Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1869 — The Draining Law. [ARTICLE]

The Draining Law.

Section 1. Beit en acted by the Gen(mil Aesenthltj of the State of Indiana , Thnt any number of persons not less than three, being the owners of lands wet, or liable to be overflowed, may organize a compauy for. the purpose of draining, reclaiming and protecting such lands, which shall have power to straighten, widen, deepen, and make new channels for tho whole or any part of any river, or water course, and to construct any dikes, drains, levees and brenkwaters, and to do everything which they shall deem proper, to accomplish the purposes for which the company shall have been organized. Sue. 2. Such persons shall sign articles of association specifying the name and purposes of the company; and shall elect lrom their number not less than three nor moro than soven directors, of the time and place of which election tho members s hall be notified by notices signed by three members, and posted in three public places near the work live days before the election, but notice may bo waived by the members. Vacancies in tho olliees of directors bo filled by appointments made by tho remaining directors.

Sec. 3. Said articles as association shall be recorded in tho Recorder’s olliees of the several counties in which any part of the work is situated, and from the date of filing tlio same for record in either of such counties, such company shall ho a body corporate, with all power incident to such bodjes; and to eonsumate the purposes for which it was organized; and to buy, receive donations of, and hold, and sell and convey any lands benefited or to be benefited by the proposed work of tho company; and any person owning land supposed to be liable to be attested by said work, may become a member of the company by signing tho articles of association. Thu corporate existence of the company shall he judicially recognized, and the company’s records shall be prima facie evidence of its acts. Sue. 4. An annual election shall bo held by the company at such time and place as the company shill appoint, lor the election of directors, of which twenty days notice shall be given by one week’s publication in one newspaper of general circulation in each county in which any part of the work shall be situated, if such paper shall be printed and published in such county, and if there he none, then by posting notice in three public places near the work. Seo. 5. A majority of the directors shall form a quorum, and shall have control and management of the business and affairs of the company. They shall appoint one of their number I‘rcsideiit, and shall appoint a Secretary, Treasurer, and such oilier officers and agents as they may see fit; and all officers and agents shall he entitled to fair compensation for their services. The Treasurer shall give bond to the company, with proper penalties and sureties, for the faithful discharge of his duties, and the safekeeping and prompt payment, according to the orders of the Hoard of Directors, all moneys that may come into his hands. The President, Directors, Secretary and Treasurer, shall hold their respective ufliues lor one year and until their successors shall be qualified, and shall bo sworn tp tbe faithful discharge of their duties. The Secretary may administer all official oaths.

Sko. 0. The company may apply to the Circuit Court or Court ot Common Pleas in term time, or to a Judge thereof in vacation, ol a county in which any part of the proposed work shall bo situated, which Court or Judge as the case may be, shall imiucdiutoly appoint three disinterested appraisers, and such appraisers shall examine all lauds the intrinsic or market value of which may bo bv them supposed to be liable to be affected by tlio construction of the proposed work, or by tiio appropriation of all or any part of it lotright ol w’«y or other purpose ot tho company, or of any stone, timber, gravel or other material required by tho company, and shall mako out separate schedules ill the smallest United States Government sub-divis-ions of all such lands situated in each county, and shall assess to each tract the full and entire amount of such benefit which it will in the opinion of a majority of them receive, without any regard to tho cost of tho work, and the injury which in the opinion of a majority of them it will sustain, and append to each schedule their affidavit that tho same is a true assessment, and return the same to the Secretary of the company who shall cause it to be filed for record in tho offico of tho Uceordor of the county in which the land thcroiu described shall bo situated; and from the date of filing thereof, such assessments shall respectively bo a lien on the land upon which they were assessed, for the amount of such assessments of benefits less tho amount of injury assessed. And When, and as often as it shall become necessary or desirable to reassess any tract ot land for tho correction of any mistake, or to enable tlio company to appropriate any part of the samo for the right of way, or ipiy stone, timber, gravel or other material for construction of tho work; and whenever, and as often as it shall be desired by the company to make a re-aisse»stfientof an? (rhetor tracts of land for any purpose, said appraisers shall upon the request of 'the company mako such re-assess-ments; and so from time to time, wkqn, and as often as they shall bo rcqtiostod, and shall make and return schedules of tbo same, and such schedules shall bo filed for record, shall constitute liens, shall bo collected, and shall in all respects be governed -by tho same rules and have the. same lorco and effect as the original assessments above provided for. And if any appraiser appoint-

