Sixth. To make by-laws, not inconsistent with any existing law, for the management of its property, the regulation of its affairs, and for the transfer of its stock: Provided, That no corporation formed under the provisions of this article shall own or hold possession of more than six hundred and forty acres of land.

SEC. 281. The powers enumerated in the preceding section shall vest in any corporation that shall hereafter be created, although they may not be specified in the certificate; but no corporation shall possess or exercise any corporate powers, except such as shall be necessary to the exercise of the powers so enumerated.

SEC. 282. Any person who shall willfully or maliciously damage or interfere with any road, ditch, flume, bridge, ferry, telegraph-line, or any of the fixtures, tools, implements, appurtenances, or any property of any company which may be organized under the provisions of this article, upon conviction thereof before any court of competent jurisdiction in the county where the offense shall have been committed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by fine and imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the court, said imprisonment not to exceed one year, and said fine not to exceed five hundred dollars, and to be paid into the county treasury for the use of the common schools; and said offender shall also pay all damages that any such corporation may sustain, together with costs of suit.

SEC. 283. Nothing in this article shall be so construed as to authorize any company authorized under the same to issue notes or bills for circulation as money.

SEC. 284. That any company organized under the provisions of this article, and other companies who have become bodies corporate, heretofore formed under the provisions of any general law or any special act, who may desire to come under and avail itself of the privileges and provisions herein granted, shall give notice to the secretary of the territory of their surrender of their rights and privileges under any previous law or act, said notice to be certified to by the president of said company, and. to be filed in the office of the secretary of the territory, and become a body corporate and politic by complying with all and singular the provisions of this article.

SEC. 285. Whenever any road, ditch, telegraph, or fluming company, organized under the provisions of this article, shall not have acquired, by gift or purchase, any land, real estate, or claim required for the construction or maintenance of any road, ditch, telegraph, or flume, or which may be affected by any operations connected with the construction or maintenance of the same, the said corporation may present, to the probate judge of the county wherein such lands, real estate, or claims shall be, a petition, signed by the president, attorney, or agent of the same, describing with convenient accuracy and certainty, by maps or otherwise, the lands, real estate, or claims so required to be taken or affected as aforesaid, setting forth the name and residence of each owner, or other person interested therein as owner, lessee, or incumbrancer, as far as known to such president, attorney, or agent, or appearing of record upon local or county records, and praying the appointment of three appraisers to ascertain the compensation to be made to such owner and person interested for the taking or injuriously affecting such land, real estate, or claims, as aforesaid. The probate judge shall have satisfactory evidence that notice of an intended application, and the time and place thereof, for the appointment of appraisers between said corporations and the owners and the persons interested in such lands, real estate, and claims has been given, at least ten days previously, to such owners, personally, at their residence, or on the premises, or by the publication thereof in a newspaper printed in the county in which such lands, real estate, or claims shall be, or if no newspaper is published in said county, then by posting three or more notices in some public place in said county, such publication to be allowed only in respect to owners or persons interested, who shall appear by affidavit to have no residence in the county known to such president, attorney, or agent, which notice shall be published at least thirty days prior to the time fixed for the application aforesaid. The court may adjourn the proceedings from time to time; shall direct any future notice thereof to be given that may seem proper; shall have proofs and allegations of all parties interested touching the regularity of the proceedings; and shall, by an entry in its minutes, appoint three disinterested appraisers, as aforesaid, specifying in such entry a time and place for the first meeting of such appraisers. The said appraisers, before entering upon the duties of their offices, shall take an oath to faithfully and impartially discharge their duties as said appraisers, and any one of them may administer oaths to witnesses produced before them; they may issue subpoenas and compel witnesses to attend and testify, and may adjourn and hold meetings for that purpose, and shall give reasonable previous notice to such owners or parties interested. They shall have the proofs and allegations of the parties, and any two of them, after reviewing the premises, shall, without fear or favor or partiality, ascertain and certify the compensation proper to be made to said owners or parties interested for the lands, real estate, or claims to be taken or affected, as well as all damages accruing to the owners or parties interested in consequence of the condemnation of the same, taking, or injuriously affected, as aforesaid, making such deductions or allowance for the real benefits or advantages which such owners or parties interested may derive from the construction of said road, ditch, telegraph, or flume. They, or a majority of them, shall make, subscribe, and file, in the office of the clerk of the county in which such lands, real estate, or claims shall lie, a certificate of their said ascertainment and assessment, in which such lands, real estate, or claims shall be described with convenient certainty and accuracy. The probate judge. upon such certificate and due proof that such compensation and separate sums, if any be certified, have been paid to the parties entitled to the same, or have been deposited to the credit of such parties in the county treasury, or other place for that purpose approved by

