1897-8, p. 489. 1895-6, p. 685. As Amended 1895-6, p. 799. value of the shares mentioned in said certificate. The shares owned by non-residents of this state shall be taxed only at the place where the bank issuing the shares is located. Sec. 1040 b. Taxation of shares of stock issued by banks located in towns. Each town in which any bank, either national or state, is located may tax all the shares of stock issued by such bank so located within its limits at the same rate as is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individuals. That in taxing said shares the said town authorities shall follow the mode of assessment and manner of collection prescribed by statute for the collection of state taxes upon said shares. Sec. 1042. [3 Va. L. R. 890.] Sec. 1042 a. To prohibit the several cities and towns of the commonwealth from imposing and collecting any tax, fine, or other penalty upon persons selling their own farm and domestic product within the limits of any such town or city outside of and not within the regular market houses and sheds of such towns and cities.-It shall be unlawful for any city or town of this state or of any agent or officer of ary such city or town to impose or collect any tax, fine, or other penalty upon any person selling their farm and domestic products within the limits of any such town or city outside of and not within the regular market houses and sheds of such cities and towns. All acts and parts of acts and all town charters and ordinances inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed and annulled. Sec. 1043. City and town levies.-They shall annually cause to be made up and entered on their journal an account of all sums lawfully chargeable on the city or town which ought to be paid within one year, and order a city or town levy of so much as in their opinion is necessary to be raised in that way in addition to what may be received for licenses and from other sources. The levy so ordered may be upon the male persons in the said city or town above the age of twenty-one years and upon any property therein, and on such other subjects as may at the time be assessed with state taxes against persons residing therein. Whenever in any city or town, whether acting under charter or general laws, any new street shall be opened or laid out, a street graded and paved, culverts or sewers constructed, or any other public improvement whatsoever made in any city or town in this commonwealth, the council of such city or town may determine what portion, if any, of the expense thereof shall be paid from the treasury of said city or town and what portion thereof shall be assessed upon the real estate which in the opinion of the council shall be benefitted thereby; but no such public improvement shall be made to be defrayed in whole or in part by a local assessment until first requested by a petition from the owners of the real estate to be affected thereby, or unless threefourths of the council shall concur in voting such improvement to be expedient or in determining to make said improvement, in which cases no petition shall be necessary. If no petition be filed the council or a committee thereof to whom the matter shall be referred, shall before determining that such improvement shall be made in whole or in part at the expense of the persons whose lands, in its opinion, will be thereby benefitted, have such person summoned, by at least ten days' notice, to appear before such council or committee to be heard for or against such improvement. After such hearing, if the council shall determine to have such improvement made, it may order it to be made, and after the work shall be completed it shall designate some officer who shall, upon such principles as may be determined by ordinance or resolution of the council, apportion the total cost and expense of said improvement and report the proportionate amount thereof it is proposed to assess against each parcel of land benefitted thereby. The report of such apportionment shall lie in the office of such officer or that of the city auditor twenty days, open to inspection by any person whose property it is proposed to charge with any such assessment. Fifteen days' notice shall be given to each person interested of the existence of such report in the manner provided by law for the service of notice, specifying the amount it is intended shall be borne by a local assessment against the land of such person, and said notice shall cite such person to appear at a time and place designated before a committee to be appointed for that purpose, which committee shall consist of not less than three members when the council is composed of one branch and a joint committee of not less than five members when the council is composed of two branches, and show cause against the proposed assessment. Such apportionment shall stand as to all persons not appearing and objecting thereto, and shall be a lien on the land so charged enforceable as are other city taxes against real estate therein. Any person objecting thereto shall appear in person or by attorney at the time and place designated in said notice, and shall be heard at that meeting or at some subsequent one. If the committee shall overrule such objection, then the party shall have the right to appeal from the decision of the committee within fifteen days from the date of such decision to the corporation or hustings court of the city, or in case of a town to the circuit court of the county in which such town is situated. The clerk of the council, when an appeal is taken, shall immediately deliver to the clerk of the court which has cognizance of the appeal the original notice with the judgment of the committee endorsed thereon, and the clerk shall docket the same. Every such appeal shall be tried by the court or the judge thereof in a summary way without pleadings in writing and without a jury, in term time or in vacation, upon reasonable notice to the adverse party. All legal evidence produced by either party shall be heard, whether the same was produced or not before the committee from whose decision the appeal is taken. The amount so ascertained as proper to be borne by the appellant shall be a lien on the land of such person enforceable as on other city taxes against real estate therein. Sec. 1048. [3 Va. L. R. 890] CHAPTER XLV. OF FIRES IN CITIES AND TOWNS. Sec. 1065. Certain duties of fire marshal.