inspection of the president and directors of the said company, until 5 the same shall be filled; and the whole amount of the stock, estate and property, which the said corporation shall be authorized to hold, shall never exceed five hundred thousand dollars.

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III. And be it further enacted, That the stock, property, affairs and concerns of the said corporation shall be managed and conduct7 ed by seventeen directors, one of whom shall be, the president thereof, who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others 8 shall be chosen, and no longer; which directors shall be stockhold9 ers and citizens of this state, and shall be elected on the second Monday in January, in each and every year, at such time of the day, and in such place in the city of New-York as a majority of the directors for the time being shall appoint; of which election public notice shall be given, in at least two of the newspapers printed in the city of New-York, and continued for the space of ten days im10 mediately preceding such election. And such election shall be holden under the inspection of three stockholders, not being directors, to be appointed previous to every election, by the directors, and shall be made by ballot by a plurality of votes of the stockholders present, allowing one vote for every share; and the stockholders not present at such election, may vote by proxy, provided the proxy be derived directly from such stockholder, and the votes be given by citizens of the United States inhabiting this state.

IV. And be it further enacted, That the directors so to be chosen, shall meet as soon as may be after every election, and shall choose out of their body one person to be president, who shall preside for one year, and be sworn or affirmed faithfully to discharge 12 the duties of his office; and in case of the death, resignation or inability to serve of the president or any director, such vacancy or vacancies may be filled, for the remainder of the year, in which 13 they may happen, by the board of directors. And the first directors shall be Walter Bowne, Samuel Latham Mitchell, Gurdon S. Mumford, Jasper Ward, James Arden, John Haff, William Hillyer, Abraham King, Henry Post, junior, Jacob Mott, John D. Miller, Frederick Jenkins, Benjamin Egbert, William T. Slocum, Walter 14 Morton, Thomas Stagg, junior, and Isaac Lawrence, of whom the said Walter Bowne shall be the first president; and they shall respectively hold their offices until the second Monday in January

next.

15 V. And be it further enacted, That in case it should at any time happen, that an election of directors should not be made on any day, when, pursuant to this act, it ought to have been made, the said corporation shall not, for that cause, be deemed to be dissolved, but it shall and may be lawful, on any other day, to hold and make an election of directors, in such manner as shall have been regulated by the laws and ordinances of the said corporation.

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VI. And be it further enacted, That the stock of the said company shall be assignable and transferable according to such rules as the 17 president and directors shail make and establish; and no stockhold er, indebted to the company, shall be permitted to make a transfer, or receive a dividend, until such debt be paid or secured to be paid, to the satisfaction of the president and directors.

VII. And be it further enacted, That the president and direc- 18 tors shall have power to make and prescribe such bye-laws, rules and regulations, as to them shall appear needful and proper, touching the management and disposition of the stock, property, estate and effects of the said corporation, and transfer of shares; and touching the duties and conduct of the secretary, officers, clerks and servants employed; and touching the election of directors, and all such matters as appertain to the business of insurance; and shall also have power to appoint an assistant, or assistants, and a secretary, and so many clerks and servants for carrying on the said business, and with such salaries and allowances, as to them shall seem meet: Provided always, That such bye-laws, rules and regulations shall not be repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States.

VIII. And be it further enacted, That the president and direc- 19 tors shall have full power and authority, in the name, and on behalf of the company, to make all kinds of insurance against fire, all kinds of insurance upon the inland transportation of goods, wares and merchandize, all kinds of marine insurance, and insurances upon a life or lives, by way of tontine, or otherwise. And they may 20 also lend money upon bottomry and respondentia, and generally do and perform all matters and things relating to the said objects; and all policies shall be subscribed by the president, or in his ab- 21 sence by an assistant, if any be appointed, or by a president pro tempore, and countersigned by the secretary, and shall be binding and obligatory upon the said corporation, in the like manner and with the like force and effect as if under the seal of the said corporation.

IX. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the 28 president and directors, on the first Mondays of January and July, in every year, to make a dividend of so much of the profits of the said corporation, as to them, or a majority of them, shall appear advisable. And in case of any loss or losses whereby the capital stock of the corporation shall be lessened, no subsequent dividend shall be made, until a sum equal to such diminution, and arising from the profits of the corporation, shall have been added to the capital.

X. And be it further enacted, That the lands, tenements and 23 hereditaments which it shall be lawful for the said corporation to hold, shall be only such as shall be requisite for its immediate accommodation in relation to the convenient transacting of its business, or such as shall have been, or may be bona fide mortgaged to the said company, by way of security, or which may be conveyed to it in satisfaction of debts previously contracted in the course of its dealings, or purchased at sales upon judgments which it shall have obtained for such debts; and with regard to all such lands, 24 tenements and hereditaments, so to be held by the said corporation as aforesaid (except such as may be for its immediate accommodation, as aforesaid, or such as it may hold by way of mortgage, and whereof the actual possession shall be in the mortgagors, their heirs or assigns) the said corporation shall be bound to sell and dis

pose of the same respectively, within five years after it acquire the same, and shall not be capable of holding the same, after the expi25 ration of the said five years; but the same shall immediately, at the expiration of the said five years, be forfeited to and vested in the people of this state.