the court, shall make and cause to be entered in its minutes a rule describing such lands, real estate, or claims, in manner aforesaid, such ascertainment of compensation, with mode of making it, and each payment or deposit of the compensation, as aforesaid, a certified copy of which shall be recorded and indexed in the recorder's office of the proper county, in like manner and with like effect as if it were a deed of conveyance from the said owners and parties interested to the said corporation. Upon the entry of such rule the said corporation shall become seized in fee, or shall have the exclusive right, title, and possession of all such lands, real estate, or claims described in said rule, as required to be taken as aforesaid, during the continuance of the corporation, and may take possession of and hold and use the same for the purpose of such said road, ditch, telegraph, or flume, and shall thereupon be discharged from all claims for any damage by reason of any matter specified in such petition, certificate, or rule of said probate judge. If at any time after an attempted or actual ascertainment of compensation under this article, or any purchase by or donation to said corporation of lands or claim for purposes aforesaid, it shall appear that the title acquired thereby to all or any part of such lands, for the use of said corporation, of, or if said assessment shall fail or be deemed defective, the said corporation shall proceed and perfect such title by procuring an assessment of the compensation proper to be made to any person who has title, claim, or interest in or lien upon such lands, and by making payment thereof in the manner hereinafter provided, as near as may be, and at any stage of such new proceedings, or of any proceedings under this article, the probate judge may, by rule in that behalf made, authorize the said corporation, if already in possession, and if not in possession, to take possession of and use said premises during the pendency and until the final conclusion of such proceedings, and may stay all actions and proceedings against such corporation on account thereof: Provided, Such corporation shall pay a sufficient sum into court, or give approved security to pay the compensation in that behalf when ascertained. And, in every case when possession shall be so authorized, it shall be lawful for the owners to conduct the proceedings to a conclusion, if the same shall be delayed by the company. The said appraisers shall receive five dollars per day as compensation for each day actually employed, such compensation to be taxed and allowed by the probate judge. If any appraisers so appointed shall die, be unable, or fail to serve, the court may appoint another in his place, on reasonable notice of the application, to be approved by the probate judge. Applications may be made to the district court in the same manner as herein provided, and the district court may thereupon cause such proceedings to be had and taken in like manner and with the same effect as herein required respecting the probate court.

SEC. 286. Any corporation formed under this article may dissolve and disincorporate itself by presenting to the judge of the district court of the district in which the principal place of business of such corporation is situated a petition to that effect, accompanied by a certificate of the proper officers, and setting forth that, at a general or special meeting of the stockholders called for that purpose, it was decided, by a vote of two-thirds of all the stockholders, to disincorporate and dissolve the corporation. Notice of the application shall then be given by the clerk of the court, which notice shall set forth the nature of the application, and shall specify the time when and the place where it is to be heard, and shall be published in some newspaper of the county where the principal place of business of said company is located for at least four consecutive weeks before the time of the hearing of such application, or if no newspaper be published in the county, then by advertisement posted up for thirty days in three of the most public places in the county. At the time and place appointed, or any other to which the judge may postpone it, he shall proceed to hear and consider such application, and, if satisfied that the corporation has taken the necessary preliminary steps and obtained the necessary votes to dissolve itself, he shal lenter an order declaring it dissolved, and the rights of franchise acquired by said corporation shall cease and become null and void after such dissolution.

