of

proper; and if no such remonstrance be filed, then the amount reported by said commissioners as the value of any lands and buildings to be taken, and the damages for taking the same, shall be the sum to be paid by the said mayor and aldermen to the respective owners of said lands; and the expenses of said improvements, when completed, including all interest and the costs of the proceedings shall be assessed upon the property reported by the said commissioners as benefitted thereby, and in the proportion reported by them; if the owner of any lands taken who has filed a remonstrance against any such improvement, which he is hereby authorized to make, is dissatisfied with such assessment, he may apply to the justices of the supreme court, at their term held next after the end of twenty days from the expiration of the time limited for filing a remonstrance as above provided, giving ten days notice of such application to the city clerk, or in his absence to the mayor; and such justices, or a majority of them, at said term, upon petition by such person or persons dissatisfied, or any them, setting forth the causes of his, her or their complaint, shall appoint three disinterested persons commissioners, who shall be the same in all applications regarding the same improvement; such commissioners shall meet on ten days notice given by any of said persons so applying to each of the others, or to his attorney, if either reside in the city, and to the city clerk, and shall proceed to examine the premises, with power to send for and examine persons or papers, and to swear witnesses, and to compel their attendance by process of subpoena to issue out of the supreme court, and shall review the proceedings of the said commissioners appointed by the mayor and aldermen so far only as the complaint of the applicants to the supreme court is concerned, and shall report in writing, under their hands, to the mayor and aldermen their estimate of the value of such lands and buildings taken, and damages, and their assessment of such expenses on lands benefitted, which report shall be filed with the city clerk, and shall be conclusive on all parties; and the costs of their appointment and of the proceedings of said commissioners shall in case their report is more favorable to the applicant or applicants than that of the first commissioners, be paid by the city, and

added to the expenses of the improvement; and in case such report is not more favorable to any applicant or applicants than the first report, then said applicant or applicants shall pay all such costs and expenses; and the proportion of such costs paid by the city shall be deducted from the sum to be paid to him (if any) or be assessed upon his property by the mayor and aldermen, and shall become a lien thereon, and be collected therefrom in the same manner as the assessment for any improvement authorized by this act; and in case the lands so valued or damaged by such taking shall be held by a tenant for life or years, and the fee in remainder or reversion, such commissioners shall in their report apportion such value and damages between them; and in case any lands assessed shall be held by a tenant for years or life, and such tenant shall pay such assessment, or the same be made by a sale of his interest in said lands, said tenant or his legal representatives shall at the termination of his estate be repaid such principal sum by the reversioner, his heirs or assigns, and shall have a lien upon said lands for the same, and may by bill in chancery have said lands sold to pay such lien, and the proceedings thereon in the court of chancery, except the allegations in the bill, shall be the same as if said reversioner" had given a mortgage on said lands and said bill was filed. for the foreclosure thereof; and such lien shall have priority of all other encumbrances, and all such assessments so made on any lot as aforesaid shall be and remain a lien thereon until paid or otherwise satisfied; and the amount assessed shall be raised by the mayor and aldermen by a sale of the property so assessed, in the same manner in all respects as assessments are to be raised by the nineteenth section of the act to which this is a supplement; and after such improvement shall be completed, all the costs and expenses of making the same shall be reported to and settled by the mayor and aldermen, and the proportion of each lot or parcel of land designated on the original assessment map shall be fixed and settled by a resolution of the mayor and aldermen, according to the provisions of this act; which resolution shall be recorded by the city clerk in a book kept for that purpose, to be called the assessment book, and shall be signed by the

Payment of assessment

mayor and city clerk; which book, or a transcript thereof, certified by the clerk under the city seal, shall be conclusive evidence of such assessment.

