| 1787.
CHAP.
XXIII. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
roads respectively; and the several roads so laid out and confirmed,
or corrected,
and returned as aforesaid, shall be for ever afterwards taken, held and
adjudged,
in all courts of law and equity, public roads and common highways. |
Roads to be
cleared, &c. |
VIII. And be
it enacted, That the said commissioners appointed to lay out
the roads aforesaid, shall cause the said roads respectively, when laid
out and
marked as aforesaid, to be cut down and well cleared fifty-two feet wide,
and
grubbed and stoned forty feet wide, and shall cause a ditch to be cut on
each side
of the said forty feet, where necessary, or six feet in breadth, and three
feet in
depth, (or of such other breadth and depth as they may judge sufficient)
to receive
all water that may be drawn off the said road by drains; and the said
commissioners
shall also cause proper and convenient causeways, not less than twenty
feet wide, to be made and raised over miry or low ground, and shall cause
bridges,
not less than sixteen feet wide, with walls (or posts and rails) to be
built over
branches or runs of water, with stone or brick arches fully sufficient,
at all
times, for the water to run under, and the said commissioners shall
cause the
said forty feet, where the ground will permit, to be raised in the middle
thereof
not less than eighteen inches higher than the sides, with a gradual fall
to each
side, and, where necessary, from the nature of the soil, they shall cause
the said
forty feet to be covered or crowned with small stones, or coarse gravel,
and on
the south side of the said roads, and in the line of the said forty feet,
the said commissioners
shall cause stones to be erected, not less than two feet in and three feet
above
the ground, at the end of every mile, and on each stone to be cut the distance
to Baltimore-town; and the said commissioners, for the direction of strangers,
shall, on every road crossing the said public roads, and on every road
leading
therefrom, set up guide-posts, with boards which hands, letters and figures,
painted
thereon, noting the place to which such road goes, and the distance. |
Commissioners
may agree
with the proprietors
of
land, &c. |
IX. And,
whereas the streightening and widening the old roads, and making
the new, may cause damage to the owners of the land through which the said
roads may pass, and it is reasonable and just that the owners should (if
they require
it) receive compensation therefor, Be it
enacted, That if the proprietor
of the land through which the present roads now pass, and which shall be
continued
by the said commissioners, shall apply to them for any satisfaction for
the
addition of the forty-six feet to the present legal breadth of the said
road, the
said commissioners may agree with the said owner for the purchase of such
addition,
and may allow him therefor at a rate not exceeding eighteen pounds fifteen
shillings current money per mile; and if the said new road shall pass through
any unimproved land, the owner may be allowed at the same rate per mile
of
sixty-six feet wide; and if the addition to the old road of forty-six feet,
or the
new road of sixty-six feet, shall pass through any improved ground, (buildings,
orchards, gardens and yards, excepted) the said commissioners may agree
with
the owner of such improved ground for the purchase thereof, and may allow
him
therefor at a rate not exceeding thirty--two pounds current money for every
mile
of such road of sixty-six feet wide; and at the same rate for every mile
of forty-six
feet wide; and in case the owner of the said lands shall refuse to make
sale thereof at a reasonable price, or be under any incapacity or disability
of
making such sale, or contracting therefor, the said commissioners respectively
may issue their warrant, directed to the sheriff of the county, commanding
him to summon and return a jury of good and lawful men of his county, to
be and appear before one or more justices of the peace for the said county
on
the premises, at a certain day in the said warrant expressed, which jury,
upon
their oath, to be administered by some justice of the peace, shall inquire
who is
or are the owner or owners of the land over which the road runs or
passes, and
what damages such owner or owners will sustain by reason and occasion of
carrying
such road over and through the said ands, and the said jury are hereby
required
to consider the convenience and benefit, and the disadvantages, if any,
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