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CHAPTER XXXIX

OF THE GENERAL LAWS.

[CHAP. 565 OF 1890.]

THE RAILROAD LAW.

ARTICLE I. Organization; general powers; location (§§ 1-23).
II. Construction; operation; management (§§ 30-69).
III. Consolidation; lease; sale; re-organization (§§ 70-84).
IV. Street surface railroads (§§ 90-110).

V. Other railroads in cities and counties (§§ 120-142).
VI. Board of railroad commissioners (§§ 150-172).

ARTICLE I.

ORGANIZATION, GENERAL POWERS, LOCATION.

SECTION 1. Short title.

2. Incorporation.

3. Supplemental certificate.

4. Additional powers conferred:

1. Entry upon lands for purpose of survey.

2. Acquisition of real property.

3. Construction of road.

4. Intersection of streams, highways, plank-roads, turnpikes

and canals.

5. Intersection of other railroads.

6. Buildings and stations.

7. Transportation of persons and property.

8. Time and manner of transportation.

9. Purchase of lands and stock in other states.

10. To borrow money on bond and mortgage.

5. When corporate powers to cease.

6. Location of route.

7. Acquisition of title to real property.

8. Railroads through public lands.

9. Railroads through Indian lands.

10. Railroads through Chautauqua assembly grounds.

11. Intersection of highways, additional lands for.

12. Intersection of other railroads.

13. Change of route, grade or terminus.

14. Construction of part of line in another state.

15. Two roads having the same location.

16. Tunnel railroads.

17. Railroads in foreign countries.

18. Additional corporate powers of such road.

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Organization, General Powers, Location.

SECTION 19. Location of principal office of such road.

§§ 1-2

20. Individual, joint-stock association, or other corporation may lay down and maintain railroad tracks in certain cases.

21. Powers of electric light and power companies.

21. When electric light and power corporation may become a railroad corporation.

22. Substituted lines in case of eminent domain.

23. Section 24 of stock corporation law not to apply.

SECTION 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the railroad law.

§ 2. Incorporation.-Fifteen or more persons may become a corporation, for the purpose of building, maintaining and operating a railroad already built, not owned by a railroad corporation, or for both purposes, by executing, acknowledging and filing a certificate, in which shall be stated:

I. The name of the corporation.

2. The number of years it is to continue.

3. The kind of road to be built or operated.

4. Its length and termini.

5. The name of each county in which any part of it is to be located.

6. The amount of capital stock, which shall not be less than ten thousand dollars for every mile of road built, or proposed to be built, except a narrow-gauge road, when it shall not be less than three thousand dollars for every such mile.

7. The number of shares into which the capital stock is to be divided.

8. If the capital stock is to consist of common and preferred stock, the amount of each class and the rights and privileges of the latter over the former.

9. The names and post-office addresses of the directors of the corporation, not less than nine, who shall manage its affairs for the first year.

10. The place where its principal office is to be located.

II. If a street surface railroad, the names and description of the streets, avenues and highways in which the road is to be constructed.

12. If it is to be a railway corporation, specified in article five of this chapter, the statements required by that article to be inserted in the certificate of incorporation.

13. The name and post-office address of each subscriber to the certificate and the number of shares of stock he agrees to take. Such certificate shall have indorsed thereon, or annexed there

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to, to be taken as a part thereof, an affidavit of at least three of such directors, that at least ten per cent of the minimum amount of capital stock authorized by law has been subscribed thereto, and paid in good faith and in cash to the directors named in the certificate, and that it is intended in good faith to build, maintain and operate the road mentioned therein. In case of a railway corporation specified in article five of this chapter, the affidavit of the directors shall show that the full amount of such capital stock has been in good faith subscribed, and there shall be annexed to the certificate of incorporation and as a part thereof the certificate of the railroad commissioners showing the organization of the corporation for the purposes mentioned in the certificate.

The filing of every certificate, where the amount of stock required by this section has not been in good faith subscribed and paid in cash, shall be void. [As amended by chap. 676, of 1892.]

§ 3. Supplemental certificate.-If the names and places of residence of the directors of the corporation have been omitted from the certificate, when executed and acknowledged, and thereafter the requisite number of directors has been chosen at a meeting of the subscribers to the certificate, a supplemental certificate, containing their names and places of residence, may be filed with such certificate with the same force and effect as if the names and places of residence of the directors had been originally inserted therein.