SEC. 287. Upon the dissolution of any corporation formed under this article, the trustees at the time of dissolution shall be the trustees of the creditors and stockholders of the corporation dissolved, and shall have full power and authority to sue for and recover the debts and property of the corporation, by the name of trustees of such corporation, collect and pay the outstanding debts, settle all its affairs, and divide among the stockholders the money and other property that shall remain after the payment of the debts and necessary expenses.

SEC. 288. Any corporation, desiring at any time to remove its principal place of business into some other county of the territory, shall file in the office of the county recorder of such county a certified copy of its certificate of incorporation, and shall give notice of such removal by publication in some newspaper of the county in which such principal place of business was located at least once a week for four weeks, and if no newspaper be published in such county, then by advertisement posted up for thirty days in three of the most public places in said county. SEC. 289. That hereafter all mining, manufacturing, and other companies or incorporations incorporated by the legislature of any state or territory of the United States, or incorporated under the general laws of incorporation of any state or territory other than this territory, and incorporated for the purpose of carrying on or doing business of any kind, nature, and description whatever in this territory, shall, before they proceed to do business under the charter or certificate of incorporation in this territory, file for record with the secretary of the territory, and also in the office of the recorder of the county in which they are carrying on business, the charter or certificate of incorporation of said company or corporation, duly authenticated, or of the copy of said charter or certificate of

incorporation, and the certificate of the president and secretary of said company or corporation, verified under oath by either of the said officers, or the superintendent or managing agent thereof, that the copy of said charter or certificate of incorporation is a true and correct copy of the original charter or certificate of incorporation granted to the persons therein named or their successors, and the charter or certificate of incorporation was granted at the time and place therein mentioned, and under the law of the state or territory designated; and said foreign incorporations shall remunerate the secretary and recorder for the recording of the same, and said charter so recorded shall be recognized in the courts of this territory as their foreign act of incorporation.

SEC. 290. That any company or corporation, incorporated as in section 244 of this article, that shall neglect or refuse, for the period of thirty days, to file for record their charter or certificate of incorporation, or copy thereof, with the secretary of the territory and county recorder of the county wherein such business may be carried on, shall be deemed guilty of willful negligence on the part of said company or corporation; and thereafter any person or persons maintaining or prosecuting any civil action in any court of this territory against said company or corporation so neglecting or refusing to file for record their charter or certificate of incorporation, or copy thereof, with the secretary of the territory and county recorder, as herein before provided, shall not be held to prove on trial the incorporation of said company or corporation by the original charter or certificate of incorporation, or act of incorporation, but the same may be proved by general reputation; and the provisions of this section shall also apply to all companies and incorporations incorporated by the legislature, or under the general laws of incorporation of any state or territory of the United States other than this territory, that shall have failed or refused to file its charter or certificate of incorporation, or act of incorporation, or a copy thereof, duly authenticated, as provided in section 289 in this article, with the secretary of the territory and the county recorder of the county in which such company or corporation is carrying on business prior to the commencement of the civil action mentioned in this section.

NOTE.-Act February 3, 1876 (Sess. Laws, 1876, p. 41).

SEC. 291. From and after the passage of this article no corporations shall be formed under its provisions for the purpose of establishing ferries, toll-bridges, or toll-roads.

NOTE. All sections of the preceding article, except where otherwise specially noted, are from the act of January 12, 1872 (Cod. Stats., 1871-'72, p. 404). NOTE.-See act of July 22, 1879, "Foreign corporations" (Sess. Laws, Ex. sess. 1879, p. 8).

CHAP. LIII.-REVENUE.

ART. I. Of the levying and collection of taxes, and of taxable property generally.

SECTION 1002. All property of every kind and nature in this territory on the first day of January of each year, or which shall arrive or be found in this territory before the last day of December ensuing, shall be subject to taxation, except:

Ninth. Mines and mining-claims, except those held under a patent from the United States: Provided, That all machinery used in mining-claims, and all property and improvements appurtenant to or upon mining-claims, which have an independent and separate value, shall be subject to taxation; tools of mechanics, farming tools of husbandmen, all libraries of professional men and private citizens, household furniture of families or householders, which do not exceed in value the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars.

