Statutes Relating Specially to Railroads.

ARTICLE TWENTY-FIVE.

CONSTITUTION OF CONNECTICUT.

Adopted October, 1877.

No County, City, Town, Borough, or other municipality, shall ever subscribe to the capital stock of any railroad corporation, or become a purchaser of the bonds, or make donation to, or loan its credit, directly or indirectly, in aid of any such corporation; but nothing herein contained shall affect the validity of any bonds or debts incurred under existing laws, nor be construed to prohibit the General Assembly from authorizing any Town or City to protect by additional appropriations of money or credit any railroad debt contracted prior to the adoption of this amendment.

Town aid to railroad corporations prohibited.

§ 1. Conditions of receiving state aid towards rail- 1903, ch. 161. road indebtedness. Whenever any town in this state, having a grand list of less than two million dollars and having a bonded indebtedness caused by assisting in building any railroad, shall desire to avail itself of the aid of the state in paying such indebtedness, the selectmen of such town, or a majority of them, shall make written application to the board of control for such aid.

§ 2. Payment by state. The board of control may authorize the comptroller to draw his order on the treasurer in aid of any such town, during any fiscal year, to an amount not exceeding one per cent. of the said town's indebtedness for railroads on the first day of May, 1903.

§ 3. Duties of comptroller as to payment. The comptroller shall draw his order in aid of such town when authorized by the board of control only when he is satisfied that the town seeking such aid has raised by taxation at least an equal amount to be expended in the payment of the principal of such railroad debt. All sums paid by the state under this act shall be expended for the payment of the principal of such bonded indebt

1865. Rev. 1888, §1.

1884. Railroad. company.

1844, 1865.

Rev. 1888, §392.

edness in aid of railroads. All bonds so paid and redeemed shall be filed with the treasurer of the state for cancellation, and shall be burned in the presence of the committee on finance of the general assembly.

§ 4. Limit of this act. This act shall take effect from its passage, and shall continue in force only until October 1,

§ 1. Construction of statutes: words and phrases. In the construction1 of all statutes of this state, words and phrases shall be construed according to the commonly approved usage of the language;2 and technical words and phrases, and such as have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law, shall be construed and understood accordingly.

The phrase "railroad company" shall be construed to mean and include all corporations, trustees, receivers, or other persons, that lay out, construct, maintain, or operate a railroad operated by steam power, unless such meaning would be repugnant to the context or to the manifest intention of the general assembly.

§ 12. Petition concerning railroad, railway, or canal charter. No petition for the incorporation of any railroad, street railway, or canal company, or for an alteration of the charter of any such company, shall be heard by the general assembly, unless public notice shall have been given by advertisement in some newspaper published in the county where such railroad, street railway, or canal is proposed to be, or is, located, at least three weeks before the first day of the session to which such petition is brought, designating the intended route of such railroad or canal, the streets, highways, and other intended route of such street railway, or the proposed alteration

Art. 25. An act authorizing an assessment of damages against a city for change of highway lines for necessary relocation of railroad line, is not within this provision. 54 C. 277.

§ 1.

(1) The history and progress of laws furnish a legitimate and useful aid in their construction, 20 C. 518; (2) 61 C. 12, 63 C. 388; (3) 57 C. 57; (4) 57 C. 57; (5) 67 C. 289, 68 C. 515; (6) 59 C. 367, 67 C. 48, 49, 469, 70 C. 565.

of such charter, nor unless the petition for such railroad company is accompanied with, and supported by, the report of a skillful engineer, founded on examination, showing the general profile of the surface of the country through which said railroad is proposed to be made, the intended manner of its construction, the feasibility of the route, the character of the soil, and the probable expense of construction.

§ 13. Certain charters granted only on petition. No act of incorporation or alteration thereof shall be granted by the general assembly, except upon a petition therefor, when the law requires that notice of such petition shall be given by advertisement. Every charter of any railroad company shall confine the road within the limits indicated by said notice, specify the towns, and, in case of a street railway, the streets or highways through which it may pass, and otherwise designate the route on which the respective roads may be authorized to be made.

§ 63. By whom estimates are to be made. The estimates for the different classes of expenditures shall be made as follows, to wit: . . . railroad commissioners, . . . The estimates herein required to be made shall be prepared according to such forms as shall be prescribed and furnished by the treasurer and secretary. Whenever any material increase or variation in the expenditures of the preceding year shall be made in the estimates, the person making the same shall furnish the treasurer with the reason of the increase or variation. The comptroller shall cause a sufficient number of the estimates to be printed and delivered to the general assembly on the second day of its session.

1867. Rev. 1888, $296.

§ 77. Railroad and steamboat policemen. The governor may, from time to time, upon the application of any rail- 1893, ch. 14, §1. road, street railway, or steamboat company, engaged in the business of transportation in this state, commission, during his pleasure, one or more persons designated by such company, who, having been duly sworn, may act at its expense as policemen upon the premises used by it in its business, or upon its cars or vessels.

When any such commission is issued or revoked, the

1867.

Rev. 1888, $297.

executive secretary shall notify the clerk of the superior court of each county in which it is intended that such policemen shall act.

§ 78. Their powers. Every railroad, street railway, or 1893, ch. 14, §2. steamboat policeman, may arrest in his precinct for all offenses committed therein, and bring the offender before proper authority.

1867.

Rev. 1888, $298.

§ 79. To wear an official badge. Every such policeman 1893, ch. 14, §3. shall, when on duty, wear, in plain view, a shield bearing the words "railroad police," "street railway police," or "steamboat police," as the case may be, and the name of the company for which he is commissioned.

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§ 134. Reports; number of, time of printing. He shall cause to be printed at the expense of the state, annually, a sufficient number of copies of each of the following annual reports, not exceeding the number hereinafter stated, that is to say: of the railroad commissioners, twenty-two hundred. . . . Such additional number not exceeding three hundred and seventy-five of any report made to the governor or to the general assembly, may be so caused to be printed, for exchange by the state librarian with other states and countries, and for distribution to such public libraries in this state as may request them.

§ 142. Transportation for members of general assembly. The comptroller, whenever requested by any member or member-elect of the general assembly so to do, shall procure from such railway company or companies, as may be necessary, a ticket or tickets entitling said member to transportation by the most convenient route or routes between Hartford and his home station, during the session of the general assembly next to be holden, or then current, which ticket or tickets the comptroller shall deliver to said member upon receiving from him an assignment to the state of his mileage allowance for such session, which assignment shall be received in full payment therefor. The comptroller shall pay for the tickets so procured by him the lowest sum or sums for which they can be obtained of the railroad companies. No railroad company shall issue to any member or member-elect of the general assembly any ticket or other