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actually expended thereon at least ten per cent of the capital stock of the corporation;

2. If, within three years from filing the articles of incorporation, the bridge, wharf, chute, or pier is not completed;

3. If, when the bridge, wharf, chute, or pier of the corporation is destroyed, it is not reconstructed and ready for use within three years thereafter;

4. If the ferry of any such corporation is not in running order within three months after authority is obtained to establish it, or if at any time thereafter it ceases for a like term consecutively to perform the duties imposed by law. Amended March 21, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 579.

See, also, Pol. C. § 2619.

Violation of conditions of franchise, etc.: Pen. C. § 387.

NOTE. $529. The change consists in the insertion of the words "or other governing body having authority in that behalf," after "supervisors."

President and secretary to make annual report, and what to contain-Damages for failing to report.

§ 530. The president and secretary of every bridge, ferry, wharf, chute, or pier corporation must annually, under oath, report to the board of supervisors, or other governing body having authority in that behalf, of the county in which the articles of incorporation are filed:

1. The cost of constructing and providing all necessary appendages and appurtenances for its bridge, ferry, wharf, chute, or pier;

2. The amount of all moneys expended thereon, since its construction, for repairs and incidental expenses;

3. The amount of its capital stock, how much paid in, and how much actually expended thereof;

4. The amount received during the year for tolls, and from all other sources, stating each separately;

5. The amount of dividends made, and the indebtedness of the corporation, specifying for what it was incurred;

6. Such other facts and particulars respecting the business of the corporation, as the board of supervisors or other governing body having authority in that behalf may require.

This report the president and secretary must cause to be published for four weeks in a daily newspaper published nearest the bridge, ferry, wharf, pier, or chute, if required by order of the board of supervisors or other governing body having

authority in that behalf. A failure to make such report subjects the corporation to a penalty of two hundred dollars, and for every week permitted to elapse after such failure an additional penalty of fifty dollars, payable in each case to the county from which the authority of the corporation was derived. All such cases must be reported by the board of supervisors, or other governing body having authority in that behalf, to the district attorney or city attorney, who must commence an action therefor.

Amended March 21, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 579.

NOTE.- 530. The change consists in the insertion of the words "or other governing body having authority in that behalf," after "supervisors."

This title to apply to natural persons alike with corporations.

§ 531. When a bridge, ferry, wharf, chute, or pier is constructed, operated, or owned by a natural person, this title is applicable to such person in like manner as it is applicable to corporations.

Enacted March 21, 1872.

98 Cal. 314.

Public ferries and toll bridges: See Pol. C. § 2843 to 2895. Wharves, chutes, and piers: See Pol. C. § 2906 to 2921.

TITLE VII.

[Old title VII repealed and new title VII enacted March 20, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 492.]

Telegraph and Telephone Corporations.

(See, also, "Franchises," statutes at large, Appendix; see, also, Civ. C. §§ 291-294, and Pen. C. §§ 273e, 273b.)

SEC. 536. May use right of way along waters, roads, and highways.

537. Liability for damaging telegraph or telephone property. 538. Penalty for willfully or maliciously injuring telegraph or telephone property.

539.

Conditions on which damage to subaqueous cable may

be recovered.

540.

May dispose of certain rights.

May use right of way along waters, roads, and highways.

§ 536. Telegraph or telephone corporations may construct lines of telegraph or telephone lines along and upon any public road or highway, along or across any of the waters or lands within this State, and may erect poles, posts, piers, or abutments for supporting the insulators, wires, and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the road or highway or interrupt the navigation of the waters.

Enacted March 20, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 492.

149 Cal. 750.

NOTE. §§ 536, 537, 538, 539, 540. The change consists in the insertion of the words "or telephone" after the word "telegraph," thus including telephone companies within the operation of the above sections.

Liability for damaging telegraph or telephone property.

§ 537. Any person who injures or destroys, through want of proper care, any necessary or useful fixture of any telegraph or telephone corporation, is liable to the corporation for all damages sustained thereby. Any vessel which, by dragging its anchor, or otherwise, breaks, injures, or destroys the subaqueous cable of a telegraph or telephone corporation, subjects its owner to the damages hereinbefore specified.

Enacted March 20, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 492.
NOTE.-See note to § 536.

