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quence of such street, lane, alley, highway, wharf or slip, having been laid out, altered, widened or straightened, after taking into consideration and making due allowance for any benefit which said owner or owners may derive from such improvement. The said commissioners shall at the same time assess and apportion the said damages and expenses of such improvement, on the real estate benefitted thereby, as nearly as may be, in proportion to the benefits resulting therefrom; and shall describe the real estate on which any assessment is made under this section, in the same manner as is provided in the thirty-eighth section.of the act hereby amended, in relation to the assessment of taxes. If there be any building on any land taken for such improvement, the owner thereof shall have ten days, or such time as the common council may allow, after the final assessment of the commissioners is returned to and confirmed by the common council, to remove the same. And in case such owner removes such building, the value thereof to the owner to remove shall be deducted from the amount of damages awarded to the owner thereof, and such value shall be, at the time of the assessment, determined by the commissioners. The determination and assessment of the commissioners shall be returned in writing, signed by all the commissioners, to the common council, within thirty days after their appointment by the said common council as aforesaid. The common council may, if sufficient objections are made to the appointment of any of said commissioners, or if any of said commissioners shall be unable to serve by sickness or any other cause, appoint other commissioners to serve in their places, in the manner as is herein provided. And the said common council, after the determination and assessment of the commissioners as aforesaid, is returned to them, shall give two weeks notice in the corporation newspaper, printed in said city, that such determination and assessment of the commissioners will, on a day to be specified in said notice, be confirmed by the common council, unless objections by some person interested are made thereto. All objections to such determination and assessment as aforesaid, shall be briefly stated in writing, and filed with the clerk. If no objections are made as aforesaid, the said determination and assessment shall be confirmed by the common council. If objections are made as aforesaid, any person interested may be heard before the common council, touching the said determination and assessment of the commissioners, on the day specified in the aforesaid notice, or on such other day or days as the common council shall for that purpose appoint; and the said common council, on con

sideration of the objections made, shall have power in their discretion to confirm such determination and assessment of the commissioners, or to annul the same; and refer the same subject matter back to the same commissioners, or appoint five other commissioners for the purposes, and in the manner as is herein provided. And the said commissioners shall make the second determination and assessment and return the same to the common council, in like manner, and give like notices as they are herein required in relation to the first determination and assessment and return thereof, and the parties interested shall have like notices and rights; and the common council shall perform like duties and have like powers in relation to the second determination and assessment of said commissioners as are herein given and required in relation to the first determination and assessment of said commissioners. And in case the common council shall confirm. the second determination and assessment of said commissioners, the same shall be final and conclusive on all persons interested; but in case the common council shall annul the same, then all the proceedings in relation to laying out, altering, widening or straightening such street, alley, lane, highway, wharf or slip, shall be null and void. But nothing herein contained shall authorise the said common council to discontinue or contract any street or highway or any part thereof without the consent in writing of all persons owning land adjoining such street or highway. That in all cases where the whole of any lot or parcel of land or other premises under lease, or other contract, shall be taken for any of the purposes aforesaid by virtue of the act hereby amended, or this act, all the covenants, contracts and engagements between landlord and tenant or any other contracting parties, touching the same or any part thereof, shall, upon the confirmation of such report in the premises as shall be confirmed by the common council aforesaid, respectively cease and determine and be absolutely discharged: and in all cases where part only of any lot or parcel of land, or other premises so under lease or other contract, shall be so taken for any of the purposes aforesaid, all contracts and engagements respecting the same shall, upon the confirmation of such report in the premises as shall be so confirmed as aforesaid, cease, determine, and be absolutety discharged, as to the part thereof so taken, but shall remain valid and obligatory as to the residue thereof; and the rents, considerations and payments reserved or payable, and to be paid for or in respect to the same, shall be so apportioned as that the part thereof justly and equitably payable or that ought to be paid for such said residue thereof, and no more, shall

Grading, lo velling, pav ing, &c.

be demanded or paid or recoverable for or in respect of the same.

$42. The common council shall have power to cause any street, alley, lane or highway in said city to be graded, levelled, paved, re-paved, McAdamized or gravelled, and to cause cross and side-walks, drains, sewers and aqueducts to be constructed and made in said city, and to cause any side-walks or drains, sewers and aqueducts to be relaid, amended and repaired, and to cause the expenses of all improvements (except side-walks,) made and directed under this section, to be assessed upon the real estate in said city deemed benefitted by such improvement, in proportion to the benefits resulting thereto as nearly as may be. The common council shall determine the amount to be assessed for all improvements to be made or directed under this section, except side-walks, and shall appoint by a majority of all the aldermen authorized by law to be elected, five reputable freeholders of said city by ballot, to make such assessment. The assessors shall be sworn before the mayor, or any justice of the peace in said city, faithfully and impartially to execute their duty as such assessors, according to the best of their ability. And before entering upon the duties assigned them by this section, the assessors shall give notice to all persons interested, of the time and place of the meeting of the said assessors, at least five days before the time of such meeting, by publishing such notice in the corporation newspaper printed in said city; and they may, if necessary, adjourn from day to day. The said assessors shall assess the amount directed by the common council to be assessed for any such improvement, on the real estate deemed by them to be benefitted thereby, in proportion to the benefit resulting thereto as nearly as may be. And the said assessors shall briefly describe in the assessment roll to be made by them, the real estate on or in respect of which any assessment is made under this section. When the assessment is completed, they shall give the like notice, and also publish the same in the corporation newspaper, and have the same power to make corrections, as in the case of assessment of taxes. They shall deliver a corrected copy of the assessment roll, signed by all the assessors, to the clerk of the city, to be filed within sixty days after their appointment, as aforesaid. Any person interested may appeal to the common council for the correction of the assessment. Such appeal shall be in writing, and shall be delivered to the clerk or presiding officer of the common council, within ten days after the corrected copy of the assessment roll is filed with the clerk. In case of appeal, the common council shall ap