-The said fire marshal shall As Amended make an investigation into the origin and cause of every fire occurring 1895-6, p. 522. within the limits for which he was appointed, and for any such service he shall receive such compensation as the council may allow. In making such investigation he is hereby invested with all the rights, powers, and jurisdiction conferred on coroners by sections thirty-nine hundred and thirty-nine and thirty-nine hundred and forty and thirty-nine hundred and forty-two of chapter one hundred and ninety-two of the code of Virginia, edition eighteen hundred and eighty-seven. He shall make report to the council by whom he was appointed of any investigation made by him as soon thereafter as practicable, returning therewith the evidence taken by him and submitting such recommendations therein as he may think the public interests demand. For his failure to discharge any duty 1889-90, p. 154. required of him by law he shall be liable for each offence to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, to be imposed by the council and to be collected as other fines are collected. Sec. 1067 a. Fire escapes from buildings of over three stories.1. It shall be the duty of the owner or owners of all factories, workshops, hotels, school buildings, and hospitals in this state of over three stories in height, theatres and public places of amusement to provide for the safe exit of the occupants thereof in case of fire by the erection or construction of fire escapes of the most approved modern design. 2. The character and design of said fire escapes shall in cities and towns be selected by the council of said cities and towns; and where the buildings are not located in cities or towns by a board composed of the county judge, the county school superintendent, and the chairman of the board of supervisors. 3. Any owner or owners of such buildings shall have the right to require the council of the city or town in which said buildings are located, or in the counties the board designated by this act, to make such selection of said fire escapes as is provided by this act; and in case of their failure or refusal they shall be compellable by mandamus. 4. Any owner or owners of such buildings who shall fail to comply with the first section of this act by the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each month they shall fail to provide such fire escapes. TITLE 17. CORPORATIONS GENERALLY. 1897-8, p. 3. As Amended 1889-90, p. 50. 93 Va. 274. CHAPTER XLVI. OF CORPORATIONS* GENERALLY; ESPECIALLY OF THE PROPERTY A CORPORA- Sec. 1068. [93 Va. 274; 1 Va. L. R. 546.] Sec. 1069 a. Tax on the extension or revival of charters.-If any extension of time of any charter be asked for the same fee shall be charged as if it was an original charter, and such bill shall not be referred to a committee of either house or any other action had thereon by any court of this commonwealth or the general assembly until the fee as provided by law has been paid into the treasury: provided, that if the said extension of charter should not be granted the tax or fees shall be returned. Sec. 1070. General restrictions on corporations.-No incorporated company shall hold any more real estate than is proper for the purposes for which it is incorporated, nor employ its capital, money, or effects, or other * As to tax on railroads and canals and other transportation companies, see acts 1889-'90, p. 197; 1893-'4, p. 930; 1897-'8, p. 78, wise engage in transactions or business not proper for those purposes. One company shall not subscribe to, purchase, or otherwise acquire the stock of another company unless specially authorized by act of legislature or by terms of decree of court or order of the judge incorporating the company or amending charter thereof. If any company shall acquire stock in any other company contrary to the provisions of this section it shall not be lawful for it to vote such stock in any general or special meeting of stockholders. Sec. 1070 a. To enable certain mining and manufacturing corpora= 1889-90, p. tions of other states or countries to conduct operations in this state.— 1. Corporations chartered or organized under the laws of other states or countries and authorized to manufacture iron, steel, or other metals, or any articles or materials made from metal, wood, cotton, or wool, or to mine ores or coals may carry on in this state the business authorized by their respective charters or by the articles under which they are or may be organized, and for this purpose may purchase, acquire, lease, sell, mortgage, and convey real estate in fee and any other interest in lands and personal property of every kind suitable for their business, and erect and operate all requisite furnaces, forges, mills, foundries, machinery, buildings, plants, and appliances: provided, that no such company shall be allowed to acquire and hold more than ten thousand acres in any one county. 