Penalty for willfully or maliciously injuring telegraph or telephone property.

§ 538. Any person who willfully and maliciously does any injury to any telegraph or telephone property, mentioned in the preceding section, is liable to the corporation for one hundred times the amount of actual damages sustained thereby, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Enacted March 20, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 492.

NOTE. See note to § 536.

Conditions on which damage to subaqueous cable may be recovered.

§ 539. No telegraph or telephone corporation can recover damages for the breaking or injuring of any subaqueous telegraph or telephone cable, unless such corporation has previously erected on either bank of the waters under which the cable is placed, a monument, indicating the place where the cable lies, and publishes for one month in some newspaper most

likely to give notice to navigators, a notice giving a description and the purpose of the monuments, and the general course, landings, and termini of the cable.

Enacted March 20, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 492.

NOTE. See note to § 536.

May dispose of certain rights.

§ 540. Any telegraph or telephone corporation may at any time, with the consent of the persons holding two thirds of the issued stock of the corporation, sell, lease, assign, transfer, or convey any rights, privileges, franchises, or property of the corporation, except its corporate franchise.

Enacted March 20, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 492.

NOTE. See note to § 536.

TITLE VIII.

Water and Canal Corporations.

(See, also, "Water Companies," statutes at large, Appendix.) Corporations may obtain contract to supply city or

SEC. 548.

549.

550.

town.

Duties of corporation.

Rates fixed by supervisors, etc. Right to use streets, ways, alleys, and roads. [Repealed.]

551. Public highways not to be obstructed.

552.

Irrigation. Easement and water rates.

Corporations may obtain contract to supply city or town.

§ 548. No corporation formed to supply any city, city and county, or town with water must do so unless previously authorized by an ordinance of the authorities thereof, or unless it is done in conformity with a contract entered into between the city, city and county, or town and the corporation. Contracts so made are valid and binding in law, but do not take from the city, city and county, or town the right to regulate the rates for water, nor must any exclusive right be granted. No contract or grant must be made for a term exceeding fifty years. Enacted March 21, 1872.

See, also, Pol. C. §§ 4410 to 4413.

Duties of corporation-Rates fixed by supervisors, etc.

§ 549. All corporations formed to supply water to cities or towns must furnish pure fresh water to the inhabitants thereof, for family uses, so long as the supply permits, at reasonable

rates and without distinction of persons, upon proper demand therefor; and must furnish water to the extent of their means, in case of fire or other great necessity, free of charge. The board of supervisors, or the proper city or town authorities, may prescribe proper rules relating to the delivery of water, not inconsistent with the laws of the state.

Amended March 21, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 580.

52 Cal. 134; 152 Cal. 588.

NOTE. $549. The change consists in the omission of the two sentences following the word "charge," which were a part of the section, said sentences having been superseded by the provisions of the constitution of 1879, providing for the mode in which water rates shall be fixed.

See, also, Constitution of California, art. XI, § 19.

Right to use streets, ways, alleys, and roads.

[Repealed.]

§ 550. Right to use streets, ways, alleys, and roads. [Repealed March 21, 1905; ştats. 1905, p. 580.]

NOTE.- 550. This section is an expression of the constitutional provisions found in the constitution of 1879, respecting the right of corporations to use streets for laying water pipes, and is, therefore, repealed.

Public highways not to be obstructed.

§ 551. No canal, flume, or other appliance for the conducting of water must be so laid, constructed, or maintained as to obstruct any public highway; and every person or corporation owning, maintaining, operating, or using any such canal, flume, or appliance, crossing or running along any public highway, must construct, maintain, and keep in repair such bridges across the same as may be necessary to the safe and convenient use of such highway by the public; and on failure so to do, the board of supervisors of the county, after seven days' notice in writing to said person or corporation, may construct or repair such bridge or bridges, and recover of such person or corporation the amount of the expenditure made in so doing. Amended March 21, 1905; stats. 1905, p. 580.

68 Cal. 359; 98 Cal. 183.

NOTE. § 551. The design of the amendment is to better express the purpose of the section and to remove the objections that it may be unconstitutional in investing the supervisors with an arbitrary power to require or not require bridges, and to supply the defect in not providing any means of coercing the performance of the duty created.

See, also, Pol. C. § 2694.

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