1840. 1845. 1860. 1865. SECT. 3. Whenever any negotiable promissory note, or bill of Days of grace. exchange, shall be payable in this state, and the third day of grace, on such note or bill, shall fall upon a day, appointed by the governor of this state, as a day of public fasting or thanksgiving, or upon the fourth day of July, or upon christmas day, or upon the first day of January, such promissory note or bill of exchange shall be due and payable on the secular day next preceding such day of fasting, thanksgiving, fourth day of July, christmas day, or first day of January; but whenever the fourth day of July, christmas day, or the first day of January occurs on Sunday, such promissory note or bill of exchange, becoming due and payable on the following Monday, shall be due and payable on the business day next preceding such day. 1865. when not allow SECT. 4. No days of grace, unless the same are named in the Days of grace, instrument, shall be allowed upon any promissory note, bill of exchange, or order, payable within this state at sight, or on demand, or upon any bank check. ed. In what cases Rates of damages, &c. SECT. 5. Whenever any bill of exchange, drawn or negotiated damages shall be within this state, upon any person in any other state, territory, or payable. district, of the United States, shall be returned unpaid, and shall have been duly protested, for non-payment, in the manner usual in cases of foreign bills of exchange, the person, to whom the same is payable, shall be entitled to recover from the drawer, or the indorsers, of such bill of exchange, the damages hereinafter specified, over and above the principal sum for which such bill shall have been drawn, together with the lawful interest on the aggregate amount of such principal sum and damages, from the time at which notice of such protest shall have been given, and the payment of the said principal sum and damages shall have been demanded; that is to say, if such bill shall have been drawn upon any person in the city of New York, in the state of New York, two per cent. upon the principal sum specified in such bill; if upon any person in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, except the city of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia, or in the District of Columbia, three per cent. upon such principal sum; if upon any person in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, or Georgia, five per cent. upon such principal sum; or if upon any person in any other state, territory, or district of the United States, eight per cent. upon such principal sum; and such damages shall be instead of interest, and all other charges, to the time at which the notice of such protest shall have been given, and such demand of payment shall have been made; and the amount of such bill, and the damages payable thereon, as above specified, shall be determined without reference to the rate of exchange existing at the time of such notice and demand of payment. a TITLE XLVI. AN ACT TO PREVENT AND REMOVE NUISANCES FROM Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Assembly convened: Stones, wood, SECTION 1. That if any person shall lay, or cause to be laid, or to 1856. remain, any stones, timber, wood, rubbish, or any other thing, in any &c., on highway, highway or road, or shall dig up the ground, or set up, or allow to when a nuisance. remain, any gates, bars, rails, or fence, across any highway or road, or erect or continue any building therein, by which the passage of travelers shall be prevented, obstructed, or endangered, or by which such highway or road shall be annoyed, or in any way incumbered, the same shall be deemed a common nuisance, and may be removed as such." SECT. 2. Every person so offending shall forfeit the sum of four Penalty and redollars, one-half to him who shall prosecute to effect, and the other moval. half to the treasury of the town where the offense is committed; and the court before which the conviction is had shall order the defendant to remove such nuisance within thirty days, and on his failure to remove it, the same shall be removed by a constable of the town at the expense of the defendant; and such court may ascertain and tax such expense, and issue an execution for the same; provided, that this act shall not be construed to extend to turnpike gates, buildings, and fences, authorized to be erected by the general assembly. on highways. how removed. SECT. 3. If any person has, within the space of fifteen years prior Encroachments to the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and nine, or since that time, taken, or shall take, any part of a highway or town common into his field or inclosure, or erect any fence upon such highway, in such manner that the same is made narrower than before, the selectmen of the town in which the offense is committed, or a committee appointed by the town for that purpose, shall give notice to the person so offending, to remove such fence or encroachment, within a reasonable time, not exceeding one month after such notice; Stone wall in highway, a nuisance, when. State v. Knapp, 6 C. R. 415. Closing old highway, a