| 1796. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
|
CHAP.
LXIX.
Road, &c.
vested in the
corporation,
&c. |
XVII. And be
it enacted, That the said road
and tolls shall be and are hereby
vested in the said corporation,
and their successors, for ever; provided always,
that after the proprietors of the said stock shall have been reimbursed
by the said
tolls the whole of their principal sum advanced, with fifteen per cent.
per annum
thereon from the profits of the said tolls, that from and thereafter
all profits of
the said tolls, exceeding the said
annual interest of fifteen per cent. upon their
original capital, shall belong to and be paid by the said corporation to
the state;
and provided also, that the said corporation shall be also obliged thereafter
to
keep the said road in good repair, out of the fifteen per cent.
so to be retained
and received by the said corporation; and provided also, that whensoever,
at any
time after the expiration of forty
years from the establishing and completing of
the said road, it shall seem expedient to the legislature to make the said
road and
tolls so established and made the property of the state, by a law to be
enacted for
that purpose, three commissioners shall be appointed by the legislature
on the
part of the state, and three by the corporation aforesaid, who, or any
four or
more of them, shall examine the accounts, and estimate what sum or sums
of
money the said corporation has expended and received, and the sum, if any,
necessary to be added to their receipts, to reimburse the said corporation
the sums
by them expended, with an interest of fifteen per cent. per annum on
the capital
expended in completing said road, which said sum being paid to the said
corporation,
the said road and tolls shall immediately thereon be the property of the
state. |
Company to
keep a just
account, &c. |
XVIII. And be
it enacted, That the said company
shall keep a just and true
account of all and every the monies
to be received by their several and respective
collectors of tolls at the several gates and turnpikes on said road from
beginning
to end, and shall make and declare a dividend of the clear profits and
income
thereof, all contingent costs and
charges being first deducted, among all the
subscribers to said company's stock,
and shall, on every second Monday in
January and July in every year, publish the half yearly dividend to be
made
of the said clear profits among the stockholders, and of the time and place
when and where the same will be paid, and shall cause the same to be paid
accordingly. |
An abstract to
be laid before
the general
assembly, &c. |
XIX. And be
it enacted, That the president
and directors shall, at the end of
every third year after the choice of the first directors as aforesaid,
until two years
next after the whole road shall be completed, and every second year thereafter,
lay before the general assembly of this state an abstract of their accounts,
shewing
the whole amount of their capital
expended in prosecution of the said work,
and of the profits and income arising from said toll for and during the
said respective
periods, together with an exact account of the costs and charges of keeping
the said road now in repair, and all other contingent costs and charges,
to the end
that the clear annual income and
profits thereof may be ascertained and known;
and if at the end of two years after the said road shall be completed from
the beginning
to the end thereof, it shall appear, from the average profits of the said
two years, that the said income and profits thereof will not bear a dividend
of ten
per centum per annum
on the whole capital stock of the said company so expended,
then it shall and may be lawful to and for the said president and directors
to
increase the tolls herein allowed so much upon each and every allowance
thereof
as will raise the dividends up to ten per centum per annum, in which
increase they
shall be regulated by the net profits
of the preceding year. |
Tolls may be
reduced, &c. |
XX. And be it
enacted, That in case the said
tolls, as hereby first established,
shall, in any one year from and after the term or two years after the completion
of the said road, exceed in net profits the sum of ten per centum per
annum, then
the legislature may, at any subsequent session, and from time to time,
reduce the
said tolls, provided that when thus reduced they shall not yield in net
profits a
less sum than ten per centum
per annum; and in making such reduction they shall
be governed by the average of the clear income and profits arising from
the tolls
of the two years next preceding such reduction. |
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