SEC. 1007. The property of corporations or companies constructing bridges, canals, ditches, flumes, railways, plank-roads, grading-roads, turnpike-roads, telegraph-lines, and similar improvements shall be assessed to each corporation or company, and their interests are to be taxed in this territory in the county or localities in which such bridges, canals, flumes, railways, plank-roads, grading-roads, turnpike-roads, telegraph-lines, and similar improvements may be in, and to the extent of such improvements as may be found to be in the county or counties in which the same may be situated; and to this end the assessor is directed to require the secretary or clerk, or whatever officer of corresponding duties there may be, to render, under oath, a list of the number of miles and value of such improvements as may be in each separate county through which the same may be constructed or in which the same may be situated.

SEC. 1008. All taxable property is to be listed and valued each year, and shall be assessed at its true value in money at private sale, having regard to its quality, locality, natural advantages, the general improvement in the vicinity, and all other elements of its value.

SECTION 731. That any person or persons, corporation, or company who may have or hold a title, or possessory right or title, to any agricultural lands within the limits of this territory, as defined by the organic act thereof, shall be entitled to the use and enjoyment of the waters of the streams or creeks in said territory for the purposes of irrigation and making said land available for agricultural purposes to the full extent of the soil thereof: Provided, That in all cases where, by virtue of prior appropriation, any person may have diverted all the water of any stream, or to such an extent that there shall not be an amount sufficient left therein for those having a subsequent right to the waters of such stream for such purpose of irrigation, and there shall at any time be a surplus of such waters so diverted over and above what is actually used for such purpose by such prior appropriator, such person shall be required to turn and cause to flow back into such stream such surplus water, and upon failure to do so within five days after demand being made upon him in writing by any person having a right to the use of such surplus water, such person so diverting the same shall be liable to the person aggrieved thereby in the sum of twenty-five dollars for each and every day such water shall be withheld after such notice, to be recovered by civil action by any person having a right to the use of such surplus water.

NOTE.-Act February 21, 1879 (Sess. Laws, 1879, p. 52).

SEC. 732. That when any person or persons, corporation, or company owning or holding land as provided in section 731 of this article shall have no available water facilities upon the same, or whenever it may be necessary to raise the waters of said stream or creek to a sufficient height to so irrigate said land, or whenever such lands are too far removed from said stream or creek to so use the waters thereof as aforesaid, such person or persons, corporation, or company shall have the right of way through and over any tract or piece of land for the purposes of conducting and conveying said water by means of ditches, dykes, flumes, or canals, for the purpose aforesaid.

SEC. 733. That such right to so dig and construct ditches, dykes, flumes, and canals over and across the lands of another shall only extend to so much digging, cutting, or excavations as may be necessary for the purposes required.

SEC. 734. That in all controversies respecting the rights to water, under the provisions of this article, the same shall be determined by the date of the appropriation as respectively made by the parties.

SEC. 735. That the waters of the streams or creeks of the territory may be made available to the full extent of the capacity thereof for irrigating purposes, without regard to deterioration in quality or diminution in quantity, so that the same do not materially affect or impair the rights of the prior appropriator; but in no case shall the same be diverted or turned from the ditches or canals of such appropriator so as to render the same unavailable.

SEC. 736. That any person or persons, corporation, or company damaging or injuring the lands or possessions of another by reason of cutting or digging ditches or canals or erecting flumes, as provided by section 732 of this article, the party so committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party so injured therefor.

SEC. 737. That this article shall not be so construed as to impair or in any way or manner interfere with the rights of parties to the use of the water of such streams or creeks acquired before its passage.

SEC. 738. That this article shall not be so construed as to prevent or exclude the appropriators of the waters of the said streams or creeks for mining, manufacturing, or other beneficial purposes, and the right also to appropriate the same is hereby equally recognized and declared.

