OF DITCHES. Owners of grounds to compose a company. name. Meetings. CHAPTER 151. OF DITCHES. AN ACT to incorporate the White Marsh Branch Ditch Company. SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of each branch of the Legislature concurring herein): That the owners of the low ground, marsh and cripple, certain low situated upon and contiguous to White Marsh Branch, in Kent County and State of Delaware, commencing at the place where the said branch unites with the prong that runs through the land of Wm. Satterfield, Wm. Greenlee, John Cooper and others; thence up said branch to the farm now occupied by Wm. Slaughter near the public road leading from Hollandsville to Reed's Corner, shell compose a company to Corporate be called "The White Marsh Branch Ditch Company," and shall hold a meeting on the first Saturday in June next, and Where held on the first Saturday of May in every year thereafter, in the village of Hollandsville, of said county, or at such other place as said company shall determine by a resolution to be adopted at any annual meeting of said company, at which annual meeting said company shall choose by ballot, and a plurality of the votes present, one treasurer, one secretary, by ballot. and two managers (or more if necessary), and may do and determine all such matters and things as the said company may deem requisite for effectually draining and reclaiming the said low ground, marsh and cripple; and such and every annual meeting of said company may be adjourned from time to time by said company, and occasional stated meetings may be called from time to time by the managers for the time being at such times and places as the said managers may appoint, by giving five days' public notice by advertisements put up at three of the most public places of said neighborhood, or at such other places as the managers for the time being may think advisable, and if the treasurer, secretary or managers shall not, all or any of them, be chosen at the stated or anVacancies, nual meeting for the current year, or for any year thereafter, How filled. or any of them shall die, resign, or neglect to act, such Officers to be chosen Occasional meetings may be called. Notice. vacancy or vacancies may be filled at any adjourned or occasional meeting of said company by ballot and plurality of votes, and if any treasurer, secretary or manager shall remove from the neighborhood and dispose of his interest in OF DITCHES. said low grounds, the said company may at any meeting declare the place of such office vacant and elect another to fill said vacancy. At all meetings of said company every owner of any swamp; or low grounds, rateable and assessed by virtue of this act shall be entitled to cast one vote if present, or ab- Votes, how sent by proxy duly attested under their hands and seal, for every one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof assessed to him or her. east. office. SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That the treasurer, secretary or managers, chosen in pursuance of this act, Terns of at the first meeting of said company, shall continue in office for the term of one year from the time when they shall be so chosen and until successors to them shall be duly chosen; and the same rule shall apply to all officers elected at any meeting other than the said first meeting. Commis- Surveyor. SECTION 3. And be it enacted, That Andrew Holden, William A. Dill and James Porter be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to make a valuation of all said low grounds, marsh and cripple, excepting the low grounds drained by the ditch or ditches running through the lowlands of Samuel B. Cooper; and the said commissioners, or a majority of tnem, are hereby authorized and empowered to appoint and employ a surveyor to make a plot showing the courses and distances of such ditch or ditches as they may Duties. think necessary to lay out, and to enter upon all the low ground, marsh and cripple belonging to the said company, and view, examine, ascertain and determine the width and depth and location of one or more ditches and drains necessary and sufficient to drain said low grounds, marsh, and cripple, the quantity held by each owner or owners (if any be held undivided), and shall appraise and determine the benefit and advantage which each owner, or joint owner, as aforesaid, will derive by reason of the cutting and making such ditch or ditches, drain or drains, having regard to the original or unimproved value of the same after the low grounds, marsh and cripple shall be ditched or drained by the ditches or drains of said company so that the said appraisement and valuation may do equal justice to all the owners and possessors of said low grounds, marsh and cripple; and the said commissioners may make all due allowance for any private ditch, ditches, drain or drains that may have been previously cut by indi- to be made. vidual enterprise, which said commissioners may think proper to use in draining said low grounds; and the said com Certificates to be made. Certificate to be returned to the Record OF DITCHES. Certificates missioners, or a majority of them, shall make two certificates under their hands, or the hands of a majority of them, containing the names of the respective owners of said low grounds, the quantity held by each owner, or by joint owners, and the appraisements of the benefits, profits and advantages to be derived by gach owner as aforesaid of said low grounds, marsh and cripple so by the said commissioners to be made as aforesaid, and shall deliver one of said certificates to the secretary of said company, and shall return the other of said certificates and said plot unto the office of the Recorder of Deeds, in and for Kent County, to be there recorded by the er of Deeds. Recorder of Deeds for said county which certificate shall be final and conclusive upon all parties, and shall be and remain in the true appraisement and valuation upon which all and every tax or taxes which may be necessary to effect the purposes of this act shall be assessed, levied and raised, and a copy of the record thereof certified by the said Recorder under his hand and seal of office shall be good and sufficient evidence in all courts of justice, and before all Justices of the Peace in the State. Each commissioner and the surveyor before he enters upon the duties required of him by this act, shall be sworn or affirmed before some judge or Justice of the Peace, in and for Kent County, to faithfully, according to the best of his skill and judgment, exercise the duties assigned him by this act. If either of the said commissioners shall die, resign, refuse, or neglect to act before all or any of the duties assigned the commissioners under this act are performed, the