Midland railroad, are hereby appropriated to said towns or municipalities respectively, and shall be paid over to the commissioners of such towns or municipalities appointed pursuant to an act entitled "An act to facilitate the construction of the New York and Oswego Midland railroad, and to authorize towns to subscribe to the capital stock thereof, passed April 5, 1866," or any act supplemental thereto or amendatory thereof, and the said moneys shall be by said commissioners, expended for and applied to the payment of the interest on said bonds, or to the principal thereof.

Id., § 2.

Duty of Tax Collector.—It shall be the duty of the collector of taxes of each such town or municipality to pay over to the said commissioners of his town or municipality, the amounts of the county tax collected by him from the said corporation or the real and personal property thereof, within five days from the time the same is collected; and the said commissioners shall give to the said collectors a receipt for the amount of county taxes so received, which said receipt shall be returned to the treasurer of the county in which the said collector shall reside.

Id., § 3.

Liability of Collector and Sureties.- Collectors of taxes and the sureties on their official bonds shall be liable for any neglect or failure to pay over to the said commissioners the amounts or any part thereof, by the provisions of this act directed to be paid by such collectors of taxes to the said commissioners

Id., § 4.

See Decisions under § 883, ante.

PAYMENT OF RAILROAD AID BONDS BY EXCHANGING THEREFOR,
THEIR RAILROAD STOCK, ETC.

§ 885. Under Chapter 421, Laws of 1875 Town, Etc., May Exchange its Bonds for Railroad Bonds, Etc.-Cancellation of Bonds.-It shall be lawful for any town, city or village, to exchange the bonds and stock of any railroad corporation for and in payment of the bonds of any such town, city or village heretofore issued in aid of any such railroad corporation; and it shall be lawful for any town, city or village to exchange the stock of any railroad corporation for the bonds of such corporation; and such exchange may be made by the officers of such town, city or village having the lawful charge

and custody of such railroad stock and bonds, but the same shall not be thus exchanged for less than par value thereof; and when any such exchange shall be made, report thereof shall be made by the officers making the same, to the then next meeting of the board of auditors of their town, the common council of their city, or the board of trustees of their village; and the town, city or village bonds obtained by such exchange, shall thereupon be canceled.

Laws of 1875, chap. 421, §1; 2 N. Y. 955.

§ 886. Under Chap. 522, Laws of 1881-Present Bond Debt May be Paid by Issuing New Bonds-Bonds Taken up to be Canceled.— The present bonded indebtedness of any village, city, town or county in this State, including interest past due and unpaid, may be paid up or retired by the issue of new bonds for like amount by the board of trustees, mayor and common council, town board, board of supervisors or supervisor, or railroad commissioners, or officer or officers, now having in charge, according to law, the payment of interest and principal on bonds herein proposed to be paid and retired, respectively of such village, city, town or county; provided, however, that such new bonds shall be issued only when existing bonds can be retired by the substitution therefor of such new bonds, or can be paid up by money realized on the sale of such new bonds; and provided further, that such new bonds shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding five per cent per annum, payable semi-annually. All existing bonds taken up by the substitution of such new bonds, or paid under the provisions of this act, shall be immediately canceled, and a certificate executed by the officers issuing such new bonds shall be forthwith made and filed by them in the county clerk's office of the proper county, which shall state the amount of existing bonds so canceled, and of new bonds so issued. This act shall not be so construed as to authorize the issue of new bonds to supersede or pay existing bonds which have been adjudged invalid by the final judgment of a competent court. The bonds so to be issued shall be made payable at any period or periods deemed advisable by the officers issuing the same, not less than two years nor more than thirty years from their date; and shall bear date and draw interest from the date of payment of existing bonds, or the receipt of money to pay existing bonds; and shall be issued in no case at less than for their par value.

Chap. 522, Laws of 1881, § 1, as amended by chap. 453, Laws of 1883.

New Bonds to be Valid.-The bonds issued under the provisions of this act, when substituted or sold to retire existing bonds, by any authorized officers of any town, village, city or county, or their successors in office, shall be valid and binding on ⚫ the town, village, city or county wherein they are issued, and such bonds shall contain a recital that they are issued under the provisions of this act, and such recital shall be conclusive evidence in any court of the validity of said bonds and the regularity of their issue.

