forfeiture of the franchises of the offending companies as well as the stock and property in the same of the stockholders consenting to such attempted consolidation to the Commonwealth. SEC. 18. If any person shall willfully and maliciously break, injure and destroy any of the pipes, conduits or other works or machinery of any natural gas company, or shall willfully and maliciously interfere with said pipes, conduits or works so as to interrupt the business of any such company, such person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or suffer an imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both or either in the discretion of the court. SEC. 19. Corporations authorized and formed under this act shall pay into the State treasury for the use of the Commonwealth, such taxes as now are or hereafter may be imposed upon corporations, under the general corporation or revenue laws of this Commonwealth. NOTE.-Secs. 20, 21, and 22 of this act are under the title, Oil and Gas Wells. (See p. 842.) SEC. 23. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby reepaled. NOTE.-Oil companies are authorized to purchase and hold stock of natural gas companies. (See p. 466.) AMENDATORY ACT-AMENDING SECTION 10. LAWS 1897, P. 50. MAY 11, 1897. AN ACT to amend section 10 of an act, entitled "An act to provide for the incorporation and regulation of natural gas companies," approved May 29, 1885, limiting and fixing the number and compensation of the viewers therein provided for. SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.: That section ten of the act, entitled "An act for the incorporation and regulation of natural gas companies," approved May 29, 1885, which reads as follows: SEC. 10. (Here follows sec. 10 in full of the original act as set out at p. 443), shall be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 10. The transportation and supply of natural gas for public consumption is hereby declared to be a public use, and it shall be the duty of corporations, organized or provided for under this act, to furnish to consumers along their lines and within their respective districts natural gas for heat or light or other purposes as the corporation may determine. Any and all corporations that is or are now or shall hereafter be engaged in such business, shall have the right of eminent domain for the laying of pipe lines for the transportation and distribution of natural gas, the right, however, shall not be exercised as to any burying ground or dwelling, passenger railroad station house or any shop or manufactory in which steam or fire is necessarily used for manufacturing or repairing purposes, but shall include the right to appropriate land upon or under which to lay said lines and locate pipes upon and over, under and across, any lands, rivers, streams, bridges, roads, streets, lanes, alleys or other public highways, or other pipe lines, or to cross railroads or canals: Provided, In case the pipe lines cross any railroad operated by steam, or canal, the same shall be located under or above such railroad or canal, and in such manner as the railroad or canal company may reasonably direct: And provided further, That any company laying a pipe line under the provisions hereof shall be liable for all damages occasioned by reason of the negligence of such gas company: And provided further, That no company authorized by this act shall have the right to occupy longitudinally the right of way, road bed, or bridge of any rail road Company : And provided, If any pipe line laid under the provisions of this act, or laid upon or over lands cleared and used for agricultural purposes, the same shall be buried at least twenty-four inches below the surface; and if any line of pipe shall be laid over or through any waste or woodland, which shall be changed to farming land, then it shall be the duty of the corporation to immediately bury the said pipe to the depth of at least twenty-four inches as aforesaid. Prior to any appropriation, the corporation shall attempt to agree with the owner as to the damage properly payable for an easement in his or her property, if such owner can be found and is sui juris, failing to agree, the corporation shall tender to the property owner a bond with sufficient sureties to secure him or her in the payment of damages; if the owner refuse to accept said bond or can not be found or is not sui juris, the same shall then be presented to the court of common pleas of the proper county, after reasonable notice to the property owner by advertisement or otherwise, to be approved by it. Upon the approval of the bond and its being filed the right of the corporation to enter upon the enjoyment of its easement shall be complete. Upon petition of either the property owner or the corporation, thereafter, the court of common pleas shall appoint three disinterested freeholders of the county to serve as viewers to assess the damages proper to be paid to the property owner, for the easement appropriated by the company, and shall fix a time for their meeting of which notice shall be given to both parties; and as compensation for their services each of said viewers shall receive two dollars and fifty cents for each day in which he may actually have been engaged in such duty, and mileage at the rate of ten cents for each circular mile traveled by him in going from his residence to and from such view. Either party may appeal from the report of the viewers within twenty days after the filing thereof to the court of common pleas and have a jury trial as in ordinary cases, and writ of error to the Supreme Court. ANNOTATIONS. NATURAL GAS COMPANIES. 