84

SAMUEL STEVENS, ESQUIRE, Jr. GOVERNOR

Dec. Ses. 1823

thereby granted to the Potomac Company shall he vested in the com-
pany hereby incorporated; and it shall be the duty of the said last
mentioned Company until every section of the contemplated, canal
shall be completed, so as to be used and enjoyed for the purposes of
navigation, to keep the corresponding part of the River in a proper
state for navigation and in good order as the same now is, and in de-
fault thereof they shall, be in all things responsible in the same man-
ner as the Potomac Company is now responsible; and in all rivulets,
streams, creeks and rivers, required for the Western section of the
said Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the same rights shall be and are here-
by vested in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company by this act as
the charter of the Potomac Company vested in the said company in
relation to the waters of the Potomac and the tributary streams
thereof.

Public high-
way.

14. And be it enacted, That the said canal and the works to be
erected thereon in virtue of this act when completed shall forever
thereafter be esteemed and taken to be navigable, as a public high-
way, free for the transportation of all goods, commodities and pro-
duce whatever on payment of the tolls to be imposed as provided by
this act, and no other toll or tax whatever, for the use of the said ca-
nal, and the works thereon erected shall at any time hereafter be im-
posed but by the consent of the said states, and the congress of the
United States.

Condem-
nation of ma-
terials.

15. And whereas, it is necessary for the making the said canal,
locks, dams, ponds, feeders and other works that a provision should,
be made for condemning a quantity of land for the purpose, Be it
enacted, That it shall and may be lawful far, the said president and di-
rectors, or a majority of them to agree with the owners of any land
through which the said canal is intended to pass, for the purchase or
use and occupation thereof and in case of disagreement, or in case
the owner thereof shall be a feme-covert, under age, non compos, or
out of the state or county, on application to a justice of the county in
which such land shall lie, the said justice of the peace shall issue his
warrant under his hand to the sheriff of the county, to summon a jury
of eighteen inhabitants of his county, not related to the parties, nor
in any manner interested, to meet on the land to be valued, at 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 an
oath or affirmation to every jury man who shall appear, being not less
than twelve in number, that he will faithfully, justly and impartially
value the land, and all damages the owner thereof shall sustain, by

Land, &c.

cutting the canal through such land, or the partial or temporary ap-
propriation, use or occupation of such land, according to the best of
his skill and judgment, and that in such, valuation he will not spare
any person for favor or affection, nor any person grieve for malice,
hatred or ill will; and in every such valuation and assessment of da-
mages, the jury shall be, and they are hereby instructed to consider in
determining and fixing the amount thereof, the benefit which will ac-
crue to the owner from conducting the said canal through or erecting
any of the said works upon his land, and to regulate their verdict
thereby, except that no assessment shall require any such owner to
pay or contribute any thing to the said company, where such benefit
shall exceed in the estimate of the jury the value and damages, ascer-
tained as aforesaid, and the inquisition thereupon taken shall be