and shall not have paid the owners thereof or acquired title thereto under the provisions of their charter, the laws of this State, or otherwise, such owner or owners, or such railroad company, may at any time after two years from

such entry apply by petition to a chancellor, and in case the damages have been appraised according to the provisions of their charter or the laws of this State, and have not been deposited for the use of said owner or owners as provided in said chapter twenty-eight, said chancellor may, after giving legal notice to said railroad company, order the damages so appraised to be deposited with the clerk of the court or some bank in the county where the property is situated, subject to the order of such owner or owners as the chancellor shall determine to be legally or equit ably entitled to the same, or subject to the further order of the chancellor. And in case the damages have not been appraised as provided by their charter or the laws of this State, such railroad company or such owner or owners may apply by petition to a chancellor, who shall appoint three disinterested commissioners to determine the damages which the owner or owners of such property sustained at the time such lands were so taken and entered upon by said railroad company, or such damages as said owner or owners were likely to sustain thereby at the time of such entry and occupation, and in other respects the said commissiouers shall proceed in the same manner as is provided in said chapter twenty-eight, and report their doings to the said chancellor, who shall make any order in the premises which shall be just and equitable between the parties, in respect to the payment or deposit of said damages, and he may award costs between the parties as equity and justice may require.

SECT. 2. This act shall take effect from its passage.

Approved, November 26, 1872.

No. 33.-AN ACT IN ADDITION TO CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT OF THE GENERAL STATUTES, REGULATING THE MOVEMENTS OF TRAINS AT THE CROSSING OF ONE RAILROAD BY ANOTHER RAILROAD.

SECTION

1. Engineer to stop train, when and where.

2. Penalty for violation of this act.

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont ;

SECT. 1. When a railroad is crossed by another railroad at grade, every engineman on either of the roads shall, before reaching the crossing, stop his engine at some point within five hundred feet therefrom; shall sound the whistle before starting and shall pass slowly over the crossing; but one stop shall be sufficient for all such crossings within six hundred feet of each other upon the same road.

SECT. 2. Every engineman violating the provisions of the preceding section shall for each offence forfeit one hundred dollars, and the corporation on whose road the offence is comImitted shall forfeit the further sum of three hundred dollars; such forfeitures to be recovered by complaint in the county where the offence is committed, one fourth of the amount so collected to be paid to the party making the complaint.

Approved, November 15, 1872.

No. 34.-AN ACT RELATING TO RAILROAD

BRIDGES.

SECTION

1. Height of bridges defined.

2.

3.

Present bridges, height of regulated; steps to be removed from side to

end of car after March 1, 1873.

Penalty for violation of this act.

4. Penalty, how enforced.

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont :

SECT. 1. All railroad bridges in this State shall, when built or rebuilt, be hereafter so constructed as to leave a clear space of not less than three feet between the inner sides of said bridges and the outer sides of all cars passing through the same, and also a clear space of not less than seven feet from the walking-board or top covering of all cars, except hay, charcoal, bark and horse cars, running over or through them and the lowest timbers, boards or irons in the covering of said bridges.

SECT. 2. All railroad bridges now constructed on all railroads in this State shall be made to conform in height to the provisions of section one of this act, within eight years from the passage of this act. And after the first day of March, A. D. 1873, no railroad company in this State shall run cars of its own with ladders or steps for ascending to the top of the same on the sides of said cars, but said ladder or steps shall be on the ends or inside of said cars.

SECT. 3. Every railroad corporation in this State that fails to comply with the requirements of this act, shall forfeit the sum of fifty dollars for every day's neglect to so comply, and be liable for all damages and injuries to passengers and employees on said roads, resulting from such neglect.