Id., § 2.

Exempt from Taxation. - All new bonds issued by any village, city, town or county in this State, under the provisions of this act, shall be exempt from taxation for town, county, municipal or State purposes, until the period when they are made payable. Id., $8.

Annual Reports.-It shall be the duty of the railroad commissioners, supervisors and financial officers of towns, villages, cities and counties, having in charge the moneys received and collected, and responsible for the payment of the interest and principal due on bonds issued under this act, and they are hereby required to report annually to the board of supervisors of counties, the trustees of villages and the mayor and board of aldermen or common council of cities, as the case may be, as now required by law, the sum due and payable the succeeding year, both principal and interest on said bonds.

Id., § 4.

Tax to Pay Bonds. It shall be the duty of the boards of supervisors of counties, the trustees of villages, and the boards of aldermen and the common councils of cities, and they are hereby required to levy and collect in each year upon the towns, villages, cities or counties severally obligated, moneys sufficient to pay such interest when and as it shall fall due and the principal of such bonds when and as the same shall become due and payable.

Id., § 5.

§ 887. Under Chapter 278, Laws of 1886.Railroad Commissioners may Issue New Town Bonds, on Proof of Loss, Etc.,- Indemnity. The railroad commissioners of any of the towns in this State, which have heretofore issued its bonds in aid of the construction of any railroad, which bonds or any of which shall have been

lost or destroyed before the same shall have become due, are hereby authorized to issue new bonds of such town in the place and stead thereof, under their hand and seal, for the amount at the same rate of interest, and to become due at the same time as such lost or destroyed bond or bonds, and deliver the same to the owner of such lost or destroyed bond, or bonds, upon such owner furnishing to such commissioners satisfactory proof, by affidavit, of such ownership, and of the loss or destruction of such bond or bonds, and filing with said commissioners a sufficient bond of indemnity, with at least two sureties, to be approved by said commissioners, and by the supervisor of the town, and by the county judge of the county, in double the amount of such bonds so to be issued.

Laws of 1886, chap. 278, § 1.

New Bonds, how Executed and Registered. The new bond or bonds so issued shall state upon the face thereof the denomination and number of the bonds in the place and stead of which they are issued, which said bonds shall be signed by the said railroad commissioners, and the coupons attached thereto, for interest, shall be signed by one of said commissioners, and said bonds countersigned by the town clerk of the town, and registered in the town clerk's office of such town in the record thereof.

Id., § 2.

Indemnity Bonds and Proofs, how Filed.— It shall be the duty of the railroad commissioners to cause any such bond of indemnity, taken by them as provided in section 1 of this act, with their approval indorsed thereon, to be filed with the clerk of the county in which such town is situated, and the proofs of ownership, loss or destruction to be filed in the office of the clerk of such town.

Id., § 3.

CHAPTER XVI.

ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS BY AND AGAINST TOWNS.

SEC. 888. Town may sue or be sued.

889. How action, etc., to be brought. 890. Process to be served on supervisor.

891. Inhabitants, when competent witnesses and jurors.

SEC. 892. Actions in favor of a town may be brought before a justice.

893. Actions for penalties for trespass on town lands.

894. When court may order partition. 895. Decisions.

SEC. 906. Actions by counties, when and SEC. 911: When county may sue before jus

how brought.

tice.

912. Process, how served.

ACTIONS FOUNDED UPON SPOLIATION, etc.

918. For funds, etc., illegally appro-
priated.
Mandamus.

BY AND AGAINST TOWNS.

§ 888. Town may Sue or be Sued. —Each town, as a body corporate, has capacity to sue or be sued in the manner prescribed in the laws of this State.

1 R. S. 805, § 1, subd. 1. See Decisions, § 895.

Whenever any controversy or cause of action shall exist between any towns of this State, or between any town and an individual or corporation, such proceedings shall be had either at law or in equity for the purpose of trying and finally settling such controversy, and the same shall be conducted in like manner, and the judgment or decree therein shall have the like effect as in other suits or proceedings of a similar kind between individuals and corporations.

Id. 840, § 1.

See Decisions, § 895.

§ 889. How Action, Etc., to be Brought.