pany, may be made either under or without the seal thereof, and shall be subscribed by the president, or by such other officer as may be designated for that purpose by the said company, and attested by the secretary; and, being so subscribed and attested, shall be obligatory upon the said company according to the tenor, intent, and meaning of this act, and of such policies or contracts. estate may 8. And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for What real said company to purchase and hold such, and so much real be held. estate as shall be necessary for their convenient accommodation in the transaction of their business, and also to take and hold any real estate, or securities, bona fide mortgaged or pledged to said company to secure the payment of any debt which may be contracted with them; and also to proceed on said mortgage, or other securities, for the recovery of the moneys thereby secured, either at law or in equity, and to purchase on sales made under such proceedings, or otherwise, to take and receive any real estate in payment, or towards satisfaction of any debt previously contracted with or due to said company, and the said real estate to mortgage, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of; the said company may invest their capital, and accumulating premiums, from time to time in public stocks, bonds, and mortgages, and such other securities as the directors may approve. ferable. 9. And be it enacted, That the stocks of said company Stock transshall be deemed personal property, and shall be assignable and transferable, according to such rules and regulations as the directors may establish from time to time in the bylaws of said company. dividends to 10. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the di- Semi-annual rectors to make dividends of so much of the profits of the be made. company as shall appear advisable among the stockholders, upon such ratio as shall be established by the by-laws, which dividends shall be paid out semi-annually, to the parties entitled thereto, or to their legal representatives. 11. And be it enacted, That this act shall continue in force Limitation. twenty years; provided, no contract made by said corpora- Proviso. tion, before the repeal or expiration of this charter, shall be affected thereby, and the said corporation shall have a reasonable time to bring its accounts to a final settlement. 12. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect immediately. Approved March 11, 1858. Style of incorporation. Commissioners to survey meadow. CHAPTER CXXI. AN ACT to incorporate the Upper Clonmel Meadow Company. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That the owners and possessors of the meadows and marsh adjoining Clonmel creek, in the county of Gloucester, and lying between the fast land of Benjamin Lodge and that of the farm now occupied by Charles Parker, are hereby incorporated and constituted a body politic and corporate, under the name, style, and title of the "Upper Clonmel Meadow Company." 2. And be it enacted, That Isaac Reeves, George Craft, and Henry Allen, jun., of said county, are hereby appointed commissioners, who, or a majority of whom, shall, at any time between the passage of this act and the first day of the sixth month, June, next, after giving ten days' notice in writing to each of the owners or possessors of said marsh or meadow, or by advertising in three of the most public places in the neighborhood of said premises for the like space of time, stating the time and place of their meeting, cause a survey to be made of the exterior limits or bound aries of the said meadows and marsh, a meeting at such time and place as to them, or a majority of them, may seem expedient, and shall also cause each owner's and possessor's share, within said limits, to be strictly measured, and a correct plot or map of the whole to be made, exhibiting the entire bounds of said survey, as also the number of acres held by each one, and shall also make a valuation of the same, having regard to quantity and quality; and their map, report, and valuation under their hands, or under the hands of a majority of them, in writing, shall be given to the managers hereinafter named (after having caused said report and valuation to be recorded in the road book in the clerk's office of said county), and shall remain in their possession during their continuance in office, and at the expiration of such term, be delivered to their successors, and shall be entered in the clerk's book, and received as evidence of each owner's quantity of acres, and the value each lot is rated at; and all assessments shall be made in proportion thereto. The said commissioners shall also locate, point out, and direct, by monuments or otherwise, and shall embody the same in said report and map, and the place or places where all floodgates, sluices, and every work necessary and proper to keep the water off said meadows shall be erected and maintained, as also the location of all the main sluices, races, and watercourses which are to be opened, or kept open, at said company's expense; and should they order any new watercourse to be opened through any lot of meadow or marsh, and not passing along the line thereof, it shall be their duty to assess the damages each owner may sustain in consequence thereof, and deliver to said managers their assessment in writing, under their hands, or the hands of any two of them, which said damages, so assessed, shall be paid by said managers to the person or persons injured out of the common stock of the company. officers. 3. And be it enacted, That as soon as the said commission- Election of ers shall have performed the duties prescribed in the second section of this act, and shall have caused their report to be recorded as therein directed, they shall call a general meet ing of the owners and possessors of said meadows and marsh, giving at least ten days' notice of the time and place of said meeting by notice left at the house of each owner or possessor, or by advertising the same in three of the most public places of the neighborhood, at least ten days previous to the said time of meeting, which meeting, when met pursuant to said notice or advertisement, shall elect, by a majority of votes from among the owners, one clerk, one treasurer, and three managers, who shall serve until the first annual meeting, and until others are elected in their places; which said annual meeting and all subsequent annual meetings shall be held on the first fourth day (Wednesday) of the third month (March), in each and every year; the first at such place as the general meeting to be called by the commissioners, as above directed, shall determine, and all subsequent annual meetings at such places as the next preceding annual meeting shall direct; the basis of voting at said meetings, and on all occasions when any question is to be decided, shall be as follows, except that named in the fourth section of this act, viz: any person owning or possessing twenty acres, or a less quantity, shall be entitled to one vote, and any person owning or possess ing more than twenty, and less than forty, to be entitled to two votes, and any one owning or possessing forty, and less than sixty acres, to be entitled to three votes, and one vote for every additional forty acres, said votes to be given either in person or by proxy duly executed in writing. Vacancies in 4. And be it enacted, That in case of the death, removal, missioner, inability, refusal, or neglect to serve, of all or either of the plied. said commissioners, it shall be lawful for the said owners, or any three of them, to call a meeting of the said company in the neighborhood of the said premises, by giving notice as prescribed in the third section of this act; and then and there, by a majority of their votes there present, to choose one or more judicious disinterested person or persons (as the case may require) to supply the vacancy or vacancies so occasioned. office of com how sup authorized meadows. 5. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the ma- Managers nagers, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to to drain construct good and sufficient banks, dams, floodgates, sluices, and such other works for the purpose of effectually draining said meadows and marsh, in such places and in such manner as the said commissioners may point out and direct, and dig and take, for the purposes aforesaid, any earth, mud, or sod in any part of said meadow and marsh, the most convenient and least detrimental to the owners thereof; and also to purchase materials and employ artificers to make and construct the works aforesaid, and to have free ingress and regress for themselves and their teams through any part thereof; and the said managers shall dig, open, and clear out all such main sluice races and watercourses as far up as the said commissioners shall direct to be kept at all times open and clear, of such width and depth as to give the water a sufficient fall off said meadows; and all line ditches necessary for draining the said meadows shall be dug and kept open, agreeably to the directions of the said managers, by and at the expense of the soil adjoining; and if any of the said owners shall refuse or neglect to dig or cleanse their proportion of such line ditches, or clear out their own particular ditches, for thirty days after orders for that purpose have been given in writing to said owner or possessor thereof by the managers or any two of them, it shall and may be lawful for said managers, or any one of them, or any person or persons who consider themselves injured thereby, to enter upon the premises, and dig or cleanse such ditches (the mud in all line ditches and main sluice races or watercourses to be thrown as equally as may be on each side thereof), and recover the costs and expenses thereof by action of debt against the person or persons whose duty it was to have performed the same, in manner aforesaid. assess and 6. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said Managers to managers, and they are hereby authorized and empowered collect moto assess and collect, from the several owners or possessors fray exof the meadow and marsh within the bounds of the com ney to de pense. |