1789.
Passed December
19. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
CHAP. XV.
An ACT for the draining of a marsh and branch, known by the
name of the Long Marsh, lying in Queen-Anne's and
Caroline
counties. |
| Preamble. |
WHEREAS it is represented to the general assembly
of Maryland, by
the petition of Samuel Keene, William Hemsley, James Cheston,
John Young Keene, William Kearney, Thomas Mason, William
Lee, James Price, Mary Price, Solomon Scott, William Winchester Mason,
William Mason, William Young, James Lowman, Vachel Keene and Thomas
Lee, that the are possessed of a large body of meadow ground, lying
in Queen-Anne's
and Caroline counties, on the branch of Tuckahoe commonly called
the Long Marsh; that they have in part drained the sid ground by cutting
a
large ditch through part of the same, the effect of which has given
good foundation
to believe that very great advantage might be derived, as well to the
public
as the proprietors of the said marsh and branch, if the same could
be effectually
drained, which, it has been found by experience, cannot be well accomplished
without the aid of the legislature, by passing an act to secure
the joint exertions
of all the said proprietors: And whereas it appears to this general
assembly, that
it will be of public utility to extend the aid of the legislature in
order to accomplish
so good an object. |
Proprietors to
meet annually,
&c. |
II. Be it enacted,
by the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall and
may be lawful for the proprietors of the Long Marsh and main branch of
Tuckahoe, extending from a tract of land called Edenborough, inclusive,
belonging
to, and possessed by, the reverend Samuel Keene, down to and through a
tract of land called Stratton, in the possession of a certain Solomon Scott,
and
lying in Queen-Anne's and Caroline counties, to meet on the first Monday
of
May in each and every year hereafter, at the Nine Bridges, in Caroline
county
aforesaid, and for such proprietors, or a majority of those who shall attend
at the
said meeting, then and there annually to elect, by ballot, three of the
said proprietors
for directors, who, when so elected and chosen, are hereby authorised
and empowered to make and open a drain or ditch, not less than sixteen
feet in
width and three feet in depth, from the said tract of land called Edenborough,
inclusive, down to and through the land of the late Mr. Fauntleroy, and
from
thence, not less than twenty feet in width and three feet in depth,
down to and
through the aforesaid tract of land called Stratton, and in such direction
as they,
or the majority of them, may judge most proper to carry off the water from
the
same marsh and branch, and reduce the same to dry land; and the power and
authority of the said directors, so to be chosen, shall continue and be
in force until
the next annual election of directors. |
Cost to be paid
by the proprietors,
&c. |
III. And be
it enacted, That the cost, charges and expences, of cutting and
opening the said ditch or drain, shall be paid and defrayed by the respective
proprietors
of the same, each paying for the cutting and opening the said drain or
ditch through his own land, except where it shall so happen that two or
more of
the said proprietors hold parts of the said marsh or branch, through which
the said
ditch or drain shall be made, adjoining each other, part on one side thereof
and
part on the other, in which case each shall pay in proportion to the
part he shall
or may hold. |
Directors to
repair the
drain, &c. |
IV. And be it
enacted, That the said directors, or any two of them, shall
have full power and authority, from time to time hereafter, to repair,
cleanse, and
keep open and in good order the said drain or ditch, so to be opened
and cut in
virtue of this act, at the expence of the said proprietors, in the same
proportion
that the charges of cutting and opening the same ditch or drain are to
be paid;
and for the purpose of cutting and opening the said ditch or drain in the
first
instance, and of repairing and cleansing the same when cut and opened,
the said
directors, or any two of them, are hereby authorised to apportion what
they
may conceive the expence thereof will amount to, and demand and receive
such
proportions respectively from the said proprietors, before or at any time
after the |
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