nuisance. Allen v. Lyon, 2 Root, 213. A grist-mill, the wheel of which was such an object as to frighten horses, a nuisance. House v. Metcalf, 27 C. R. 631. Privy and pig-sty a nuisance, when. Kearney v. Farrell, 28 C. R. 817. A building or wall on highway, obstructing the passage, is a nuisance, punishable only under this statute. State v. Smith, 7 C. R. 428; State v. Hyde, 11 C. R. 541. Whether nuisance or not, is a question of fact. Burnham v. Hotchkiss, 14 C. R. 311. First section prohibits erection, not continuance, of nuisance. State v. Brown, 16 C. R. 54. A town cannot authorize a nuisance. Níchols v. Pixly, 1 Root, 129. Penalty for second offense. Obstructing or courses, a nuisance. and if such person shall neglect to remove it, then the selectmen or committee may remove it, and may recover the expense of the removal from the person making such fence or encroachment.* SECT. 4. If the person, who erected the encroachment,so removed, shall take in by a fence, the same part of the highway or town com mon, from which his fence was removed, or a greater or less part of it, he shall incur the penalty of seven dollars, for every such offense, as often as repeated, one-half to the selectmen or committee, who gave the notice and removed the fence, and who shall prosecute to effect, and the other half to the treasurer of the county where the offense is committed; and when the prosecution is against the owner of the inclosure into which the highway or town common is taken, he shall be deemed guilty, on proof that part of the highway or town common has been so inclosed, unless he can satisfy the court, that it was not done by him, or by his procurement or consent; when such fence has once been removed, the selectmen, or committee, may remove it, without further notice, as often as it shall be again erected. and SECT. 5. If any person shall dam, stop, or obstruct, any river, diverting water brook, stream, or run of water, or divert the same from its natural course, to the prejudice of any person, without liberty from the town, (where the town has the right to grant it,) such obstruction shall be deemed a common nuisance, and may be removed as such; and the person so offending shall forfeit one dollar per week, for every week that such nuisance shall continue, one-half to him who shall prosecute to effect, and the other half to the treasury of the town where the offense is committed; but this section shall not be construed to extend to any dam for a mill, or other use, whereby no special damage accrues to any person; and if any person shall remove, break, or injure, a mill-dam, as a public nuisance, and in an action brought for the same, it shall appear not to be a public nu sance, he shall pay to the party injured double damages and double costs; nor shall this section be construed to extend to any right claimed by possession for fifteen years, agreeably to the principles of the common law. Proviso, as to dams. Proviso, as to right by possession. 1826. Forfeiture for ob courses. SECT. 6. Every person, who shall dam, stop, or obstruct, any structing water river, brook, stream, or run of water, or divert the same from its natural course, or shall continue any dam, or obstruction, to the prejudice of any person in his lands and tenements, whether the same are situated within this state, or in either of the adjoining states, or to the exposure, or prejudice, of such person's health, shall forfeit one dollar per week for every week that such dam, obstruc tion, or diversion, shall continue; one-half to him who shall prosecute to effect, and the other half to the treasury of the town where the offense is committed; and the state attorneys may prosecute every such person for a common nuisance; and such dam, or obstruc tion, so erected, or continued, shall be an offense in the town where the same is so erected, or continued; but nothing herein contained shall authorize any person to abate the same but by due process of State attorneys, to prosecute. law. SECT. 7. Every person, who shall intentionally deposit in any stream, brook, or water course, or on or near the banks thereof, any substance, material, or rubbish, or where there is a reasonable probability, that the waters of such stream, brook, or water course, by * The selectmen do not act as agents of the town. Tomlinson v. Leavenworth, 2 C. R. 292. 1865. their ordinary action, or when swollen by rains, or freshets, shall, or will, carry and deposit the same on the lands of any other person, to the injury, direct or consequential, of such other person, shall be held guilty of a nuisance, and shall pay to the party injured thereby, double damages and costs of suit, to be recovered in any proper action; but if the person so offending shall, within a reasonable time after a notice of the injury shall have been given by the party injured, remove, or cause to be removed, such substance, material, or rubbish, from off said land, he shall not be liable under this section. SECT. 8. Every person, who shall unlade, discharge, or place at, Unlading or disin, or opposite, any of the public wharves and piers, erected on any charging ballast, of