ROBERT BQWIB, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR. NOVEMBER.

1803.

the president and directors of the same company, or a majority of them, may from time to time de-
termine, and that the said tolls be rated and paid in current money of the United States.

CHAP.
LXIV.

XII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That if any person or persons shall cut, or attempt to cut, destroy,
or in any way impair, the said wharfage, bank or dam, he, she or they, shall forfeit and pay to the
said president and directors, for the use of the said company, on conviction In a court of law, if
free, the sum of two thousand dollars, or on the non-payment of the same within thirty days after
such conviction, he, she or they, shall be sentenced to the wheel-barrow, to work on the public
roads in Baltimore county for any term not exceeding fourteen years; and if a servant or servants,
slave or slaves for life, to work on the roads in the county aforesaid.

Penalty for in-
juring the
works, &c.

XIII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That it shall and may be lawful, and the said corporation shall have
full and ample power and authority, to make by-laws and ordinances to compel the payment of the
said tolls and duties, so set and imposed, as the said corporation may think right and most effectual,
and the said tolls and duties shall become a perpetual revenue for the sole and exctusive benefit of
the said corporation, and their successors, for ever,

XIV. AND, whereas the waters may break and force their way across the beach, at such place
and in such manner as to render the property of individuals less valuable than at present, and it is

Corporation
may make by-
laws, &c.

reasonable and proper that compensation should be made for any injury so done, BE IT ENACTED,
That it shall and may be lawful for any person or persons who may think him, her or themselves ag-
grieved by reason of stopping the bay and opening an inlet as aforesaid, or for the guardian or guar-
dians of any infant, whose interests may be affected thereby, to make application to any two justices
of the peace for Worcester county, which said justices shall thereupon and they are hereby required
to issue their warrant, under their hands, to the sheriff of the said county, to summon a jury of
twelve good and lawful men of his county, not related to the parties, nor in any manner interested,
to meet at or as near the place damaged as they conveniently can, which place shall be named by the
said justices, on a day to be expressed in the warrant, not less than ten nor more than twenty days
thereafter, and the sheriff, upon receiving the said warrant, shall forthwith summon the said jury,
and when met, shall administer to each and every of the jurymen so summoned the following oath :
" You, A. B. do swear, or affirm, as the case may be, that you will faithfully, justly and imparti-
" ally, value and assess the damages that C. D. the person whose interest is affected, has sustained,
" or may sustain, by reason of stopping up Sinepuxent bay, or the breaking or forming any inlet or
" inlets through the beach in consequence thereof, according to the best of your skill and judgment;
" that in estimating and assessing such damages you will take into consideration, as well all injury
" that may be sustained by the said C. D. by reason of the actual overflowing or washing away of the
" soil of the said C. D. as all injury and damage that may and probably will be sustained by the said
" C. D. in consequence of being deprived of any or ail privileges and advantages heretofore used
" and exercised by the said C. D» and those under whom the said C. D, ctaims, whether these pri-
" vileges and advantages arise immediately from the lands of the said C. D. the lands of others, or
" vacant uncultivated lands, the particular situation of which was such as to render them beneficial
" to the said C. D. and that in such valuation you will not spare any person for favour or affection,

" nor aggrieve any person for hatred, malice or ill will; so help you God;" and the inquisition
thereupon taken shall be signed by the said sheriff, and each and every of the said jurymen, and re-
turned by the sheriff to the cterk of his county, to be recorded; and the valuation so made shall be
conctusive, and shall be paid by the said president and directors to the owner of the lands so injured
as aforesaid, or his or her legal representative, within six months from the time of such inquisition
taken and returned as aforesaid; and if the same be not paid as aforesaid, the party aggrieved, or
his or her legal representative, may have an action on the case against the said corporation in Wor-
cester county court for the recovery thereof, in which it shall be sufficient to dectare that action
hath accrued to the said party by virtue of this act, and the inquisition to be taken under it as
aforesaid.

Persons ag-
grieved may
apply to two
justices, &c.

XV. PROVIDED ALWAYS, AND BE IT ENACTED, That if the damages sustained, or to be sus-
tained, by any minor, shall, at the instance of the guardian or guardians of such minor, be inquired
into and assessed under this act, such minor shall nevertheless, at any time within two years after
he or she shall attain the age of twenty-one years, be at liberty to suggest, in writing, to any two
justices of the peace for Worcester county aforesaid, that further and other damages have accrued
to him or her than those taken into consideration by the jury aforesaid, and such justices shall there-
upon proceed, in the manner herein before directed, to cause a jury to be summoned to value and
ascertain such further damages, in the same manner that the original damages were ascertained, and
F

Proviso,