1. CORPORATE POWERS AND DUTIES. 2. CHARTER OF GAS COMPANY-OBJECTS STATED-TERRITORY INCLUDED. 3. CHARTER AND FRANCHISE EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES NOT GRANTED. 4. EMINENT DOMAIN-EXERCISE OF rights-CONDITION. 5. RIGHT OF WAY FOR PIPE LINE-MEANING AND USE. 6. RIGHT OF WAY-PETITION-MATTERS TO BE STATED. 7. RIGHT OF WAY-APPROPRIATION-AGREEMENT WITH LAND OWNER. TENCY OF WITNESSES. - DAMAGES 10. RIGHT OF WAY-EASEMENT ACQUIRED. - ELEMENTS - COMPE 11. PIPING NATURAL GAS-PUBLIC USE-MATTER OF CONTRACT. 14. PIPE LINE CROSSING RAILROAD TRACKS-PRESCRIBING CONDITIONS. 16. RIGHT TO LAY PIPES IN STREETS-CONSENT OF MUNICIPALITY. 18. CONSENT OF MUNICIPALITY-NO LIABILITY TO LOT OWNERS. 20. OCCUPATION OF STREETS WITHOUT MUNICIPALITY'S CONSENT. 21. POWER OF COURTS TO CONTROL REGULATIONS AND SETTLE DISPUTES. 22. POWER OF MUNICIPALITY TO ENJOIN OCCUPANCY OF STREETS. 27. CONSOLIDATION OF COMPANIES-RIGHTS. 28. NEGLIGENCE OF FELLOW SERVANT-LIABILITY OF CORPORATION. 30. PROPERTY EXEMPT FROM TAXATION. 31. POWER TO SURRENDER FRANCHISE. 32. RIGHT TO REMOVE PIPES-LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. 33. POWER TO LEASE OR TRANSFER BUSINESS. 34. SHERIFF'S SALE OF PROPERTY-VALIDITY. 35. PLEDGEE OF STOCK-RIGHT TO SUE FOR COMPANY. 1. CORPORATE POWERS AND DUTIES. The powers given corporations organized under the Act of May 29, 1885 (P. L. 29), are within the constitutional authority of the legislature to grant. St. Mary's Gas Co. v. Elk County, 191 Pa. St. 458, p. 461. See Johnston v. Peoples Nat. Gas Co., 4 Sadler 445; 5 Central Rep. 564. A corporation organized under this act is a public corporation having the right of eminent domain. St. Mary's Gas Co. v. Elk County, 191 Pa. St., 458, p. 461. The transporting and supplying of natural gas for the public is made by this act a public use and such companies are required to furnish customers along their lines and within their respective districts natural gas for heat and light. St. Mary's Gas Co. v. Elk County, 191 Pa. St. 458, p. 461. 2. CHARTER OF GAS COMPANY-OBJECTS STATED TERRITORY INCLUDED. The law requires that an application for a charter for a natural gas company shall state the general route of its intended line, but its location at any given point need not be specified. Orr v. Carnegie Natural Gas Co., 2 Pa. Supr. Ct. Rep. 401, p. 409. This act expressly authorizes a company to supply natural gas for lighting and heating, or both, or for other purposes, and the charters grant the franchises without restriction as to uses. Hagan v. Fayette Gas Fuel Co., 21 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 503, p. 506. Section 10 of this act does not limit the power conferred to companies incorporated under the act. The grant is general in terms and the only limitation is that the company must be engaged in the business of transporting and supplying natural gas for public consumption. Ohio Valley Gas Co., In re, 6 Pa. Dist. Rep. 200, p. 301. A corporation should not be organized that would combine the provisions of this act and the provisions of the clauses of section 2 of the act of April 17, 1876. Newton-Hamilton Oil & Gas Co., In re, 10 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 452, p. 453. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can not grant articles of incorporation to natural gas companies under this act so as to include territory in another State. United Nat. Gas Co., In re, 1 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 468, p. 469. 3. CHARTER AND FRANCHISE-EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES NOT GRANTED. The proviso in this act is not a limitation upon the powers of city councils, but a rule for its own construction. The act does not grant an exclusive right and the proviso declares that it shall not be so construed as to do so by implication. Meadville Fuel Gas Co. v. Meadville Nat. Gas Co., 2 Sadler (Pa. Sup. Ct.) 549, p. 557. Meadville Nat. Gas Co. v. Meadville Fuel Gas Co., 1 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 448, p. 449. Waddington v. Allegheny Heat Co., 6 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 96, p. 97. This act was intended to open the field of natural gas supply to free competition and it expressly declares it shall not be so construed as to favor or give color to any monopoly in the business. It is the duty of city councils to carry out the act in good faith by proper local regulations. Peoples Nat. Gas Co. v. Pittsburgh, 1 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 311, p. 313. Meadville Nat. Gas. Co. v. Meadville Fuel Gas Co., 1 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 448, p. 449. A gas company organized under the act of March 8, 1864 (P. L. of 1872, p. 1217), has no exclusive right to lay pipes in the streets of a city and to furnish the city with gas as against a corporation furnishing natural gas to the city, under and by virtue of the provisions of this act. Warren Gas Light Co. v. Pennsylvania Gas Co., 161 Pa. St., 510, p. 514. This act declares the transportation and supply of natural gas a public use but it does not confer upon a natural gas company exclusive rights and the unlimited power to fix rates. Waddington