Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 14).djvu/231

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APPENDIX B
227

lands, waters, canals, locks, feeders, and appurtenances thereto acquired, used and claimed by the said company, under its act of incorporation, and the several acts amending the same; and it shall be the duty of the justices aforesaid, at the term mentioned in the said notice, and on proof of the service thereof, to appoint, by writing under the seal of the said court, and the hands of at least three of the said justices, not less than three, nor more than five disinterested persons, being citizens of the United States, to estimate and appraise the damages aforesaid; and it shall be the duty of the said appraisers, or a majority of them, to estimate and appraise the damages aforesaid, and severally to certify the same under oath, before an officer authorised to take the acknowledgement of deeds, to be a just, equitable, and impartial appraisal to the best of their judgment and belief, and shall thereupon deliver the same to one of the canal commissioners, who shall report the same to the same court; and if the said court shall be of opinion that the said damages have been fairly and equitably assessed, the said jus-