Repealed.

act shall take effect, but every such act, right and proceeding shall be and remain as valid and effectual as if this act had not been passed.

SECTION 7. All acts or parts of acts conflicting with or contravening any of the provisions of this act are hereby repealed so far as they conflict with or contravene the same.

SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved March 4, 1870.

CHAPTER 23.

[Published March 5, 1870.]

Opinions and decisions to be part of the record.

AN ACT in relation to records and decisions in the supreme court.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Each and every written opinion or decision of the supreme court of this state, now on file or hereafter filed with the clerk of said court in any suit or action heretofore decided, or which shall hereafter be decided by said court and which shall be certified to the supreme court of the United States, shall constitute and be held in all courts and places to be a part of the record of the suit or action in said court in which it shall have been or shall be given and filed.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and publication. Approved March 4, 1870.

CHAPTER 24.

[Published March 8, 1870.]

AN ACT to encourage the construction of railroads in this state.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

survey of line

SECTION 1. Whenever any railroad company in Railroad comthis state shall have located its line into or through pany to have any county, it shall be the duty of such company to recorded. cause such fact, together with such a description of the line so located, to be recorded or filed in the office of the register of deeds of such county, as will show clearly, each and every quarter section, or at least every quarter section of land over which the same passes, and no change shall be made in such location after any town, city or village therein shall have voted to subscribe to the capital stock of such railroad company, and to create a bonded indebtedness for the payment of the same, except by consent of such town, city or village expressed by a similar vote.

village may sub

therefor, if so

ors.

SECTION 2. Upon such location of the line of any Town, city or railroad into, near to or through any town, incorpor- scribe for stock ated city or village, it shall be lawful for such town, and issue bonds incorporated city or village to subscribe for the capital voted by electstock of such railroad company, and to issue bonds for the payment of the same: provided, the legal voters of such town, city or village, at any annual or special election duly called under the provisions of the exist ing laws of this state, or a majority of them voting at such election in such town, city or village, shall be in favor of making such subscription and issuing such bonds. The town clerk or the clerk of the city or village, as the case may be, shall upon the same requisition, give the same notice of any such election, and of the business to be transacted thereat, and in the same manner as is now provided for by law in case of special business at special town meetings. Said notice shall also specify the amount of the subscription to be made, and of the bonds proposed to be issued, the length of time they are to run, the rate of interest

they shall bear, the railroad for whose stock they are to be issued, when to be delivered, when to be made payable, and when the railroad is to be completed to a Form of ballot. certain point. At such election, those voting in favor of the proposition shall deposit a ballot containing the words, "for the railroad," and those voting against it, shall deposit a ballot containing the words, "against the railroad." The election shall be conducted and the votes shall be canvassed and certified and recorded in the same manner as the votes given at the annual town, city or village elections. And subscriptions shall thereupon be made to the capital stock of said company, by the chairman of the board of supervisors of the town, the mayor of the city or the president of the village, as the case may be. It shall not be lawful to strike from any such town, city or village, any of its territory while such bonds shall be outstanding and unpaid, and the issuing of, such bonds shall be deemed a contract that territory of such town, city or village shall not be diminished while such bonds shall be unpaid in whole or in part.

Bonds to be : paid for shares at par.

be executed.

SECTION 3. Such bonds shall according to the purfor which their issue is authorized, as in the prepose ceding section and elsewhere in this act, be delivered in payment at par, for shares of stock subscribed for by any such town, incorporated city or village, when all the conditions precedent on the part of such company, as in this act provided, shall have been performed. How bonds to They shall be signed by the chairman of the board of supervisors and town clerk of the town, the mayor and clerk of the city, or the president and clerk of the village, as the case may be, voting the same. Each shall be of the denomination of one hundred dollars, with annual or semi-annual interest coupons attached in the usual form. All the conditions upon which they are issued shall be stated therein. There shall also be endorsed upon the back or each a certificate of registry, to be signed as hereinafter provided, by the secretary of state. The shares of stock in such railroad company for payment of thus taken by said towns, cities or villages, and all dividends arising therefrom are hereby pledged, while they remain the property of such town, city or village, for the payment of the principal and interest of the bonds delivered for such stock; and the supervisor, mayor or president, when authorized by a vote of his