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XI. And be it further enacted, That the said corporation shall not directly or indirectly deal or trade in buying or selling any goods, wares, merchandize or commodities whatsoever; or in buying or selling any stock created by any act of the congress of the United States, or of any particular state, unless in buying the same in order to invest its capital stock, or any part or parts thereof, by way of securing the said capital stock, or in selling the same for the payment of its debts, or to reinvest in other stock, or when truly pledged to it by way of security for debts due to the said corporation. And further, it shall not be lawful for the said corporation to issue or emit any notes or bills, or make any contracts for the payment of money only, except the same be under the seal of the said corporation, and all such notes, bills and contracts shall be construed and taken to be specialties, and shall not possess any other or greater power of being assigned or transferred than specialties

at common law.

XII. And be it further enacted, That the president may sign any policy or contract, and cause the secretary to attest and sign the same in such manner as to be valid against and to bind the said corporation without the presence of a board of directors, provided the same is done under and in conformity to a bye-law of the di rectors which may be made and ordained for that purpose.

XIII. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be and is hereby declared to be a public act, and that the same be for the time herein before limited, construed in all courts and places benignly and favourably for every beneficial purpose herein intended.

XIV. And be it further enacted, That in respect to all debts which shall be contracted by the said corporation, before the said first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, the persons composing the said corporation, at the time of its dissolution, shall be responsible in their individual and private capacity to the extent of their respective shares, and no further, in any suit or action to be brought or prosecuted, after the dissolution of the said corporation.

WE

CHA P.

XIII.

AN ACT for the Relief of Henry Snyder.

Passed February 20, 1807.

WHEREAS Henry Snyder, on the thirty-first day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, executed to Francis Pfister a mortgage on his real estate, for securing the payment of two hundred and seventy-five dollars; and the said Francis Pfister, having subsequent thereto been attainted for adhering to the enemies of this state, and the said Henry Snyder

being wholly ignorant of the said judgment of attainder, did pay the amount due on the said mortgage to the representatives of the said Francis Pfister, who are unable to refund the same. Therefore,

BE it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That on the payment of the costs accrued in the suits of ejectment, instituted by the attorney-general, in behalf of the people of this state, for and by reason of the mortgage aforesaid, against the person in possession of the mortgaged premises, it shall and may be lawful for the said attorney-general, and he is hereby authorized and directed, to discontinue the said suits, and to cancel the said mortgage, so that the said Henry Snyder, and all persons claiming under him may be released, and wholly discharged from paying the interest and principal due on the same; and that the clerk of the city and county of Albany, on receiving the certificate of the attorney-general, that the said costs are paid, be and he is hereby authorized and directed to enter satisfaction of record of and upon the said mortgage, and the registry thereof.

CHA P. XIV.

AN ACT for building a Free Bridge across a Part of Haerlem River, Passed February 20, 1807.

I.

BE

E it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That Philip Milledoler and Bartholomew Ward, or either of them, their heirs or assigns, be and they are hereby authorized and empowered, at his or their own expense, to build a free bridge from the land of the said Philip Milledoler at Haerlem, across part of Haerlem-river to Great-BarnIsland, lying in the said river, and now belonging to the said Bartholomew Ward, agreeably to the directions and dimensions following, that is to say, the said bridge shall not be less than twenty-five feet in width, and between the centre arches thereof there shall be an opening of not less than twenty-five feet over which shall be a draw of not less than twelve feet, for the free passage of vessels with fixed standing masts.

II. And be it further enacted, That the said bridge, when finished, shall from thenceforth be deemed and reputed a public highway, and be for ever thereafter kept and maintained in good repair at the sole expense of the proprietors and inhabitants of the said island, for the time being.

CHA P. XV.

AN ACT further to suspend the Execution of David Williams. Passed February 21, 1807.

I. E it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, repre

Bented in Senate and Assembly, That the execution of David

Williams, who was convicted of the murder of Ira Lane, at a court of oyer and terminer, lately held in the town of Scipio, in the coun

VOL. V.

C

ty of Cayuga, be further suspended until the fourth Tuesday of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seven.

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2

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CONTENTS.

1. Cicero erected from Lysander...3. Town meetings where held...2. Poor how divided.

AN ACT to divide the Town of Lysander, in the County of Onondaga. Passed February 20, 1807.

I. BE it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, repre

sented in Senate and Assembly, That from and after the passing of this act, all that part of the town of Lysander, known by the name of the township of Cicero, shall be and is hereby erected into a separate town, by the name of Cicero; and that all the remaining part of the said town of Lysander shall be and remain a separate town, by the name of Lysander.

II. And be it further enacted, That as soon as may be after the first day of June next, it shall and may be lawful for the supervisors and overseers of the poor of the aforesaid towns respectively, to meet together after due notice of such meeting, and apportion the poor and monies belonging to the town of Lysander, and to make an equal division thereof, according to the tax list of last year; and the said towns shall thereafter respectively maintain their own poor.

III. And be it further enacted, That the first town meeting to be holden for the said town of Cicero, shall be held at the house of Jonathan Emmons, in said town; and that the next town meeting to be holden in and for said town of Lysander, shall be held at the house of William Wilson, in said town.

B

AN ACT respecting Elections in the City of New-York.

Passed February 20, 1807.

E it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That in all elections for governor, lieutenant-governor, senators and members of assembly, representatives to congress or charter officers, in the city of New York, the poll of every such election shall be opened at or before ten o'clock in the morning of every day on which the said election shall be held, and shall be kept open on each day of such election until the setting of the sun.

B

CHA P. XVIII.

AN ACT further to suspend the Execution of Stephen Arnold.
Passed February 27, 1807.

E it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That the execution of Stephen Arnold, lately convicted of the murder of Betsey Van Amburgh, in the county of Otsego, be further suspended, until the fourth Tuesday of March next.