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to the benefit received from such work by said property. In making such estimate and apportionment, they shall take all pertinent testimony that may be offered them, and may examine any witnesses that they may deem it necessary or advisable to call, and shall have authority to administer oaths to all persons testifying before them.

sioners.

SEC. 6. Within thirty days after their appointment, un- Report of less further time be granted by the Council, the Commis-issioners shall make a report to the Council of the assessments so made by them, which assessment shall briefly refer to the contract, the work contracted for and performed, and shall show the amount to be paid therefor, together with all the expenses whatsoever incidental to the building of said bridge, the amount of each assessment, the name of the owner of each lot or portion of lot (if known to the Commissioners), if unknown, the word "unknown" shall be written. opposite the number of the lot, the benefit received by each lot or portion of lot from said work and the amount assessed thereon, the number of each lot or portion of lot assessed, and shall have attached thereto a diagram showing the relative location of each distinct lot or portion of lot to the work done, and numbered to correspond with the numbers in the assessments.

peals from.

SEC. 7. Upon receiving the report and assessment as Hearing of above provided, the same shall be filed with the City Clerk, report; apand the Council shall forthwith give notice by publication for at least five days, in one newspaper published in the City of Oakland, that said report and assessment are on file in the Clerk's office, the date of filing, and that they are open for public inspection. The owners, whether named in the assessment or not, the contractor or his assigns, and all other persons directly interested in the said report and assessment, feeling aggrieved by any act or determination of the Commissioners in relation thereto, or having or making any objection to the legality of the assessment, or other act, or determination, or proceeding of the Commissioners, shall, within twenty days after the first publication of said notice, appeal to the City Council, as provided in this section, by briefly stating their objections in writing, and filing the same with the Clerk of said City Council. Notice of the time and place of the hearing, briefly referring to the subject of appeal, and to the acts, determinations, or proceedings objected to or complained of, shall be published five days, daily, in a newspaper published in the City of Oakland. Upon such appeal or appeals, the said City Council shall have power to approve and confirm said report and assessment, or refer the same back to the said Commissioners, with directions to alter or modify the same in the particulars specified by the Council in the resolution referring the same back, and thereupon the said Commissioners shall proceed to make the alterations and modifications specified in the resolution of said Council. The alterations and modifications aforesaid being made, the report and assessment shall be again submitted to the Council, and if the Council upon examination shall find that the alterations and modifications have been made according to the direc

tions contained in said resolution, the said Council shail, by ordinance, adopt and confirm the same; but if the said Commissioners shall have neglected or failed to make the alterations and modifications set forth in the resolution of reference, the Council may again refer the report and assessment back to said Commissioners, and so on until its original resolution of alteration and modification shall have been complied with by said Commissioners, and then said Council shall, by ordinance, adopt and confirm said report and assessment. All the decisions and determinations of said City Council, upon notice and hearing as aforesaid, shall be final and conclusive upon all persons entitled to an appeal under the provisions of this section, as to all errors, informalities, and irregularities which said Council might have remedied and avoided, and said assessment shall not be held invalid, except upon appeal to the City Council, as provided in this section, for any error, informality, or other defect in any of the proceedings prior to the assessment, or in the assessment If no appeal, itself. If no appeal is taken, as provided in this section, the report to be Council shall, within thirty days after receiving said report and assessment, by ordinance adopt and confirm the same.

confirmed.

Contractor to receive assessment list, with

warrant.

