power to adopt and use a common seal, and the same to alter or renew at pleasure, a description of which shall be entered upon their records from time to time as the same shall be rendered necessary.

SEC. 7. The common council shall meet on the first Tuesday in each month, and the recorder shall have power to call a meeting at any time it shall be necessary or at the request of any three of said trustees. The recorder shall preside at the meetings of the common council and keep order, and shall sign their proceedings, and when necessary seal the same with the seal of the corporation; and shall also sign and seal all licenses granted by the corporation for any purpose whatever; but he shall have no vote except a casting vote when the council are equally divided. The signature of the recorder and attestation under the corporate seal shall be prima facie evidence of the validity of all laws and ordinances of the corporation. Said common council shall audit and allow all claims against the town.

SEC. 8. A failure to hold any election under this act of the officers of this corporation, shall not be a forfeiture thereof, but such election shall be held at such other time as the common council shall appoint; and the common council may, in case of a vacancy in any office except that of recorder, fill the same by appointment until the next annual election. In case of vacancy in the office of recorder from any cause whatever, the same shall be filled by a special election to be held for that purpose at such time as the common council shall order.

SEC. 9. The common council shall appoint a clerk, a marshal, and a street commissioner, who shall each serve in their office for two years, and all such other officers as they shall find necessary to enable them to carry into effect the powers conferred by this act, and may prescribe the duties of all the officers of the corporation and by fines and penalties enforce the observance of the same; and alter the same from time to time as experience may suggest, not inconsistent with the provisions hereof. Before the treasurer, clerk, marshal, or street commissioner shall enter upon the duties of his office, they shall give bonds with good security to the acceptance of the common council in such penalty and such conditions as said common council shall prescribe, and it shall be the duty of said common council to require like bond and security from all officers by them appointed, any and all of which bonds shall be payable to the said common council, and any such bonds may be put in suit by any person, body corporate or politic, aggrieved by the official acts of such officers, subject to the same rules and governed by the same laws of procedure and evidence that the bonds of township officers are or may be governed.

SEC. 10. The compensation of no officer under this corporation shall be increased during their term of service unless upon a vote of two-thirds of the whole of the common council; and all compensation to said officers, except as herein fixed, shall be fixed by ordi

nances.

SEC. 11. Said common council shall have power to vacate, open and establish any street, alley, or road, in said town, and may, from good and sufficient tause, by a vote of two-thirds of their number, exempt any person or property from the payment of any tax or labor on the highways of said town. The said town as incorporated shall be one road district under the supervision of said street commissioner of said corporation who shall perform all the duties and sustain all the liabilities of a supervisor under the laws of the state of Indiana, and is hereby invested with like powers.

SEC. 12. Two-thirds of the common council shall have power to remove any officer under this incorporation for mal-feasance, or misfeasance, or habitual drunkenness, or other causes which shall in their judgment make such removal necessary and proper, and to fill all vacancies caused by any such removal except in the office of recorder: Provided, That no such removal shall take place until the officer shall have been furnished with a written statement of the causes of complaint against him and shall have an opportunity of being heard before the common council in his defense.

SEC. 13. The recorder before entering upon the duties of his office shall give bond and security for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office in all respects as is required of justices of the peace, which bond shall be taken, approved and filed, as is provided in cases of bonds given by justices of the peace, and may be put in suit from time to time, and recovery had thereon in like manner and under the same rules and regulations of bonds of justices of the peace.

SEC. 14. The recorder shall be a conservator of the peace within said town, and shall have and exercise all the power and authority, right, jurisdiction and immunities of a justice of the peace of Troy township, in said Fountain county, both civil and criminal, to be exercised within said town, and shall be authorized to direct any process by him issued to the marshal of said town, or to any constable of said township of Troy, who shall be bound to serve the same as constables are bound to serve and return like process; and said recorder shall be empowered upon view or upon information upon oath or affirmation of the violation of any penal law of said corporation to issue his warrant under his seal and cause the person charged with such violation to be brought before him, and to summon witnesses and jurors and to issue attachments there for and hear and determine any and all such accusations and recognize the accused to appear before the circuit court to answer the charge, and in default of such recognizance, to commit him, her or them to the jail of the county, to impose fines and render judgments and award executions thereon, to recognize witnesses, allow and tax their fees, correct the fees of officers generally, to do all acts in the premises which a justice of the peace may do, to have his court, enforce his judgments, and have execution thereof; and when any person shall be convicted and adjudged by or before him of any offence against the laws of

this state or the laws and ordinances of said corporation, said recorder shall have power to impose a fine on such person, or to cause him to be imprisoned in the county jail, not exceeding thirty days, as may be provided by such ordinances of said common council, or by the laws of the State, and all judgments rendered by such recorder shall have the force and effect of judgments rendered by a justice of the peace, and may be enforced or replevied in like manner, and the said recorder shall be entitled to the same fees as a justice of the peace for similar services, to be taxed and collected in the

same manner.

SEC. 15. The marshal, constables, jurors, witnesses, and all others rendering services, shall be entitled to the same fees for services. in causes and trials before the recorder, that are now allowed or may hereafter be allowed for similar services before justices of the peace, and all process issued by the recorder for the violation of the laws and ordinances of the corporation, or of the laws of the State, may be served in any part of the county of Fountain, as also all subpœnas, venires, and attachments.

