1913_public local laws_325_11
CHAPTER 324 AN ACT TO IMPROVE THE PUBLIC ROADS OF SHEFFIELDS AND RITTERS TOWNSHIPS IN MOORE COUNTY. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
That for the purpose of building or constructing, repairing or maintaining the public roads of said township, or for constructing ditches or drains for the construction of said public roads under the direction of the board of road commissioners, the said supervisor shall have full power and authority to enter in and upon any lands in said township or any adjoining lands near any public road in said township and dig and maintain any ditches and cut down and carry away any trees or timber or remove any sand, Clay, gravel, stone, or other substance which may be necessary to repair, construct, or improve said roads, and may also construct or open upon or over said lands all necessary ditches or drains for the construction, improvement, or maintenance of said roads. If the owner of the land over which any road is constructed or over which any material is removed or on which any drains or ditches may be caused to empty shall demand compensation therefor, and present his claim to the board of road commissioners, it shall be the duty of said board of road commissioners to pass upon and consider the same and to pass an order for the payment of said account if the said board shall deem it just: Provided, that in the event any person over whose lands any new road has been located or from which any material may be removed or on which drains shall be made, shall claim damages therefor, which the said board shall refuse to pay, such person claiming damages shall within thirty days after the location of said road or removal of material or making said drains, petition said board of road commissioners for a jury to assess said damages. It shall then be the duty of said board within sixty days after the completion of said road or work thereon, to order a jury of three disinterested freeholders of said township to be summoned by the Sheriff of Moore County, to be named and designated by said sheriff, qualified to serve as jurors, and the jury so selected shall give three days notice to the landowner and to the board where and when said jury shall meet to assess said damages, and in the consideration thereof it shall be the duty of said jury to take into consideration any decrease in said damages by any benefit to the owner of the land by reason of the construction or improvement of said road, and if the benefits derived are equal to or greater than the damages sustained, the jury shall so declare, and it shall report its finding in writing to the board of road commissioners for confirmation or revision: Provided further, that a landowner may appeal to the Superior Court of Moore County from the decision of the jury and said board of road commissioners, and upon said appeal the same shall be heard de novo in said court.