ed as aforesaid shall die, resign, or fail to act as such when the interests of the company (hall in the opiniou of tho President roquiro it, his appointment as sncli appraiser shall thereby be vacated, and upon representation of such vacation to such Court or Judge by the President, such Court or Judge shall upon the np]xlioatioii of tho Company, immediately till such vacancy ,tyy tho appointment of a liko disinterested person, who shall qualify and servo in the manner above provided;, and tho sau)e shall be douo when, and as often, as tho company may request: Provided, That upon filing ( Sneh schedule for record the Secretary shall give notice thereof by posting a notice iu a conspicuous place in the Recorder's office, and any party aggrieved by any such assessment may within thirty days thereafter nppeaf therefrom to the Circuit or Common Pleas Court of said county; and Provided further , That any person who is under legal disabilities at the lime of making and filing of such schedule, shall have the right to appeal as aforesaid, at any time within thirty days after tho removal of such disabilities; and Provided further, That any two appraisers may perform all the services required by this section, and that all acts concurred in by any two, shall bo valid, binding and effectual. Sec. 7. Jlcforo the actual construction of the work shall be begun, surveys of it, and estimates ot its cost shall be made; and the appraiser’s schedules of assessments returned to the Secretary, and if the estimated cost of the work sliall exceed the aggregate amount of the assessments, tbe work shall not be further prosecuted. Sec. 8. Before the actual construction of the work shall be begun, the company shall divide the main lino of their work into as many sections, not exceeding six miles in length, as may be convenient, and each of such sections, with its auxiliaries, branches, and tributaries, sliall form a separate division of the work; and they shall also appropriate and set apart as applicable to, and hold the same inviolate for, tho construction of each ot such divisions respectively, a portion of their resources bearing the same ratio to the whole of their resources properly applicable to the construction of the work, as the estimated cost of such division shall bear to the estimated cost of the whole work; and so much thereof as shall be necessary shall be applied for the purpose lor which it was appropriated and set apart, and the surplus may be applied to other legitimate purposes of the company, and the work of construction shall be prosecuted as nearly simultaneously upon tho whole line as may seem to the directors consistent with proper economy. ISEc. 0. The owners of lands liable to be aftectce by the work of a company, shall hav notice ot the tune and place when and where tho appraisers will begin tho examination of lands and the assessments of benefits and injuries thereto, and of the order in which it shall be intended to proceed with the same, which notiee need not specify what lands are to be examined and assessed, but may be general and addressed to the public, and shall be sufficient if published for three successive weeks iu a newspaper published in tho county iu which the lands are situated, and proof ufits publication may be made by the affidavit of tbe printer or publisher of the paper in which it is published, of of the Secretary of the company.