SEC. 16. The recorder shall keep a docket in which he shall enter the causes brought before him, and shall on request of either party and the payment of his fees, make and certify transcripts of his proceedings and judgments, which shall have the force and effect of transcripts from justices of the peace of their judgments and proceedings, and may in like manner be filed in the clerk's office of the circuit court, and shall bind lands, and proceedings in cases of transcripts from the judgments of justices of the peace, and an appeal in all cases (except from judgments confessed) shall be allowed to either party from the judgment of the recorder to the circuit court, subject to the provisions of the law regulating appeals from judgments of justices of the peace, and the trial by jury in said court shall remain inviolate in all cases when the amount in controversy, or the penalty that may be imprisonment, shall exceed twenty dollars, or where imprisonment for a violation of the laws or ordinances of the common council, may be imprisoned; or in cases where a jury shall be allowed by the laws of the state before a justice of the peace, in which case the jury shall fix the amount of the fine or penalty and the extent of the imprisonment, not inconsistent with the laws of the state and the by-laws and ordinances of the common council; and upon all such trials it shall be no legal objection to the recorder, marshal, constable, jurors, witnesses, or other persons, that they reside in said town, and may be subject to pay a tax, and all process shall run in the name of the state of Indiana and shall be signed by the recorder and sealed with the seal of the corporation, except subpoenas for witnesses and venires for juries.

SEC. 17. The common council shall be allowed the use of the jail of Fountain county, and all persons imprisoned therein, under the authority of this act, shall be under the charge of the keeper of the county jail, as if committed by a justice of the peace.

SEC. 18. All suits for the violation of the laws and ordinances of said town shall be brought in the name of the common council of Covington, before the recorder of said town. No bond given by any officer of said corporation shall be void for want of form or be satisfied on the first recovery, but may be put in suit from time to time by any party aggrieved by the official acts of such officers.

SEC. 19. No suit brought before the recorder shall be dismissed or delayed for the want of form in any pleading, cause of action or form of action; and amendments, and continuances shall be made and allowed by the recorder aforesaid upon such terms as he shall deem equitable; but no change of venue shall ever be taken or allowed from the recorder to or before any other justice of the peace of said Troy township, in any case arising under the ordinances or by-laws of said corporation.

SEC. 20. The election of recorder may be contested before the common council, and the election of all other officers before the recorder aforesaid by any qualified voter of said town, subject to the same rules of procedure that township officers are subject to so far as the same are applicable.

SEC. 21. It shall be the duty of the clerk to keep a record of the proceedings of the common council in a book to be provided for that purpose, and make and certify all transcripts and copies thereof when thereto required by any person interested; and shall record all laws with proof of publication thereof in a separate book which shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of all persons desirous of examining the same. He shall safely keep all the other books and papers of the corporation, and do and perform all other duties imposed upon him by the common council, and for his services shall receive such fees as shall be allowed him by said common council, which shall be paid at such times as they shall provide by law. He shall keep an account with the treasurer, and publish annually a list of receipts and expenditures of the corporation. He shall prepare and attest all licenses granted by the corporation; but they shall not have any force or effect until signed by the recorder and sealed with the corporation seal: Provided, however, That no license shall ever issue except the treasurer's receipt for the tax assessed thereon be first filed with the clerk. He shall have the power to administer all oaths necessary to the discharge of official duties or the transaction of the business of the corporation. In the absence of the recorder the clerk appointod by the trustees shall perform temporarily the duties of that office, except so far as the duties of said recorder as a justice of the peace may be concerned, and in case of the death, resignation, or removal of the recorder, he shall have the care and custody of the books and papers, and corporate seal, and other property of the corporation, until a successor to such recorder shall be chosen and qualified, to whom he shall upon demand forthwith deliver the same.

SEC. 22. The marshal shall have the power and authority, and

duties and liabilities of a constable of said township of Troy. It shall be his duty to attend in person, or by deputy, all meetings of the common council, and carry into effect all orders of the council, and to serve and return all process directed to him by the recorder, or any justice of the peace of Troy township, and to apprehend, upon view, without warrant, all violators of the laws of the State, and carry such offenders before the recorder, or in his absence, some justice of the peace, to be dealt with according to law; and in like manner apprehend and carry before the recorder all violators of the by-laws and ordinances of the said corporation, and to discharge such other duties relative to the police of the town as may be required of him by the common council, or be by them prescribed by law or ordinance. Nothing herein contained shall prevent the said common council from appointing said marshal street commissioner, or appointing the recorder as clerk of said corporation.

SEC. 23. It shall be the duty of the treasurer to collect and receive, and disburse on the orders of the common council, attested by the recorder and clerk, all moneys required to be collected by him, or which shall come to his hands by virtue of his office, and faithfully to account for the same in such manner and at such times as the common council shall prescribe.

SEC. 24. The common council, four of whom shall constitute a quorum to do business, shall and may, from time to time hold sessions of their body in said town, at such time and place as the recorder shall appoint, or as is established in and by this act, which meetings shall be public, and shall have full power and authority at such sessions, to pass and publish all such laws and ordinances as to them shall seem necessary relative to the regulation and improvement of streets, alleys, side-walks, roads and highways, raising, grading, turnpiking, planking, grubbing, or otherwise making and keeping the same in repair; to making, causing and requiring the owner or owners of in-lots to grade, gravel or plank, or otherwise improve the side-walks in front of his or their respective in-lots; and in case any such owner or owners refuse to comply with the ordinances, or refuse or neglect to make such improvements within the time specified, it shall be lawful for said trustees to order the said improvement made by the street commissioner, and assess the expense, together with any penalty to the owner of such property, which shall be a lien, and have the same force and effect, and shall be collected in the same manner as delinquent taxes, by the auditor of Fountain county, by said common council delivering him a certificate under the corporate seal, of such amount as shall remain unpaid; said common council shall also have power to establish and regulate markets-to regulate the inspection of flour, beef and pork, the sale of hay and wood, and the licensing and regulating of drays, hacks, omnibuses and other carriages carrying property or passengers for hire in the town; to regulate or restrain drunkards, vagrants, swine, sheep, cattle, horses or dogs running at large in the town; to regulate the planting of