LEGISLATION CONCERNING RAILROADS IN HENRY COUNTY, GA

[Title - See Below],
[Georgia Legislative Documents],
[Georgia Department of Archives and History],
presented in the Digital Library of Georgia


ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE, AT A BI-ENNIAL SESSION, IN NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, JANUARY, FEBRUARY & MARCH, 1855-'56. COMPILED, AND NOTES ADDED, By JOHN W. DUNCAN. 

1855 Vol. 1 -- Page: 167

Sequential Number: 111 
Law Number: (No. 111.) 

Full Title: An Act to incorporate the Middle Ground Rail-road, to provide for its organization, to define its rights and liabilities.

1. SEC. I. Be it enacted, &c., That for the purpose of constructing a Rail-road from or near the city of Covington by way of Grffin, McDonough, Greenville and Hamilton to Columbus or to the Alabama line near the city of Columbus, Doctor William D. Conyers, John M. Clark of Newton county, Allen W. Turner, Joseph A. Thrasher and A. W. Walker of Henry county, Archibald A. Gaulding, William R. Phillips, James W. Simmon, Augustus Burr and Henry P. Hill of Spalding county, William D. Alexander and Giles Driver of Pike county, Dr. Wimbish G. G. Howard, William Moreland, Peter Martin, Henry Harris and R. T. Marks of Meriwether county, John Murphy, A. F. Johnson and George H. Bryan of Harris county, Henry T. Hall, John C. Reese, George W. Winter and Joseph B. Hill of Muscogee county, and such other corporations and individuals as may be associated for the purpose aforesaid, and their assigns, shall hereinafter be made a body politic and corporate under the name and style of the Middle Ground Rail-road Company, and by that name shall be capable in law to purchase, hold and sell so much real and personal estate as may be necessary for said purpose, to make contracts, sue and be sued, make by-laws and do all lawful acts properly incident to a corporation, or necessary and proper for the transaction of the business for which it is incorporated to have and use a common seal, and the same to alter at pleasure. 

2. Sec. II. And be it further enacted, That the capital stock of said Company shall not exceed three million of dollars to be divided into shares of not exceeding one hundred dollars each, and the Board of Directors shall prescribe the mode and conditions of the subscriptions for the stock in said Company and direct the issue of certificates for the same. 

3. Sec. III. And be it further enacted, That for the organization of said Company, the said persons herein before named, or a majority

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of them, shall appoint the times and places at which the subscriptions for the stock of said Company may be made, and shall thereafter appoint a time and place for the meeting of the subscribers for stock, of which they shall give notice in one or more of the public gazettes of this State, at which time and place the Stockholders shall proceed to the election of seven Directors, who shall constitute and form the first Board of Directors; one of said Directors shall be elected as President thereof, and said President and Directors shall hold their offices for one year, and shall prescribe in their by-laws the manner of holding the subsequent annual elections for Directors, and in all cases the Stockholders shall be allowed to vote in person, or by proxy under power of Attorney duly executed; the number of votes to which each Stockholder shall be entitled, shall be according to the number of shares he, she or they may hold in his, her or their own right or as trustee at the time of the election, one vote to each share, the said Board of Directors shall have power to fill vacancies which may occur in their Board, or other offices, until the regular annual election by the Stockholders, and shall fix the compensation of the President of the Board, and all other officers of said corporation; not less than five Directors shall constitute a Board for the transaction of business, of whom the President shall be one, except in case of sickness or necessary absence, in which case his place shall be supplied by any one of the Directors present to be elected President pro tem., by a majority of the Board present. 

4. Sec. IV. And be it further enacted, That the said Board of Directors shall have power to select and take, or receive as donations such strips of land as they may deem necessary for the construction, convenience and protection of said Rail-road, and in case of disagreement between the owner or owners, and the said Board of Directors in regard to the damages or price of any such strip or strips of land; it may and shall be lawful for said Board to appoint one disinterested freeholder as an appraiser, and the owner or owners of said land, and the disinterested freeholder if he she or they should think proper, and the Justices of the Inferior Court, or a majority of them, of the county in which said land may lie, shall appoint another freeholder, but if such owner shall decline to appoint an appraiser on his, her or their part, then two shall be appointed by the Justices aforesaid, all of whom shall be sworn by a Justice of the Inferior Court, or Justice of the Peace, to make and return to said Court a just, true and impartial valuation of the value of the damages or value of said strip or strips of land thus required by said Company, and their award shall be in writing, and signed by at least a majority of the appraisers, and accompanied by a plat and full description of said land which shall be taken and held as a judgment for the amount against said Company, and may be enforced by execution from said Inferior Court, and said plat and description of said land, and said award shall be recorded in the same manner as deeds, and shall vest the fee simple right to the said strip or strips of land in the said corporation, Provided, that if either of said parties shall be dissatisfied with the award of


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the appraisers he or she may appeal to the Superior Court of the county where the land lies, and have the damages ascertained by the verdict of a special jury, at the first term, and such verdict shall be conclusive and binding on the parties. 

5. Sec. V. And be it further enacted, That the Company shall build and keep in good order substantial bridges or ways of passage wherever it may cross a public road. 

6. Sec. VI. And be it further enacted, That the books, papers and correspondence and the funds of said Company shall at all times be subject to the inspection of the Board of Directors and Stockholders at any and every meeting thereof when required, and all bonds, notes and other evidences of debt, or contract, or liability, or engagement on behalf of said Company, shall be binding and obligatory on said corporation, when the same shall be signed by the President of said Company, and countersigned or attested by the Secretary thereof, and the funds of said Company shall in no case be held responsible for any contract or any engagement, unless the same shall be so signed, countersigned or attested as aforesaid. 

