this act shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS

In relation to public highways, sections 3004-3010.

Act concerning road districts, road funds and opening of roads, sections 3011-3016.

In relation to erection and maintenance of bridges, sections 3017-3021.

To provide for better preservation of, sections 3022-3025.

To provide for erection of guide boards on, sections 3026-3028.

To create office of road inspector and to provide for work on public roads, sections 3029-3036.

Providing for election of road supervisors, sections 3037-3040.

Providing for appointment of road supervisors in certain counties, sections 3041-3044.

To protect public highways from damage by water, sections 3045, 3046.

Relating to toll roads and bridges, sections 3047, 3048.

To compel owners of toll roads to keep same in repair, section 3049.

To provide for constructing and maintaining toll roads and bridges, sections 3050-3062.

Convicts may be employed on public roads, sections 7596–7601.

Abatement of nuisance on, in unincorporated towns, sections 919 921.

To provide for improvement of streets and alleys in unincorporated towns and villages, sections 922–939.

Streets and alleys, dedication of for public service, sections 955-956.

Franchises for railways and pole lines, sections 2129 2141.

Toll roads to report amount of tolls to treasurer, section 3757.

Toll roads to be kept in repair, section 3759.

Duty of toll-road companies to file topographical maps with surveyor-general, section 4353.

SECTION 1. All public roads, and the streets and alleys in incorporated cities and towns in this state, now used or lawfully entitled to be used as such, and all such roads, streets, and alleys as the board of commissioners of the county in which they are situate shall hereafter lawfully cause to be opened, are hereby declared to be public highways; provided, that nothing in this act shall be deemed or construed to injure or abridge the rights of any toll road; but all roads shall be entitled to all the protection and benefits arising from this act. As amended, Stats. 1867, 72.

3005. Road and street work, how let-Exception.

SEC. 2. All work hereafter done upon highways, streets or alleys, whether in opening, improving, or keeping the same in repair, shall, when the probable cost of such contemplated work shall exceed five hundred dollars, be done by contracts let to the lowest responsible bidder, and public notice of at least five days shall be given, describing the work to be done, the time and place that bids will be received, and the means of paying for such work. Such bids shall be sealed, may all be rejected, and if any are accepted it shall be that of the lowest bidder who is responsible, or will give satisfactory security.

In cases of emergency, it shall be discretionary with the board of commissioners to let contracts for repairs without giving the five days' notice as is contemplated in this section. But no contract shall be let for an amount to exceed five hundred dollars without written notice. As amended, Stats. 1911, 357.

No officer, excepting the board of county commissioners, is given any authority to obligate the county for bridges, or for work upon public highways, and it is clear that the board is not authorized to let contracts

3006. Road fund created.

in excess of $100 for the construction or repair of bridges or roads, except to the lowest bidder, after giving notice, or in cases of emergency. Lund v. Washoe Co., 31 Nev. 227, 233 (101 P. 550).

SEC. 3. To provide funds for paying the expenses of such work, the board of commissioners, at the time of levying other state and county taxes, may levy a tax not exceeding one-fourth of one per cent upon the taxable property of their county, to be assessed, collected, and paid in the same manner that state and county tax is collected; and all moneys so collected shall be paid into a fund to be called the road fund.

See Prison (convict labor) secs. 7596–7601.

3007. Disbursement of same.

SEC. 4. In disbursing the moneys of such road fund, the board of commissioners shall regard the interests of each road district, distributing upon the highways most beneficial to each road district the proportion of tax by it paid. 3008. Duties of county commissioners as to opening roads-Viewers to be appointed-Damages.

SEC. 5. If twenty-four freeholders in any township of any county containing one hundred or more legal voters, or twelve freeholders of any county containing less than one hundred legal voters, shall petition the board of county commissioners of such county for the location, opening to the public use, reestablishment, change or vacation of any road or highway to connect with any highway heretofore established, or any street or alley in any unincorporated town in such county, setting forth in such petition the beginning, course and termination of such road, highway, street or alley proposed to be located, open to public use, reestablished, changed or vacated, together with the names of the owners or occupants of the land through which the same may pass; the auditor of such county shall lay such petition before the board of county commissioners at their next session thereafter and thereupon such board of county commissioners may, within twenty days thereafter, proceed to locate, open to public use, reestablish, change or vacate such road, highway, street or alley; provided, that any public highway laid out or opened under the provisions of this act shall be at least four rods wide. Before opening any new road, street or alley through any property, it shall be condemned to public use as follows: The board of county commissioners shall appoint two disinterested persons to view, lay out and locate such new road, street or alley, and such two persons in conjunction with two others, chosen by any owner or occupant, or by the several owners or occupants of the property to be traversed by such road, street or alley, shall ascertain the damage done to any property so traversed, after deducting any advantage arising from such road, street or alley, to the owner or occupant of such property. If such four persons cannot agree as to such damages, then they shall choose a fifth, and the decision of a majority of them shall govern, and be reported to the board of county commissioners. If the owner or owners or occupants of any property so condemned shall not acquiesce in the amount of damages so reported, an examination may be had before the board and witnesses be examined for the state and such owner or owners or occupants, and the decision of the board shall be final, unless such owner or owners or occu

pants appeal from the decision of the board within thirty days after such decision to the district court, which he or they may do in the same manner that appeals are taken from justices' courts to the district court. Upon finally determining such damages, the board shall provide for the payment of such damages, either by the person interested in such road, street or alley, or pay the same out of the county treasury as other claims are paid, and after such payment is made the board shall then cause such road, street or alley to be opened. As amended, Stats. 1887, 56; 1895, 75.