v. Allegheny Heat Co., 6 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 96, p. 98. Sewickley Borough v. Ohio Valley Gas Co., 6 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 99, p. 105. Any ordinance or acts of municipal authorities intended to give special favors to one or more companies, or to throw unreasonable obstructions in the way of a new company, is a violation of the letter and spirit of this act. Peoples Nat. Gas Co. v. Pittsburgh, 1 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 311, p. 313. It is not presumed that the legislature intended, even if it had the power, to restrict a corporation in the use of its franchises acquired before the organization of another company with like powers; and a gas company can not prevent another gas company existing and furnishing natural gas to citizens of a borough from thereafter furnishing such gas for lighting purposes. Hagan v. Fayette Gas Fuel Co., 21 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 503, p. 507. A natural gas company organized under this act accepted an ordinance by which it was permitted to lay its pipes in the streets of a city under a proviso that work should be begun within one year and gas supplied within fifteen months and that the city should grant no other privilege for similar purposes for two years. Five months thereafter the city by ordinance granted to another natural gas company the right to lay pipes in the streets and supply gas. It was not within the power of the city to grant an exclusive privilege and the company obtaining the first franchise could not enjoin the city and the second company from the use of the streets for the supply of natural gas. Meadville Fuel Co. v. Meadville Nat. Gas Co., 2 Sadler (Pa. Sup. Ct.) 549, p. 559. Meadville Nat. Gas Co. v. Meadville Fuel Gas Co., 1 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 448, p. 449. Hagan v. Fayette Gas Fuel Co., 21 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 503, p. 508. A gaslight company organized for the purpose of furnishing artificial gas to a certain borough does not have an exclusive privilege as against a corporation 125672°-20-29 organized under this act for supplying natural gas to the citizens of the same borough. Warren Gas Light Co. v. Pennsylvania Gas Co., 13 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 310, p. 313. See Lansdowne Gas Co., In re, 14 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 518. Pittsburgh Illuminating Gas Co., 14 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 519. Lebanon Gas Co. v. Lebanon Fuel, etc., Power Co., 18 Pa. County Ct. Southside Gas Co. v. Southern Illuminating Co., 18 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 529. A corporation organized under the act of April 24, 1874 (P. L. 93), to manufacture and furnish a city with gas has no authority to supply natural gas to customers under this act. Warren Gas Light Co. v. Pennsylvania Gas Co., 161 Pa. St. 510, p. 512. A natural gas company that secured a monopoly of the supply of natural gas from competing companies will be enjoined from shutting off the gas unless an increased rate was paid by a consumer where it and the companies it absorbed had furnished gas at a reasonable price. Waddington v. Allegheny Heat Co., 6 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 96, p. 98. Sewickley Borough v. Ohio Valley Gas Co., 6 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 99, p. 105. 4. EMINENT DOMAIN--EXERCISE OF RIGHTS CONDITION. This act declares the transportation and supplying of natural gas to be a public use, and confers upon the corporations organized under its provisions the right of eminent domain and requires them to furnish natural gas to consumers along their lines or within the district supplied by them respectively. McDevitt v. Peoples Nat. Gas Co., 160 Pa. St. 367, p. 374. St. Mary's Gas Co. v. Elk County, 168 Pa. St. 401, p. 403. City of Pittsburgh's Appeal, 115 Pa. St. 4, p. 21. See St. Mary's Gas Co. v. Elk County, 191 Pa. St. 458, p. 465. Fort Pitt Gas Co. v. Sewickley Borough, 198 Pa. St. 201, p. 205. Woods v. Greensboro Nat. Gas Co., 204 Pa. St. 606, p. 609. This act confers the right of eminent domain on companies formed for the transportation of natural gas, and in the exercise of this right the companies may enter upon private property or upon the public streets and highways. If the entry is upon private property the companies must make an effort to agree with the owner as to the damages for the easement in the property, but failing to so agree, the corporation must tender a bond to secure the payment of damages. If the entry is upon a public street then the companies must first procure the consent of the municipality by the adoption of a suitable ordinance. McDevitt v. Peoples Nat. Gas Co., 160 Pa. St. 367, p. 371. City of Pittsburgh's Appeal, 115 Pa. St. 4, p. 21. See Philadelphia Co. v. Freeport Borough, 167 Pa. St., 279, p. 285. St. Mary's Gas Co. v. Elk County, 168 Pa. St. 401, p. 403. The exercise of the right of eminent domain whether by the state or its authorized grantee is necessarily in derogation of private right and in such case the authority is to be strictly construed. Woods v. Greensboro Nat. Gas Co., 204 Pa. St. 603, p. 610. The act of May 29, 1885, providing for the incorporation of natural gas companies conferred the right of eminent domain for the purpose of enabling such |