Snc. 10. The Hoard of Directors may order the paymentoi said assessments in installments, not exceeding ten per centum per month, and payment thereof shall be made to the Treasurer in compliance with such order: Provided, That no more shall bo collected than shall, in opinion ol the Directors, be required for tbo legitimate purposes of the company in tho prosecution ot the work: and, Prodded further , That unless the main line of the company’s proposed work shall exceed twenty miles in length, no part ot the assessments shall be collected by the company until the company shall have given bond payable to the State of Indiana, with surety approved by the Circuit or Common Fleas Court or a Judge thereof of a county in which the work or some part of it is situated, conditioned for tho faithful application to tho legitimate purposes of the company ot all money which shall bo reoeived by them for the eonstruction of the work, which bond shall be filed in tho Clerk’s office of the Circuit Court in the couuty where it was approved, aud a copy thereof in the Clerk’s office of such Court in each of the other counties in which rtny part of the work is situated; and any person or porsons aggreived by any breach of tho conditions of such bond shall have an action thereon iu any court of competent jurisdiction for tho recovery ot all damages thereby sustained by him or them. tine. 11. Payment of assessment of benefits may be enforced by the foreclosure of the lien in any court ot Competent jurisdiction in the same manner as is provided by law for the foreclosure of mortgages, aud the sale of the mortgaged premises for the collection of debts, and payment of damages assessed for injuries to lands may be -assessed in a like court. Sec. 12. The company may aj>propriato any land, stone, timber, gravel, or ariy other materials necessary for the right of way, or the construction, maintenance or improvement of their proposed work, by first paying into tho couuty treasury of the couuty where tho land is situated, lor tho use of the ownoiTof the land, tho nmount of damages assessed by said appraisers to him therefor. Sec. 13. Any ’“company whose work shall be estimated to cost three

thousand dollars or more, may is*u« limit bonds, wither without coupons not exceeding iu tliu aggregate the estimated cost of their work, which bonds may each be of any denomination, and payable at any lime and place, and bear any ruto of interest not exceeding ten per centum per annum, payable annually or semiannually, and may secure the payment thereof by a pledge or pledges, or mortgage or mortgages upon said assessments for benefits to lands or any part thereof, or any other property of the company; which pledges and mortgages may each provide for a sinking fund lor the gradual extinguishment of tho debts, and such company may from time to time negotiate said bonds iji any market or place, at any rate of discount not exceeding ten per centum; and after any such bond shall have been negotiated, no action or proceeding shall bo instituted, nor any defence to any action interposed by tho company or any person or persons, the object or tendency of which shall be to impair flujpTa-' lidity or security, or to depress tlio value ol such bonds, any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding. Sec. 14. After the expiration of three years from the recording ot the apdraiser’s schedule of assessments in any county, no action shall be instituted to foreclose, any lion on land situated in such county, unless the assessments secured by such lien shall have been pledged or mortgaged as security for one or more bonds then outstanding; and in such cases, no tract ot land shall, after the lapse of said three years, be liable for more than a fair proportion of\the assessments pledged or mortgaged as security for bonds of the company, and required for the extinguishment thereof.

Sec'. 15. No informality, irregularity, or omission, which shall have occurred, or which may occur m the orgaization or proceedings of any company, or in the appointment or proceedings of any ot their officers, agents, or llm appraisers, shall affect the rights and privileges of such company or invalidate the assessments of the appraisers, nor any sale of land which shall be made under any foreclosure of any lien for the assessment thereon, provided the amount of the assessment shall be clearly' set forth in the appraisers’ schedule, and the schodule shall have been duly recorded, and notice of the recording thereof given as hereinbefore provided. Sec. 10. All members- qf any company which has been organized, or which shall be organized under the provisions of this act, shall be personally liable for all debts contracted by the company for manual labor performed for the company. Sec. 17. All laws contravening or conflicting with any of the provisions of this act, and all laws now or at any time heretofore in force relating to incorporated companies or asoeiatious for constructing levees and drains, are hereby repealed, but all actions now pending, and all rights of action which have accrued under any law hereby repealed, may be prosecuted to final judgment in tlio same manner as if such law had not been repealed; and all corporations heretofore organized, and now existing under any law hereby repealed, and the several members thereof shall be entitled to the benefits and privileges conferred, and subject to the liabilities and restrictions imposed by this act: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall bo held or construed to modify or repeal, in whole or in part, an act entitled “an act to enable the owners of wet lands to drain and reclaim them, when the sairtc cannot be done without alfeciing the lands of others, prescribing the powers and duties of County Boards and County Auditors in the premises, aud repealing all Laws inconsistent therewith,” approved March 11, 1807. Sec. 18. An emergency exists for the immediate taking effect of this act, and the saiiio is declared to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.