Preamble.
Owners of
mills built
below Places
where Public
Roads cross,
so as to injure
or obstruct
the Road,
shall make
Bridges and
Causeways over
the Branches
where
the Road
crosses, and
keep them in
Repair.
Penalty for
Neglect.
But shall not
work upon any
other Part
of the Road.
Duration.
|
WHEREAS it is represented to this General ASsembly, That several
Persons, in Evasion of any Act of Assembly, entitled, An Act for
Repairing the Public Roads in this Province, made at a Session of
Assembly, begun and held at the City of Annapolis, the Second
Day of October,
in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-three,
have, since the Passing the said Act, Built Mills, and Erected Dams for
such
mills, on Branches or Runs below the Places where Public or Main Roads
crossed such Branches or Runs, by Means whereof the Waters are so stopped
and interrupted in their Course, that the Public or Main Roads are become
unpassable, to the great Prejudice of all those who have Occasion to pass
and
use such Roads:
II. Be it therefore
Enacted, by the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary,
by and with the Advice and Consent of his Lordship's Governor, and
the Upper and
Lower Houses of Assembly, and the Authority of the same, That
where any Person
or Persons, have, since the Second Day of October, in the Year of
our
Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-three, Built, or shall hereafter
Build or Erect, any Mill, on any Branch or Run below the Places where Public
or Main Roads did or shall cross such Branch or Run, and by the Building
and Erecting of such Mill, or the Dam for the same, the Public or Main
Road
which crossed or shall cross the Branch or Run as aforesaid, is, or shall
be
any Way hurt or injured, or the Passage therein any Way obstructed or rendered
difficult or incommodious, such Person or Persons, of the Owner, Possessor,
or Occupier, of such Mill or Mills, shall, and they are hereby obliged,
by the last Day of October next, where such Mill or Mills have
already
been Built, or within Three months after the Building of any other Mill
or
Mills, stopping or impeding the Course of the Water as aforesaid, to make
good and sufficient Bridges and Causeways, Twelve Feet wide, at the least
over the said Branches or Runs, at the Places where the public or Main
Roads
crossed such Branches as aforesaid, and the same Bridges maintain and
keep
in good Repair, under the Penalty of Twenty Pounds Current Money, and
the like Sum for every Two Months Neglect thereafter; one Half thereof
to be applied towards defraying the Charge of the County where such Neglect
shall happen, the other Half to him or them that shall inform or sue
for the same; to be recovered by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information,
in ay Court of Record within this Province, wherein no Essoin, Protection,
or Wager of Law, or more than one Imparlance, shall be allowed.
III. Provided,
That such Person or Persons, Owner or Owners, Possessor or
Occupier of such Mill or Mills, shall not be obliged to send his or their
Taxable
Persons, who shall reside in the Precinct of such Public Road, to work
on any Part of such Road, except on such Bridge and Causeway as aforesaid.
IV. This Act to be in Force during the Continuance
of the above recited
Act, and no longer.
Examined and Compared with the Original Act, REVERDY GHISELIN,
THOMAS BACON. |