SEC. 739. That any person or persons, corporation, or company who may dig and construct ditches, dykes, flumes, or canals over or across any public roads or highways, or who use the waters of such ditches, dykes, flumes, or canals, shall be required to keep the same in good repair at such crossings or other places where the water from any such ditches, dykes, flumes, or canals may flow over or in anywise injure any roads or highways, either by bridging or otherwise.

SEC. 740. Any person or persons offending against section 739 of this article, on conviction thereof, shall forfeit and pay for every such offense a penalty of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, to be recovered, with costs of suit, in civil action, in the name of the territory of Montana, before any court having jurisdiction; one-half of the fine so collected shall be paid into the county treasury for the benefit of the common schools of the county in which the offense was committed, and the other half shall be paid to the person or persons informing the nearest magistrate that such offense has been committed. All such fines and costs shall be collected

without stay of execution, and such defendant or defendants may, by order of the court, be confined in the county jail until such fine and costs shall have been paid.

SEC. 741. That in all controversies respecting the right to water in this territory, whether for mining, manufacturing, agricultural, or other useful purposes, the rights of the parties shall be determined by the dates of appropriation, respectively, with the modifications heretofore existing under the local laws, rules, or customs and decisions of the supreme court of the territory.

SECTION 742. That any person or persons, company, or corporation having the right to use, sell, or dispose of water, and engaged in using, selling, or disposing of the same, who shall have a surplus of water not used or sold, or any person or persons, corporation, or company having a surplus of water and the right to sell and dispose of same shall, and they or it are hereby required, upon the payment or tender to the person or persons entitled thereto an amount equal to the usual and customary rates per inch, to convey and deliver to the person or persons, company, or corporation such surplus of unsold water, or so much thereof for which said payment or tender shall have been made, and shall continue so to convey and deliver the same weekly so long as said surplus of unused or unsold water shall exist and said payment or tender made as aforesaid.

SEC. 743. That any person or persons, corporation, or company desiring to avail themselves of the provisions of this article shall, at their own cost and expense, construct or dig the necessary flumes or ditches to receive and convey the surplus water so desired by it or them, and shall pay or tender to the person or persons, corporation, or company having a right to the use, sale, or disposal thereof an amount equal to the necessary costs and expeuse of tapping any gulch, stream, reservoir, ditch, flume, or aqueduct, and putting in gates, gauges, or other proper and necessary appliances usual and customary in such cases, and until the same shall be so doue the delivery of the said surplus water shall not be required as provided by section 742 of this article.

SEC. 744. That any person or persons, corporation, or company constructing the necessary ditches, aqueducts, or flumes, and making the payments or tenders hereinbefore provided, shall be entitled to the use of so much of the said surplus water as said ditches, flumes, or aqueducts shall have the capacity to carry, and for which payment or tender shall have been made as aforesaid, with all the rights and privileges incidental thereto, so long as said unsold or surplus water exists and said payment or tender shall be or have been made, and may institute and maintain any appropriate action, at law or in equity, for the enforcement of such right or recovery of damages arising from a failure to deliver or wrongful diversion of the same.

SEC. 745. That nothing in this article shall be so construed as to give the person or persons, corporation, or company acquiring the right to the use of water, as hereinbefore provided, the right to sell or dispose of the same after being so used by it or them, or prevent the original owner or proprietor from retaking, selling, and disposing of the same in the usual and customary manner after it is so used as aforesaid.

SECTION 820. Every mechanic, builder, lumberman, artisan, workman, laborer, or other person who shall do or perform any work or labor upon, or furnish any material, machinery, or fixtures for, any building, erection, bridge, flume, canal, ditch, mining-claim, quartz-lode, ranch, city or town lots, or other improvements upon land, or for repairing the same, upon complying with the provisions of this chapter shall have, for his work or labor doue, or material, machinery, or fixtures furnished, a lien upon such building, erection, bridge, flume, canal, ditch, mining. claim, quartz-lode, ranch, city or town lots, or other improvements, to secure the payment of such work or labor done, or material, machinery, or fixtures furnished.

SEC. 821. Every subcontractor wishing to avail himself of the benefits of this chapter shall give notice to the