5. And be it enacted, That upon completing the report of and damages the commissioners assessing the value of lands or buildings. taken, and the damages thereby, the city treasurer shall tender and pay to the owner of said lands, if resident in the city," the amount of such assessment due to him; but if such owner is not resident in the city, or upon due inquiry cannot be found therein, or is a lunatic or idiot, or an infant, or if for any other lawful cause he is incapacitated to receive the same, or if such owner will not accept the same and sign a proper receipt therefor, when tendered, then the city treasurer shall make affidavit of such facts, and file the same with the city clerk; and the mayor and aldermen shall, after inquiry into the facts of the case, direct the amount of such assessment to be placed either in the city treasury or in some safe bank, for the use of the person to whom the same may be due; and upon filing such receipt of the owner or the passing of such resolution by the mayor and aldermen, the said lands shall be vested in the city, and the city officers may proceed with such improvements; and the said moneys so deposited shall be paid by the city to the person entitled thereto, on demand, without interest, except from such time as a demand may be made and payment refused.

Assessment

may be set aside.

6. And be it enacted, That any assessment or estimate of value and damages made by any commissioners under this act, that may be made upon principles contrary to law and to the provisions of this act, may be reviewed, and for such cause set aside by the supreme court upon certiorari; and the said court shall in the case of setting aside any such assessment or valuation appoint new commissioners to examine into and report anew as to the part set aside; and for the purpose of such examination the supreme court may require by rule the commissioners to certify specifically as to the principle on which their assessment was made, or may inquire into the same, by affidavits to be taken for that purpose; and the city in case of reversal shall pay the costs on such certiorari, and add the same to the expenses of the improvement.

ers to take oath.

7. And be it enacted, That all commissioners of assessment Commission. appointed by or under this act, shall before they proceed to the duties of their appointment, subscribe and take an oath before some person lawfully authorized to administer oaths, faithfully, honestly and impartially to perform the duties required of them, and shall receive such compensation for their services as the mayor and aldermen shall by general ordinance fix and ordain.

aldermen au

borrow mo

8. And be it enacted, That in cases where the mayor and alder- Mayor and men are authorized to make or levy any assessment for any thorized to of the said improvements under this act, they shall be author- ney for im ized to borrow the amount of any such assessment in anticipation of the collection therefor.

provements.

work.

9. And be it enacted, That in all contracts for doing work Contracts for or furnishing materials for the improvements provided for in this act, shall at all times be given to the lowest bidder, he or they giving ample security for doing the same according to contract, but the mayor and aldermen shall be under no obligation to accept the lowest bid, and may reject all bids if they shall think proper.

empt from

10. And be it enacted, That every person who shall have Firemen exduly served as fireman in " the Paterson Fire Association," in jury duty Paterson, in the county of Passaic, for seven years in succession next preceding the seventeenth day of March, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, and who shall faithfully serve as such for one year thereafter in " the Fire Department of the city of Paterson"; and every person who shall have duly served as such fireman in the said "Paterson Fire Association" for a less period of time than seven consecutive years next preceding the seventeenth day of March, eighteen hundred and fiftyfive, and who shall faithfully serve as such in said "Fire Department of the city of Paterson" for so long a time thereafter as shall make in the whole the term of seven years; and every person who shall faithfully serve as fireman in "the Fire Department of the city of Paterson" for seven consecutive years, to be proved by certificate sealed with the corporate seal of the city of Paterson, and signed by the mayor of said city and the chief engineer of the fire department, shall during and forever after such service be exempted from serv

Parts of

former acts repealed.

ing as a juryman in any of the courts of the said county of Passaic.

11. And be it enacted, That all acts and parts of acts heretofore passed, so far as they are repugnant to the provisions of this act, be and the same are hereby repealed. Approved March 10, 1856.

Names of corporators.

Amount of capital stock.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

AN ACT to incorporate the Farmers and Citizens Ferry Company.

1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That Samuel Andrews, Franklin M. Thorne, William J. Hatch, Richard Fetters, John R. Andrews, John F. Starr, John Morgan, Edward Harris and their associates, and all other persons who shall become subscribers and owners of the capital stock hereby created, shall be and they and their successors and assigns are hereby made and declared to be a corporation and body politic, by the name of the "Farmers and Citizens Ferry Company."

2. And be it enacted, That the capital stock of said company shall be one hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each, and shall be subscribed for and paid in at such time or times, in such manner and in such instalment or instalments and upon such notice as the said company may by their by-laws or otherwise direct or appoint; and in case of a failure by any stockholder to pay his or her instalment or instalments at the time and place mentioned and appointed for the payment thereof, or within ten days thereafter, such stockholder shall incur a forfeiture of his or her