SEC. 8. Upon receiving a certificate from the City Engineer that the contractor has fulfilled his contract, and in all respects completed said bridge to the satisfaction and acceptance of the said Engineer, a warrant shall be attached to said assessment, which said warrant shall be signed by the City Engineer and countersigned by the Mayor of said city. The said warrant shall be substantially in the following form: "By virtue hereof, I, (name of the City Engineer), City Engineer of the City of Oakland, County of Alameda, and State of California, by virtue of the authority vested in me as said City Engineer, do authorize and empower (name of contractor), (his or their) agents or assigns, to demand and receive the several assessments upon the assessments and diagram hereto attached, and this shall be (his or their) warrant for the same. Oakland,. (date), 187-" (Name of the engineer), City Engineer of the City of Oakland. Countersigned by (name of), Mayor. "City of Oakland, (date.)" Said warrant, assessment, and diagram shall thereupon be delivered to the City Marshal and be by him recorded in the same book and in the same manner as other assessments for Assessments street work are recorded. When so recorded, the several to be a lien. amounts assessed shall be a lien upon the lands, lots, or portion of lots assessed, respectively, for the period of two years from the date of said recording, unless sooner discharged; and from and after the date of the recording of said warrant, assessment, and diagram, all persons shall be deemed to have notice of the contents of the records thereof. After said warrant, assessment, and diagram are recorded, the same shall be delivered to the contractor, or his agents or assigns, on demand, but not until after the payment to the said Marshal of the incidental expenses not previously paid by the contractor or his assigns; and by virtue of said warrant, said contractor, or his agents or assigns, shall be authorized to demand and receive the amount of the several assess

ments made to cover the sum due for the work specified in said contract and assessment.

to collect

SEC. 9. The contractor, or his assigns, or some person in Contractor his or their behalf, shall call upon the person assessed, or assessments. their agents, if they can conveniently be found, and demand payment of the amount assessed to each. If any payment be made, the contractor, his assigns, or some person in his or their behalf, shall receipt the same upon the assessment, in presence of the person making such payment, and shall also give a separate receipt, if demanded. Whenever the person so assessed, or their agents, cannot conveniently be found, or whenever the names of the owner of the lot is stated as "unknown" on the assessment, then the said contractor, or his assigns, or some person in his or their behalf, shall publicly demand payment on the premises assessed. The warrant shall be returned to the Marshal within sixty days after its date, with a return indorsed thereon, signed by the contractor, or his assigns, or some person in his or their behalf,. verified upon oath, stating the nature and character of the demand, and whether any of the assessments remain unpaid, in whole or in part, and the amount thereof. Thereupon the Marshal shall record the return so made in the margin of the record of the warrant and assessment, and also the original contract referred to therein, if it has not already been recorded at full length, in the same manner and in the same book as other contracts, assessments, and returns for street work are recorded in his office, and shall sign the record. The said Marshal is authorized at any time to receive the amount due upon said assessment list and warrant, issued as herein provided, and give a good and sufficient discharge. therefor; provided, that no such payment so made, after suit has been commenced, without the consent of the plaintiff in the action, shall operate as a complete discharge of the lien, until the costs in the action shall be refunded to the plaintiff; and he may release any assessment upon the record in his office on the production to him of the receipt of the party, or his assigns, to whom the assessment and warrant were issued; and if said contractor shall fail to return his warrant within the time and in the form provided in this section, he shall thenceforth have no lien upon the property assessed. After the return of the assessment and warrant, as aforesaid, all amounts remaining due thereon shall draw interest at the rate of two per cent. per month until paid.

may bring

SEC. 10. At any time after the return of the warrant, Contractor assessment, and diagram, as hereinbefore provided, the con- ction. tractor or his assignee may sue, in his own name, the owner of the land, lots, or portions of lots assessed on the day of the date of the recording of the warrant, assessment, and diagram, or on any day thereafter, during the continuance of the lien of said assessment, and recover the amount of any assessment remaining due and unpaid, with interest thereon, as hereinbefore provided; the Court may also allow, as part of the costs, reasonable attorneys' fees. Suit may be brought in the District Court of the Third Judicial District. The

Salaries of
Commis-

clerks.

said warrant, assessment, and diagram, with the affidavit of demand and non-payment, shall be prima facie evidence of such indebtedness, and the right of the plaintiff to recover in the action. The Court in which suit shall be commenced shall have the power to adjudge and decree a lien against the premises assessed, and to order such premises to be sold on execution, as in other cases of the sale of real estate by the process of said Courts; and on appeal the appellate Court shall be vested with the same power to adjudge and to decree a lien, and to order to be sold such premises on execution or decree, as is conferred on the Court from which an appeal is taken. Such premises, if sold, may be redeemed as in other cases. This Act may be liberally construed to effect the end of justice.

