main, service pipe, or other pipe, appliance, or appurtenance used for or in connection with the works or apparatus employed for conducting or supplying illuminating gas or water in such manner as to be calculated to supply such gas or water to any burner, orifice, faucet, or other outlet whatsoever without such gas or water passing through a meter provided or used for measuring or registering the quantity thereof so passing through, or without the consent of said company or corporation to such connections aforesaid, or who shall otherwise use any such gas or water with the intent to defraud said company or corporation of payment therefor, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be imprisoned not exceeding thirty days, or be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars.

§ 43. Every person or corporation who shall wilfully collect of any person or persons a larger sum for gas or water than appears to be due on inspection of the meter put in to regulate and register the same, or shall wilfully furnish a meter that shall not correctly register the quantity of gas or water so consumed, shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars.

Title 22, chap. 171.

§ 1. The water-wheels, steam-engine, boilers, main belts, which first give motion to the shafting, all shafting, whether upright or horizontal, and hangers for the same, except such as are used to drive a special machine, all drums, pulleys, wheels, gearing, steam-pipes, gas-pipes, and gas fixtures, water-pipes and fixtures, kettles, and vats set and used in any mechanical or manufacturing establishment, are declared to be real estate whenever the same belong to the owner of the real estate to which they are attached.

§ 2. All other machinery, tools, and apparatus of every description used and employed in any manufacturing establishment. are declared to be personal estate, and as such shall be considered in assignments of dower, in attachments, and in all cases whatsoever, except in the assessment and payment of taxes.

§ 3. Partition of the property mentioned in section two of this chapter may be compelled between the owners thereof in the same manner as though the same were real estate.

TENNESSEE.

ACTS OF TENNESSEE, 1873.

Chap. XV.

An Act defining the Rights, Privileges, Restrictions, and Liabilities of Gas-Light Companies hereafter to be incorporated.

§ 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That all corporations for the purpose of manufacturing and vending gas in this State, chartered under and by virtue of the Act of 1870-71, chapter LIV., or amendments thereto, shall be entitled to all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities, and subject to all the liabilities and restrictions hereinafter contained.

§ 2. Be it further enacted, That they shall have succession by their corporate names for the period of ninety-nine years; may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with; may have and use a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure; they may hold, purchase, dispose of, and convey real and personal estate, to such an amount as the business of the corporation may require, or for the security and payment of any debt that may be due to them; and make all by-laws, rules, and regulations they may deem best for the interest of the corporation, and for the transfer of stocks, the management of the property, and the regulation of its affairs.

§ 3. Be it further enacted, That the capital stock of such companies shall be at least $50,000, and not more than $500,000, which may be divided into shares, the amount of which is to be determined by the board of directors; and no company shall commence business until at least twenty per cent of their stock shall have been paid in, and if they do not organize and commence business within three years from the date of their incorporation they shall forfeit their charters.

§ 4. Be it further enacted, That to enable said companies to establish such works, they are hereby authorized and empowered to lay down pipes, and extend conductors and other apparatus, through all or any of the streets, lanes, or alleys of any city or

town, in which they propose to do business, in such manner as to produce the least possible inconvenience to the city or town, or its inhabitants, or to travellers, and to take up the pavements or sidewalks. Provided, they shall afterward repair the same with the least possible delay.

§ 5. Be it further enacted, That said companies shall have the privilege of erecting, establishing, and constructing gas-works and manufacturing and vending gas in the city or town in which they propose to do business, by means of public works, for the terms specified in the second section of this act. A reasonable price per thousand cubic feet shall be charged in the case of private individuals, and for public lights such sum as may be agreed upon by the company and the public authorities. Provided, no company shall charge more than half a cent for every cubic foot of gas used, as may be indicated by the gas-meter, or computed by the ordinary rules in such cases. Nor shall they ever charge any corporation more per cubic foot than they shall be getting at the same time from a majority of the inhabitants of the city or town using such gas.