said company may elect another to supply his place, and so as often as it may be necessary until all the duties of the commissioners under this act may be completed. Evidence. Must be sworn or affirmed. New assess ment may be made after five years. After five years a new assessment may be had by application of ten or more taxables to any Judge of the State, or to the Chancellor, who is hereby authorized to appoint the commissioners to make said new assessment. Said new assessment when made shall be returned and recorded as the original return and shall stand as the basis of assessment for five years, and until another new assessment shall in like manner be made. SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of raising the sum of money necessary to carry into execution the purposes of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the managers for the time being and they are hereby authorized and required, after the appraisement and valuation Shall assess aforesaid shall be made and returned to the secretary and redrained. corder as aforesaid, to lay and assess upon the value of the lands OF DITCHES. determine tional sum duplicate low grounds benefited by said ditches and drains, and mentioned in said certificates, according to and upon the value of the benefits, profits and advantages of the respective quantities or parcels of the low grounds held by the several owners thereof, a certain rate upon each and every dollar of said value, so as to raise alsum of money sufficient to cut and make make all the ditches and drains necessary and proper to drain and reclaim all the said low grounds, marsh and cripple intended to be drained and reclaimed by virtue of this act; and at any annual meeting of the company after the said ditch or ditches, May also drain or drains shall have been cut and made as aforesaid, the what addisaid company, by a plurality of votes, may determine by a should be resolution what additional sum or sums of money ought to be raised. raised by way of tax as aforesaid for the purpose of keeping the said ditch or ditches, drain or drains, in good and sufficient repair, which said additional sum of money shall be levied and assessed according to the provisions hereinbefore mentioned; and the said managers shall from time to time Shall make make out duplicate lists under their hands of all the assess- lists. ments and taxes by them made and levied as aforesaid, which shall contain a minute of all changes of ownership and transfers, if any, of said low grounds, and one of the lists shall be To be dedelivered to the treasurer for the time being, and the other livered to shall be delivered to the secretary, and such assessments and lists shall be final and conclusive upon all the parties, and the said lists so delivered to the treasurer shall be a sufficient warrant to him or his successors for levying and collecting all and every sum of money and taxes in said lists mentioned; it shall be the duty of the said managers to cut and open such ditch or ditches, drain or drains, and prong or prongs of said ditch or ditches as the said commissioners, by their return as aforesaid shall direct to be cut and opened, or cause the same to be done, and cause the same to be kept open and in good repair, and generally the managers shall carry into full effect all the directions of the company, from time to time given to them in relation to their said trust, for which purpose the said managers shall have power to employ such workmen as they may deem necessary to complete the work assigned to them at the common expense of the company, and all the Orders to be wages and expenses in and about said work shall be paid by work, de. orders drawn by the managers on the treasurer; every order shall specify the services, wages or expenses for which it is Account to drawn, and an exact account shall be kept by the managers for all orders drawn by them specifying the services or expenses for which each order was drawn; and said accounts all whom. Duty of the managers. drawn for be kept. Managers sworn or affirmed. OF DITCHES. shall be laid before the annual meeting of said company as said company may direct. Each manager, before he enters shall be upon the duties assigned him by the requirements of this act, shall be sworn or affirmed before some Justice of the Peace, of Kent County, to perform the same faithfully and impartially, according to the best of his skill and judgment, of which oath or affirmation a certificate of the same under the hand or hands, of the person or persons making it, shall be Oaths to be made and returned to the secretary, to be by him recorded in the books of said company. recorded. Treasurer bond. Taxes. How collected. SECTION 5. And be it enacted, That the treasurer for the time being, and every treasurer for the time being, before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall give bond with approved surety or sureties, by the managers, to and for the use of the company by name, in a penalty to be affixed by the managers for the time being, upon condition to be void if he shall pay all orders drawn on him by the managers for the time being so far as he shall have funds in his hands for that purpose, and shall well and truly account for all money that shall come into his hands as such treasurer at any annual or other meeting of said company, or otherwise, as the said company may direct, and shall pay over any balance or sum that shall be due to his successor in office, and shall perform all the duties of his office with fidelity. SECTION 6. And be it enacted, That the managers, when they lay and assess taxes, shall appoint the time for the payment of the same, and it shall be the duty of the taxables respectively to pay to the treasurer of said company for the time being the sum levied and assessed as aforesaid at the time appointed by the managers as aforesaid for such payment; and in case of negligence or nonpayment as before directed, the treasurer, and every treasurer for the time being, shall have full power and authority to demand and receive, levy and make all and every the tax or taxes which shall be levied and assessed in pursuance of this act by the managers, according to the list of assessment delivered to such treasurer by the said managers in the same manner and in the same mode as is prescribed by law for the recovery of county rates; shall have and every treasurer for the time being shall have power in the same manner to collect all taxes upon any list delivered to any former treasurer at any time within ten years after the same shall have been due and payable, and shall be liable to pay all orders drawn upon him by the managers aforesaid at any time within ten years from the date of said orders or the Treasurer power to collect. |