the navigable waters of this state, any ballast, rubbish, clam or wharves, when a oyster shells, or any other heavy materials, which may tend to fill nuisance. up the channel, and obstruct navigation to said public wharves and piers, shall be deemed guilty of a nuisance, and shall pay the the expense of removing the same, and shall be punished by a fine, not exceeding one hundred dollars; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to impair any right or privilege granted to any company or individual by the general assembly. &c., at public thrown into any SECT. 9. No person shall cast out from any ship, vessel, or boat, Ballast not to be any ballast, or other heavy material, into any channel, or other place, river or harbor. and thereby obstruct, or incommode, the navigation of any river, or harbor, within the state, upon penalty of forfeiting seventeen dollars, for the use of the town where the offense is committed. tions, in Connec sance, &c. SECT. 10. No person shall cast, or cause to be cast, into Connec- What obstructicut river, any ballast, or other heavy materials, from any ship, ves- ticut river, shall sel, or other water craft, nor sink, nor cause to be sunk, in said river, constitute a nulany stone, timber, or other materials, for the purpose of obstructing the water, or turning it from its natural course, or for the purpose of making any island or islands in said river, or increasing the magnitude of such as have been formed; and every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a nuisance, and on conviction, shall be sentenced to pay the expense of removing the same, and to pay a fine, not exceeding five hundred dollars; provided, that this act shall not be construed to impair any right or privilege granted by act of the general assembly to the Union Company, or the right of wharfing already vested in individuals, or the right of securing the lands of proprietors adjoining the river. Mooring in the within certain SECT. 11. If any vessel shall be unnecessarily moored by anchor- 1854. ing, or otherwise, in the channel in the harbor of New Haven, which channel of New extends from the sluice in and through the wharf of the "New Haven harbor Haven and Northampton Company," to the main channel in New limits prohibited. Haven harbor, so as to obstruct the free passage of vessels through said channel, the master, or owner, or person in command of such vessel at the time she is so moored, shall pay, for every such offense, a fine of ten dollars, and also an additional fine of one dollar per hour for each and every hour above twelve hours that said vessel shall be so moored as aforesaid, one-half to the informer, and the other half to the treasury of the town of New Haven. 1859. Violations, how prosecuted. 1862. Penalty under SECT. 12. All informing officers shall inquire after and make due presentment of all violations of the first section of this act. SECT. 13. Every person, who shall be convicted of any violation of said first section, upon the presentment of any informing officer, first section. shall be fined not less than five dollars, nor more than fifty dollars. SECT. 14. Every person, who, after being convicted, shall con- Penalty for continue such nuisance, or neglect to abate the same, for the space of tinuing nuisance. Appeal. one month or more, shall pay a fine of not less than twenty dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, for every month that the same shall be so continued. SECT. 15. The defendant, in such prosecution, may appeal, from the judgment of a justice of the peace, to the superior court next to be holden in the county. TITLE XLVII. AN ACT RELATING TO OATHS. CHAPTER I. OF THE MODE OF ADMINISTERING, AND WHO MAY ADMINISTER OATHS. 1855. What ceremony shall be used. When an affirma ministered, &c. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Assembly convened: SECTION 1. That the ceremony to be used, by persons to whom an oath is administered, shall be the holding up of the right hand; but whenever any person, by reason of scruples of conscience, shall object to such ceremony, or whenever the court, or authority by whom the oath is to be administered, shall have reason to believe that any other or additional ceremony will be more binding, or obligatory, upon the conscience of the witness, such court or authority shall permit, or require, any proper ceremony to be used, according to the circumstances of the case. SECT. 2. Whenever any person, required by law to take an oath, tion may be ad- shall, from scruples of conscience, decline to take it in the usual form, a solemn affirmation may be administered to him in the form of the oath prescribed, except that instead of the word swear, the words, solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare, shall be used; and instead of the words, so help you God, the words, upon the pains and penalties of perjury, shall be used; and if any person, making such solemn affirmation, shall be convicted of having willfully, falsely, and corruptly, affirmed any matter which, if the same had been declared under oath in the usual form, and with the usual ceremony, would have |