2. That every such corporation desiring so to carry on its business in this state shall first comply with the provisions of section eleven hundred and four of the code of Virginia, and as to contracts made, property located, and the franchises hereinunder exercised within this state every such corporation shall for all purposes be deemed and treated as a corporation of this state and be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts thereof. 3. All taxes, dues, and demands that may become due to the state of Virginia shall be paid in lawful money of the United States and not in coupons. Previous 33. 1889-90, p. 48. 1891-2, p. 639. 84 Va. 271. Sec. 1072. Company for internal improvement may enter upon land As Amended to make surveys.-Any company incorporated for a work of internal im- 1893-4, p. 822. provement may by its officers, agents, or servants enter upon any lands for Amendments the purpose of examining the same and surveying and laying out such as may seem fit to an officer or agent authorized by it, provided that no injury 88 Va. 653. be done the owner or possessor of the land. But no company shall under the 93 Va. 274. authority of this section throw open any fences or enclosures on any land or construct its works through the same or in any way injure the property of the owner or possessor without his consent; nor shall a company under any provision of this chapter invade the dwelling house of any person in any city or town or any space within sixty feet thereof without the consent of the owner, except in the case of a railroad company when it is decided by the commissioners (appointed to ascertain the value of the land to be taken) that it would otherwise be impracticable without unreasonable expense to construct such railroad; and except, further, in the case of the occupancy by a railroad company of the streets or alleys, public or private, of any city or town in pursuance to permission obtained from the corporate authorities of said city or town; nor shall a company under any provision of this chapter invade the dwelling house of any person in any county or any space within sixty feet thereof without the consent of the owner, except in the case of a railroad company when it is decided by the commissioners (appointed to ascertain the value of the land to be taken) that it would otherwise be impracticable without unreasonable expense to construct such railroad by reason of the conformation of the county. Sec. 1073. [93 Va. 274.] 1895-6, p. 313. As Amended 1893-4, p. 83. Sec. 1073 a. To permit any railroad or transportation company which is or shall be authorized to use or lease any line of any other railroad or transportation company, or with which it shall have lawfully established connection, to acquire and hold real estate upon and near any such line or at or near any terminus.-Any railroad or transportation company which is authorized to acquire, unite with, use, or lease any line of any other railroad or transportation company, or with which it shall lawfully have established connection, shall have the authority to acquire and hold by gift, purchase, or in the manner provided for in chapter forty-six of the code of Virginia, at any point or points upon or near any such line so acquired, united with, used, leased, or connected with, or at or within five miles of any terminus thereof, so much real estate for its depots, shops, yards, and other purposes as may be necessary and proper for the conduct of the business of said company not exceeding any limitation previously prescribed by the commissioner of railroads, to whom notice shall be given of any proceeding to acquire any such lands. Sec. 1074. [89 Va. 92; 93 Va. 226; 2 Va. L. R. 376.] Sec. 1075. [89 Va. 92.] Sec. 1079. [82 Va. 542; 84 Va. 348.] Sec. 1083. [84 Va. 348.] Sec. 1092. Company to provide wagon-ways.-It shall be the duty of every railroad or canal company whose road or canal passes through the lands of any person in this state to provide proper and suitable wagonways across said road or canal from one part of said land to the other and keep such ways in good repair. Such ways shall be constructed on the request of the land owner in writing made to any sectionmaster or employee of the company having charge or supervision of the road or canal at that point, and shall designate the points at which the wagon-ways are desired. If the company fail or refuse for ten days after such request to construct the wagon-ways of a convenient and proper character at the places designated then the owner, having given ten days' notice in writing to such sectionmaster or employee, may apply to the county court of such county for the appointment of three disinterested commissioners whose lands do not abut on the railroad or canal, whose duty it shall be to go upon the land and determine whether the wagon-ways asked for should be constructed. Their decision shall be in writing, and if favorable to the land owner it shall set forth the points at which the wagon-ways should be constructed, giving also a description of what should be done by the company to make a suitable and convenient way. The decision shall be returned to and filed in the clerk's office of the county court of such county, and when called up at the next or any succeeding term of said court it shall be confirmed, unless good cause is shown against it ly the company, either party to have the right to appeal from the judgment of the court to the circuit court. If the company shall fail for twenty days after the confirmation by the court of a report favorable to the land owner to make the wagon-ways therein referred to of a suitable and proper character then thereafter it shall pay the land owner five dollars for every day of such failure. The commissioners shall each receive for their services the sum of one dollar per day, to be taxed as a part of the costs of the proceeding. Sec. 1093. [88 Va. 653.] |