§ 4. Additional powers conferred.-Subject to the limitations and requirements of this chapter, every railroad corporation, in addition to the powers given by the general and stock corporation laws, shall have power.

1. Entry upon lands for purposes of survey.-To cause the necessary examination and survey for its proposed railroad to be made for the selection of the most advantageous route; and for such purpose, by its officers, agents or servants, to enter upon any lands or waters subject to liability to the owner for all damages done.

2. Acquisition of real property.-To take and hold such voluntary grants of real estate and other property as shall be made to it to aid in the construction, maintenance and accommodation of its railroad; and to acquire by condemnation such real estate and property as may be necessary for such construction, maintenance and accommodation in the manner provided by law, but

Organization, General Powers, Location.

84

the real property acquired by condemnation shall be held and used only for the purposes of the corporation during the continuance of the corporate existence.

3. Construction of road.-To lay out its road not exceeding six rods in width, and to construct the same; and, for the purpose of cuttings and embankments, to take such additional lands as may be necessary for the proper construction and security of the road; and to cut down any standing trees that may be in danger of falling on the road, upon making compensation therefor.

4. Intersection of streams, highways, plank-roads, turnpikes and canals.-To construct its road across, along or upon any stream, water-course, highway, plank-road, turnpike, or across any of the canals of the state, which the route of its road shall intersect or touch.

5. Intersection of other railroads.-To cross, intersect, join, or unite its railroad with any other railroad before constructed, at any point on its route and upon the ground of such other railroad corporation, with the necessary turnouts, sidings, switches, and other conveniences in furtherance of the objects of its connections.

6. Buildings and stations. To erect and maintain all necessary and convenient buildings, stations, fixtures and machinery for the accommodation and use of its passengers, freight and business.

7. Transportation of persons and property.—To take and convey persons and property on its railroad by the power or force of steam or of animals, or by any mechanical power, except where such power is specially prescribed in this chapter and to receive compensation therefor.

8. Time and manner of transportation.-To regulate the time and manner in which passengers and property shall be transported, and the compensation to be paid therefor.

9. Purchase of lands and stock in other states. To acquire and dispose of any real property in any other state through which any part of its railroad is operated, and stock in any foreign corporation owning lands in another state for the purpose of securing for such railroad corporation in this state a permanent supply of fuel for its use, and stock of corporations in this state, formed for the purpose of erecting union railway depots.

10. To borrow money on bond and mortgage.-From

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time to time to borrow such sums of money as may be necessary for completing and finishing or operating its railroad, or for any other of its lawful purposes, and to issue and dispose of its bonds for any amount so borrowed, and to mortgage its property and franchises to secure the payment of any debts contracted by the company for the purpose aforesaid, notwithstanding any limitation on such power contained in any general or special law. But no such mortgage, except purchase money mortgages, shall be issued without the consent of the board of railroad commissioners and the consent of the stockholders owning at least two-thirds of the stock of the corporation, which consent shall be in writing, and shall be filed and recorded in the office of the clerk or register of the county where it has its principal place of business; or else the consent of the board of railroad commissioners and the consent by their votes of stockholders owning at least two-thirds of the stock of the corporation, which is represented and voted upon in person or by proxy at a meeting called for that purpose upon a notice stating the time, place and object of the meeting, served at least three weeks previously upon each stockholder personally, or mailed to him at his post-office address, and also published at least once a week for three weeks successively in some newspaper printed in the city, town or county where such corporation has its principal office; and a certificate of the vote at such meeting, signed and sworn to by the chairman and secretary of such meeting, shall be filed and recorded as aforesaid. Section two of the stock corporation law shall not apply to railroad corporations. (As amended by chap. 676 of 1892, chap. 377 of 1897, chap. 583 of 1899, and chap. 482 of 1900.)

mdigo1.508 8 5. When corporate powers to cease.-If any domestic railroad corporation shall not, within five years after its certificate of incorporation is filed, begin the construction of its road and expend thereon ten per centum of the amount of its capital, or shall not finish its road and put it in operation in ten years from the time of filing such certificate, its corporate existence and powers shall cease. But if any such steam railroad corporation whose certificate of incorporation was filed since the year eighteen hundred and eighty, and whose road as designated in such certificate is wholly within one county and not more than ten miles in length, has acquired the real property necessary for its road-bed by purchase, its corporate existence and powers shall not be deemed to have ceased because of its failure to conply

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