Shares pledged

principal and interest of

bonds.

town, city or village, at any annual or special election thereof, may sell such stock and transfer the same to any purchaser, and the proceeds of such sale shall be applied to the payment of the interest and principal of such bonds, and for that purpose the same shall be immediately deposited by the officer receiving the same, with the state treasurer, and said town, city or village credited therefor, to be used by him in connection with, or in lieu of the other funds standing to the credit of such town, city or village. The board of supervisors of the town, common council of the city or trustees of the village, as the case may be, shall annually or as often as there shall be a vacancy, appoint one railroad commissioner, whose duty it shall be after the bonds have been issued to the railroad company, to attend the meetings of the stockholders of such company, and he shall be entitled to cast one vote for each share of stock owned by such town, city or village, in the election of directors, and on all questions, and shall in all other respects be treated as a stockholder therein while he so represents such town, city or village.

treasurer in re

towns subscrib

SECTION 4. Whenever any town, incorporated city Duties of state or village shall hereafter create a debt under the pro- lation to reve visious of this act, or under the provisions of any law nues from of this state, for a subscription to the capital stock of ing for shares. any railroad company whose lines shall be located in this state, as herein before provided, it shall be lawful for the state treasurer, and he is hereby required, immediately upon receiving the revenue for each year, for and during such term of years as may be necessary, to place to the credit of any such town, incorporated city or village, so having incurred such indebtedness in the state treasury, annually thereafter during the term aforesaid, all of the special taxes collected and paid into the state treasury on the increased valuation of the taxable property of such town, incorporated city or village, as shown by the annual assessment rolls of the year 1869, as provided in sections 8 and 11 of this act. And whenever any town, incorporated city or village shall have created a debt as aforesaid, it shall also be lawful for the state treasurer, and he is hereby required, immediately upon receiving the annual state tax or license fee from the railroad or railroads, for the purchase of whose stock such debt shall have been created by any such town, incorporated city or village,

Gross earnings of railroad to be

edness.

to place to the credit of such towns, incorporated cities or villages, on any one line of railroad, so having incurred such indebtedness, in the state treasury, annually, for and during the full term of the existence of such indebtedness or any part thereof, the whole amount so received, and in such proportion to each of such towns, incorporated cities or villages, on any one line, as shall be in an equal ratio to the whole of such indebtedness originally incurred by each.

of

SECTION 5. So long as the tax or license fee upon taxed for pay any railroad or railroads, or parts thereof hereafter ment of indebt- built in this state shall be needed for the purpose being used in the payment of any indebtedness incurred for its construction by any town, city or village, as contemplated in this act, and as directed by section four to be applied by the state treasurer for that purpose, and no longer, a tax or license fee of six per centum on the gross earnings, instead of the rate at present authorized by law, the additional three per cent. being in consideration of the bonds issued by the several towns, cities and villages in aid of said railroad, and shall be collected from each, under the same laws and regulations as now apply to the collection of the present rate of state tax or license upon railroads.

Clerks shall register bonds issued.

SECTION 6. And the clerk of any such town, city or village, upon the issuing of the bonds in the payment of such subscription to the stock of any such railroad company, shall make a registration thereof in a book to be kept for that purpose in his office, showing the date, amount, number, maturity and rate of interest of such bonds and to what railroad company the same were delivered. And the said bonds so issued and still unpaid, in order to receive the benefits of this act, shall each be registered by the holder thereof in the office of the secretary of state, who shall cause the same to be registered in a book to be kept for that purpose. Such registration shall show the date, amount, number, maturity and rate of interest of each of such bonds, under what act and by what town, city or village the same were issued, and the secretary of state shall under his seal of office, certify upon each of such bonds the fact of such registration, for which registration and certificate he shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five cents, to be paid by the hodler of said bond.