be and remain any creditor of the Potowmac Company, who shall not have vested his demand against the same in the stock of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, to pay to such creditor or creditors annually, such dividend, or proportion of the net amount of the revenues of the Potowmac Company, on an average of the last five years preceding the organization of the said proposed company, as the demand of the said creditor or creditors at this time may bear to the whole debt of one hundred and seventy-five thousand eight hundred dollars.
The Potowmac Company to surrender charter.13. And be it further enacted, That whenever the Potowmac Company shall have declared its assent to the provisions of this act, in the manner hereinbefore provided, it shall be lawful for the said company to surrender its charter, and convey, in due form of law, to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, hereby incorporated, all the property, rights, and privileges by them owned, possessed and enjoyed, under the same; and thereupon it shall be lawful to and for the said company, hereby proposed to be created, to accept such surrender and transfer, and to hold, possess, use and occupy, all the said property, rights, and privileges, in the same manner, and to the same effect, as the said Potowmac Company now hold, possess, and occupy the same by law; and thereupon the charter of the said Potowmac Company shall be, and the same is hereby vacated and annulled, and all the rights and powers thereby granted to the Potowmac Company shall be vested in the company hereby incorporated; and it shall be the duty of the said last mentioned company, until every section of the contemplated canal shall be completed, so as to be used and enjoyed for the purposes of navigation, to keep the corresponding part of the river in a proper state for navigation, and in good order as the same now is; and in default thereof, they shall be in all things responsible, in the same manner as the Potowmac Company is now responsible. And in all rivulets, streams, creeks, and rivers, required for the western section of the said Chesapeake and Ohio canal, the same rights shall be, and are hereby, vested in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company by this act, as the charter of the Potowmac Company vested in the said company in relation to the waters of the Potowmac and the tributary streams thereof.
Canal declared a public highway.14. And be it enacted, That the said canal, and the works to be erected thereon in virtue of this act, when completed, shall forever thereafter be esteemed, and taken to be navigable as a public highway, free for the transportation of all goods, commodities, and produce whatever, on payment of the tolls to be imposed, as provided by this act; and no other toll or tax whatever, for the use of the said canal and the works thereon erected, shall, at any time hereafter, be imposed, but by consent of the said states and of the United States.
Jury to assess damages for the land cut through.15. And whereas it is necessary for the making of the said canal, locks, dams, ponds, feeders, and other works, that a provision should be made for condemning a quantity of land for the purpose: Be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said president and directors, or a majority of them, to agree with the owners of any land through which the said canal is intended to pass, for the purchase or use and occupation thereof; and in case of disagreement, or in case the owner thereof shall be a femme covert, under age, non-compos, or out of the state or county, on application to a justice of the county in which such land shall be, the said justice of the peace shall issue his warrant, under his hand, to the sheriff of the county, to summon a jury of eighteen inhabitants of his county, not related to the parties, nor in any manner interested, to meet on the land to be valued at a day to be expressed in the warrant, not less than ten, nor more than twenty days thereafter; and the sheriff, upon receiving the said warrant, shall forthwith summon the said jury, and, when met, shall administer an oath or affirmation to every juryman who shall appear, being not less than twelve in number, that he will faithfully, justly, and impartially, value the land, and all damages the owner thereof shall sustain by cutting the canal through such land, or the partial or temporary appropriation, use, or occupation, of such land, according to the best of his skill and judgment, and that in such valuation he will not spare any person for favour or affection, nor any person grieve for malice, hatred, or ill will; and in every such valuation and assessment of damages, the jury shall be, and they are hereby instructed to consider, in determining and fixing the amount thereof, the actual benefit which will accrue to the owner from conducting the said canal through, or erecting any of the said works upon his land, and to regulate their verdict thereby; except that no assessment shall require any such owner to pay, or contribute any thing to the said company