§ 6. Be it further enacted, That the works and operations of all such companies shall be so constructed and managed that no annoyance shall accrue therefrom to the health or comfort of the inhabitants of such city or town, and nothing in this act shall be so construed as to absolve any company, their agents or officers, from any legal proceedings to restrain or abate any nuisance. arising from such works or operations.

§ 7. Be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall injure or destroy any portion of the gas fixtures, or other property belonging to any such gas-light company, or wilfully open a communication into the street or other gas-pipes, or let on gas after it has been stopped by the company, such person or persons shall be liable for all damages sustained by such proceedings, and also a penalty not exceeding $500 upon conviction by the proper authorities.

§ 8. Be it further enacted, That the corporators, or any or one or more of them, shall be commissioned to open books for the subscription of stock, which shall be kept open until they may deem that a sufficient amount has been subscribed. They shall

then, by advertisement in some newspaper in the city, town, or county in which they propose to do business, give at least ten days' notice to the stockholders to hold a meeting for the election of a board of directors (the number to be named by the stockholders) to whom shall be trusted the management of the affairs of the company, and who shall elect a president from among their number, and may elect such person or persons as they see proper for the offices of secretary and treasurer.

§ 9. Be it further enacted, That the president and directors, unless otherwise provided by the stockholders, shall fill any vacancy that may occur in the board; the said election to be held at the office of the company at such time as the stockholders may appoint. To enable any person to be a member of the board of directors, or president, he must be the owner of a number of shares, to be designated by the stockholders, and the president must be a citizen of this State. For each and every share of stock he may hold, each stockholder shall be entitled to one vote, which may be given by proxy in all elections of boards of directors. Stock may be transferred on the books of the company at any time previous to one month before the election.

§ 10. Be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall commit any of the offences enumerated in section 7, he, she, or they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as in other cases of misdemeanor.

§ 11. Be it further enacted, That the stock of said companies shall be paid in within four years from the organization thereof, in such proportions or instalments, and at such times and places, as may be required by the directory; and any stockholder failing to pay such instalments shall, at the discretion of the directory, forfeit all right, title, and interest in and to every share on account of which such default may have been made, or the directory, at their option, may cause suit to be brought against such defaulting stockholders for the amount due on such forfeited share or shares. And in the event of a forfeiture, the stockholder so forfeiting shall still be held individually and personally liable to the creditors of such company who were credi

tors at the time of the forfeiture, to the full amount unpaid of each share of stock so forfeited, and the directors may dispose of the forfeited shares at their discretion. No company shall at any time, by releasing stockholders from the payment of their shares, or any part thereof, nor by any other means, discharge such stockholder from his liability to the creditors of said company to the extent of any balance due, or to become due, on account of unpaid stocks.

§ 12. Be it further enacted, That gas companies incorporated under this act shall have the further right and privilege of extending their pipes and other conductors through, over, and along the streets, roads, and ways of any of the suburbs of the city or town in which they may be located, or of the adjacent territory, whether incorporated or not, if the wants of the inhabitants require such extension. And for this purpose they are further authorized to extend their gas-pipes and their apparatus across, through, or along any public streets, roads, or ways, and across any intervening streams: provided, if the streams be navigable, that such pipes and apparatus shall be so laid as not to interfere with the navigation of such streams; and provided, further, that the said gas-light company shall not charge more per one thousand cubic feet for their gas sold by means of such extension than they charge their other individual consumers; and provided further, if rendered necessary by such extension, that said gas companies may, from time to time, increase their capital stock beyond the original capital as fixed by this act, but so as not to exceed $1,000,000.

§ 13. Be it further enacted, That all the rights, powers, and privileges granted by this act to gas companies incorporated under it shall be, and the same are hereby, extended to all gas companies in this State heretofore incorporated by special charter granted by the General Assembly of the State, in addition to the rights, powers, and privileges contained in their several charters respectively.

§ 14. Be it further enacted, That no gas company incorporated under this act shall proceed to exercise the privileges herein granted, within the limits of any incorporated town or city in this State, without the assent of the corporate authorities of such