7. Sec. VII. And be it further enacted, That the private property of each Stockholder, equal to the amount of his stock, shall be liable for the debts of the incorporation, in the event of the neglect or refusal of the incorporation to pay any debt owing by the same, the creditor or creditors thereof may sue the Company in their corporate name, and upon obtaining execution against the Company, it shall first be levied upon the corporate property of said Company, to-wit: the Road or any portion thereof, the cars, &c., &c., which shall be first liable, and upon the return of the proper officer or officers of no corporate property to be found, said execution may then be levied upon an amount of the private property of any Stockholder of the Company, equal to the amount of his stock, if that be not sufficient to satisfy said execution, then it may be levied upon the private property of any other Stockholder, equal to his stock, and so on, until the execution is fully satisfied, and in all cases the levying officer shall be the Judge of the amount of private property necessary to satisfy the fi fa. 

8. Sec. VIII. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of said Company to publish semi-annually in some public gazette of this State, a full statement of the names of Stockholders of said company, and the amount of stock owned by each, and that any transfer of the stock so owned by each Stockholder, transferred within six months prior to the obtainment of judgment against the company, shall not discharge his private property, but it shall still be bound under the provisions and in the manner pointed out in the foregoing section. 

9. Sec. IX. And be it further enacted, That in case any Stockholder or Stockholders shall be compelled under the foregoing section to pay off the execution or executions obtained against the company, it shall be kept open for his, her or their benefit, may be levied by him or them upon the private property of any or all the

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other Stockholders in proportion to their respective shares of stock. 

10. Sec. X. And be it further enacted, That this act be and remain in force for thirty years. 

11. Sec. XI. And be it further enacted, That the laws now in force in this State defining the liabilities of Rail-road Companies for damage done to persons and property be, and the same are hereby declared applicable to this Company. 

Approval Date: APPROVED, Feb. 19th, 1856.

 

[Title - See Below],
[Georgia Legislative Documents],
[Georgia Department of Archives and History],
presented in the Digital Library of Georgia

ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE, AT AN ANNUAL SESSION IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1859. 

1859 Vol. 1 -- Page: 332

Sequential Number: 399 
Law Number: (No. 328.) 

Full Title: An act to authorize the Thomaston and Barnesville Railroad Company to construct and extend their Railroad to some point on the Railroad of the Muscogee Railroad Company; and to authorize and empower the Muscogee Railroad Company, by and with the consent of the Thomaston and Barnesville Railroad Company being first had thereto, to extend their Railroad from some convenient point on the said Muscogee Railroad, to Thomaston in Upson county; and for other purposes therein mentioned; and also, to incorporate the Middle Georgia Railroad Company.

109. SECTION I. Be it enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, the Thomaston and Barnesville Railroad Company be, and they are hereby authorized to extend and construct their Railroad from Thomaston in the county of Upson, by the most practicable route, to some point on the Railroad of the Muscogee Railroad Company; and for that purpose, they are authorized to increase their capital stock two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and exercise all the rights, powers and privileges as to the right of way or otherwise, and be subject to all the duties and liabilities mentioned and prescribed in the existing charter of said Thomaston and Barnesville Railroad Company. 

110. SEC. II. Be it further enacted, That the Muscogee Railroad Company be, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, by and with the consent of the Thomaston and Barnesville Railroad Company first being had thereto, to extend its Railroad from some convenient point on said Muscogee Railroad to Thomaston, in the county of Upson, and that all the disabilities, rights, powers, privileges and provisions granted said Muscogee Railroad Company in its present charter, be extended so as to embrace said extension; and that said Muscogee Railroad Company have the right to increase its capital stock three hundred thousand dollars for this purpose. 

111. SEC. III. Be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, John J. Floyd, John Harris, A. H. Lee, Thomas F. Jones, McCormick Neal and R. J. Henderson of the county of Newton, Gustavus Hendrick, B. W. Collier, R. G. Duke, B. F. Ward and J. W. Harkness of the County of Butts, Robert C. Barnes and William H. Thompson of the county of Jasper, William L. Fambro and Owen Willis of the county of Monroe, Andrew W. Walker of Henry county, and Frank. Reveire of Pike county, and their associates and successors, and assigns be, and they are hereby declared and constituted, a body corporate and politic, by the name and style of

Page: 333
the Middle Georgia Railroad Company; and by that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in any court of law or equity in this State, may have and use a common seal, and the same to alter and destroy at pleasure; and may purchase, accept, have, hold, enjoy and convey any property, real, personal or mixed, which may be necessary or proper for the purposes, herein mentioned. 

112. SEC. IV. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That said Company shall have power and authority to survey, lay off, construct, equip, use and enjoy a Railroad from the terminus of the Thomaston and Barnesville Railroad, at or near the town of Barnesville in Pike county, to Covington in the county of Newton, or some other point on the Georgia Railroad, as they may deem best. 

113. SEC. V. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the capital stock of said Company shall not be less than fifty thousand dollars, nor more than one million of dollars; Books of subscription for which shall be open at such times and places as a majority of the parties named, their successors or assigns, shall determine. 

114. SEC. VI. Be it further enacted, That the act incorporating the Thomaston and Barnesville Railroad Company, so far as practicable, shall be applied to said Middle Georgia Railroad Company. 

115. SEC. VII. Be it further enacted, That the property or the net profits of the Companies chartered in this act, shall be subject to such taxation as the necessities, requirements and exigencies as the State may require. 

116. SEC. VIII. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That work must be commenced within six years upon said Railroads, from the passage of this act, else this Charter to be forfeited. 

SEC. IX. Repeals conflicting laws.

Approval Date: Approved December 19th, 1859.

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