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CHAP 469.
Inquisition—
how and when
taken.
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SEC. 13. And be it enacted, That the president
and directors of said company, or a majority of them,
or any person or persons authorised by a majority of
them, may agree with the owner or owners of any
land, earth, timber, gravel, stone or other materials, or
any improvements which may be wanted for the con-
struction or repair of any of said roads, or of any of
their works, for the purchase or use and occupation of
the same, and if they cannot agree, or if the owner or
owners, or any of them, be a feme covert, underage,
non compos mentis, or out of the county, in which
the property wanted may lie, when such land or materi-
als shall be wanted, application may he made to any
justice of the peace of such county, who shall there-
upon issue his warrant, under hand and seal, directed
to the sheriff of said county, requiring him to sum-
mon a jury of twenty inhabitants of said county, not
related, nor in anywise interested, to meet on the land,
or near to the other property or materials to be valu-
ed, on a day named in said warrant, not less than ten,
nor more than twenty, after issuing the same, and if
at said time and place any of said jurors summoned
do not attend, the said sheriff shall immediately sum-
mon as many jurors as may be necessary, with the
jurors in attendence, to furnish a panel of twenty
jurors in attendence, and from them each parly or its,
his, her or their agent, if either be not present in per-
son or by agent, the sheriff for him, her, it or them,
may strike off four jurors, and the remaining twelve
shall act as the jury of inquest of damages, and be-
fore they act as such, the said sheriff shall administer
to each of them an oath or affirmation, as the case may
be, that he will justly and impartially value the
damages which the owner or owners will sustain,
by the use or occupation of the same, required by the
company, and the jury in estimating such damages
shall take into the estimate the benefit resulting to
the said owner or owners from conducting such rail
road though, along or near to the property of said
owner or owners, but only in extinguishment of the
claim for damages, and the said jury shall reduce
their inquisition to writing, and shall sign and seal
the same, and it shall then be returned by the said
sheriff, to the clerk or prothonotary of his county, as
the case may be, and by such clerk or prothonotary
filed in his court, and shall be confirmed by said
court as its next session, if no sufficient cause to the
contrary be shown, and when confirmed shall be re-
corded by said clerk or prothonotary, at the expense
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