SEC. 11. The Commissioners appointed under this Act sioners and shall be entitled to receive five dollars each per day for the time actually employed in making the said assessment, and are hereby authorized to employ one or more clerks, not to exceed two, at a salary of not to exceed five dollars each per day.

SEC. 12. It is hereby expressly provided that the City of Oakland shall not, in any event whatsoever, be liable for the payment of any of the costs or expenses authorized by this Act, and a stipulation to this effect shall be inserted in the contract herein provided for. All persons dealing with the city under and by virtue of the provisions of this Act, do so upon that express stipulation.

SEC. 13. This Act shall take effect immediately.

Highways defined.

Road records.

CHAP. CCCCLIX.-An Act in relation to public roads in the
County of Sacramento.

[Approved April 1, 1876.]

The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. All roads in the County of Sacramento laid out and recorded as highways by order of the Board of Supervisors, and all roads laid out by order of Court made in proceedings in partition, shall be public highways.

SEC. 2. Whenever any corporation owning a toll-bridge, or a turnpike, or a common wagon road, in said county, is dissolved, or has expired by limitation or non-user, the bridge or road becomes a public highway.

SEC. 3. The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors must keep a book in which must be recorded all proceedings of the Board relative to each road district, including laying out, altering, and opening roads; and in a separate book, a description of each road district, its Overseers, its roads, highways, contracts, and all other matters pertaining thereto.

SEC. 4. By taking or accepting land for a highway, the

public acquire only the right of way and the incidents necessary to enjoying and maintaining it, subject to the regulations of this Act and of the Civil Code.

plant trees.

SEC. 5. Any owner or occupant of land may construct a sidewalks, sidewalk on the highway along the line of his land, subject, however, to the authority conferred by law on the Board of Supervisors and the Road Overseers; and any person using such sidewalks with horse or team, without permission of the owner, is liable to such owner or occupant in the sum of five dollars for each trespass, and for all damages suffered thereby. SEC. 6. Any owner or occupant of land adjoining a high- Owners may way not less than three rods wide, may plant trees on the side contiguous to his land. They must be set in regular rows, at a distance of at least twenty feet from each other, and not more than six feet from the boundary of the highway. If the highway is more than six rods wide, the row must not be less than six nor more than twelve feet from the boundary of the highway. Whoever injures any of them is liable to the owner, or to the occupant, for the damage which is thereby sustained.

SEC. 7. The Board of Supervisors of Sacramento County, Duties of by proper ordinance, must:

Supervisors, concerning

First-Divide the county into a suitable and convenient public roads. number of road districts, and appoint therefor annually, or whenever vacancies occur, Overseers, upon petition of a majority of the property tax-payers of the road district, with power to remove for cause.

Second-Cause to be surveyed, viewed, laid out, recorded, opened, and worked, such highways as are necessary for public convenience, as in this Act provided.

Third-Abolish or abandon such as are unnecessary; but such action can only be had by unanimous vote of all the members of the Board.

Fourth-Contract, agree for, purchase, or otherwise acquire the right of way over private property for the use of public highways, and for that purpose institute, or require the District Attorney to institute, proceedings under Title VII., Part III., of the Code of Civil Procedure, and to pay therefor from the District Road Fund of the particular district.

Fifth-Let out by contract the improvement of highways. and the construction and repair of bridges or other adjuncts to highways, when the amount of work to be done by contract exceeds three hundred dollars.

Sixth-Levy a property road tax.

Seventh-Order and direct Overseers specially in regard to work to be done on particular roads in their districts.

Eighth-Cause to be erected and maintained on the highways, mile-stones or posts, and guide-posts properly inscribed. Ninth-Cause the road tax collected each year to be apportioned to the road districts entitled thereto, and kept by the Treasurer in separate funds.

Tenth-Audit and draw warrants on the funds of the respective road districts, when required to pay for right of way or work or improvements thereon.

Eleventh Furnish to each Road Overseer a copy of this Act.

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