point a time within ten days thereafter, for the hearing of those who are interested, and shall cause a notice to be published in the corporation newspaper, designating the time and place and object of hearing; and they may adjourn said hearing from time to time as may be necessary: And the common council shall, in case of appeal as aforesaid, have power in their discretion to confirm such assessment, or to annul the same, and direct a new assessment to be made in the manner herein before directed, by the same assessors, or by five other assessors to be appointed as aforesaid by the common council, and sworn as aforesaid, which shall be final and conclusive on all parties interested, in case the common council shall confirm the same; but if the common council shall set aside the last aforesaid assessment, all the proceedings in relation to the grading, levelling, paving, repairing, McAdamizing or gravelling such street, alley, lane or highway in said city, shall be null and void. If the first assessment to be made and confirmed under this or the preceding sections, proves insufficient, the common council may cause another to be made in the same manner, or if too large an amount shall at any time be raised, the excess shall be refunded ratably to those by whom it was paid. The said assessors may, if in their opinion any owner or owners of land situate on such street, alley, lane or highway as shall be gravelled or levelled, will sustain damages over and above the benefit which may accrue to the owner or owners of such land by such improvements, assess such an amount as they may deem a reasonable recompense to such owner or owners therefor, upon the real estate in said city deemed by them to be benefitted by such improvement in proportion to the benefits resulting thereto, as nearly as may be; and the said assessors may add said amount to the assessment roll, which they are herein required to make, and certify the said amount to the common council at the time of filing said roll with the clerk as aforesaid. If any vacancy shall happen in the office of assessors for any of the causes mentioned in the next preceding section, the same shall be filled by the common council in the manner therein provided. And the same shall be taken and deemed, so far as regards all acts and things to be done in pursuance thereof, as having been passed at the time of the passage of the act hereby amended.

Moneys to be

surer.

$11. All assessments directed to be paid to the collector of said city by the forty-third section of the act here- paid to teaby amended, shall hereafter be paid to the treasurer of the city, and after the assessment rolls are filed with the clerk as therein directed, the common council shall give notice to the owners of the real estate therein and thereby as

Certain

streets to be recorded

Dog tax.

Assize of bread.

Certain deeds

sessed, to pay the several assessments to the city treasurer within thirty days after notice, by publishing said notice in the corporation newspaper; and in default of making such payment, the common council may proceed to sell such real estate as is provided in said forty-third section. But this amendment shall in no wise alter or affect the provisions specified in the thirty-eighth section of the act hereby amended relative to the sale of real estate for non-payment of taxes as therein mentioned.

S 12. The common council shall have power to cause such of the streets, lanes, alleys, highways, or avenues in said city, or any part or parts thereof as shall have been heretofore laid out, but not recorded or sufficiently described, and such as shall have been used for twenty years, but not recorded, to be ascertained, described, and entered of record in a book to be kept by the clerk of said city. S 13. That the said common council are hereby authorized to levy an annual tax upon the owner of every dog kept or owned in said city by such person, not exceeding five dollars for each dog so owned or kept by such person. $ 14. That the said common council shall have power to regulate from time to time, the assize of bread in said city.

$ 15. That a certain conveyance, bearing date July confirmed twenty-third, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, made by Nathaniel Wilgus and Lucy his wife, and Darius Burton of the first part, to "the city of Buffalo," for four acres of land in lot number thirty, in the eleventh township and eighth range; and a certain other conveyance bearing date July twenty-sixth, in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-two, from William Hodge, junior, to "the city of Buffalo," for five acres in said lot, township and range, be and the same are hereby confirmed.

Suits,

To take of

fect.

S16. Every person now or hereafter elected or appointed under the act hereby amended, or this act, to any office, who shall be sued for any act done or omitted to be done under such election or appointment, or where any person who shall have done any act or thing by the command of any such person so appointed or elected under the said acts, he shall be permitted to plead the general issue, and give the special matter in evidence; and if any final judgment shall be rendered therein, whereby any such defendant shall be entitled to costs, such defendant shall recover double costs, as double costs are defined by the Revised Statutes.

S17. This act shall take effect upon the passage thereof.

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