For condemnation of property, see secs. 5606-5629. Where the board of county commissioners closed a public road upon a petition signed by only fourteen persons, the petition being silent as to the number of legal voters in the county, it was held that the action of the board was in excess of its powers and completely null and void. State ex rel. Twaddle v. Washoe Co., 12 Nev. 17, 19.

3009. Fine for obstructions.

When a bill is filed restraining county commissioners from opening a road on the ground that they have not assessed the damages and provided for the payment thereof, it is error to grant a perpetual injunction. The commissioners should only be restrained until they have complied with the preliminary requirements of the statute. Champion v. Sessions, 2 Nev. 271, 273, 274.

SEC. 6. Any person or persons who shall, in any manner, obstruct any road, street, or alley, or, in any manner, injure the same, or prevent travel thereon, or who shall obstruct, dam, or divert any stream or water so as to throw the same, or cause the flowage thereof, upon, across, or along the pathway of any road, highway, street, or alley, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than twenty, nor more than five hundred dollars, and the court before which such conviction shall be had, shall order the sheriff, or any constable of the county, to abate, as a nuisance, any fence or other obstruction, to the free and convenient use and travel of such road, street, or alley, or any obstruction from such stream, so as to allow the same to flow in its natural bed.

3010. Office of road supervisor abolished.

SEC. 7. The office of road supervisor is hereby abolished; and an act entitled "An act concerning roads and highways," approved November twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and all other acts, or parts of acts, in conflict with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed; provided, that nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal any other provisions of an act entitled "An act to provide for the improvement of streets and alleys in unincorporated towns and villages in the State of Nevada," approved March tenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five.

An Act entitled an act in relation to public highways.

Approved March 15, 1875, 159

3011. Road districts, how created-District

to remain until disorganized.

3012. Transfer of moneys from road district to school fund.

3013. Moneys, how expended.

3014. Road fund, how created and maintained Tax may be levied - Tax may be worked out.

3015. Petition to open roads-Viewers, how selected Parties aggrieved may commence action.

3016. Width of roads.

3011. Road districts, how created-District to remain until disorganized. SECTION 1. Whenever a majority of the taxpayers of any township or townships in any county of this state, whose names shall appear on the last previous assessment roll, shall petition the board of county commissioners of such county to divide such township or townships into a road district, or road districts, it shall be the duty of said county commissioners to so divide such township or townships, and to create such road district or districts (fixing the boundaries thereof and having the same recorded).

When such

road district or districts shall once be created they shall remain the same, and have the rights and be subject to the duties herein given and imposed, until a majority of the taxpayers of such district shall petition the board of county commissioners of the county to disorganize the same, when it shall be the duty of such board to disorganize said district. As amended, Stats. 1877, 141.

[Omitted sections and portion of sections of this act refer to powers and duties of road supervisors, which office was abolished by Stats. 1887, 99.]

3012. Transfer of moneys from road fund to school fund, when to be made. SEC. 5. All moneys remaining in the road fund belonging to any road district at the end of every year, or belonging to any district that may disorganize, as provided by this act, may, on petition of a majority of the taxpayers therein, be applied by the county commissioners to the building of any bridge or special improvement of any highway in said district, or the county in which said district is situated, or upon such petition said moneys may be transferred to the school fund, and applied to the public school or schools of said district.

3013. Moneys, how expended.

SEC. 7. The moneys constituting the fund of said road district shall first be used in the payment of * **; any surplus may be used in the payment of other demands allowed on said road fund by the board of county commissioners, including building and repairing bridges, aqueducts, and highways of the district to which said fund belongs. And no money shall be drawn from the road fund without the order and approval of said board of county commissioners.

3014. Road fund, how created and maintained-Tax may be levied-Tax may be worked out.

SEC. 8. To create a road fund for the district [s] hereby authorized to be created, the said county commissioners are required to set off to said fund the net proceeds of the county's proportion of all poll taxes collected from citizens residing in such road district; also, when they deem it expedient. they may levy a property tax not to exceed one-fourth of one per cent on all the property of the county, annually, to be levied, assessed, and collected as other taxes, and assigned by them to the funds of the several road districts. as they may deem for the best interest of the county; also, when a majority of the property holders of any road district shall petition to the county commissioners in favor of an additional special tax for the benefit of such district, the commissioners shall levy a tax on all property within such district, at a rate not to exceed three dollars upon each one thousand dollars valuation. which tax shall be collected by the road supervisors, as hereinafter provided, and paid into the treasury for the road fund of such district; provided, that any person owing the last-named property tax, may pay a part or all of the same by labor on the roads of the district, under the direction of the supervisor thereof, at the rate of three dollars for each full day's work and implements of labor, four dollars per day for each team of two animals, and one dollar per day for each additional animal.

A previous act in relation to public highways (Stats. 1873, 130), so far as it provides for a road tax upon individuals, was held void as obnoxious to the constitutional provision relating to poll taxes (ante, 256). Hassett v. Walls, 9 Nev. 387, 392.

As amended, Stats. 1877, 142.

The levy of service upon an individual for road purposes is an emanation from the taxing power. Idem.

A road tax, whether regarded as a levy in money or service, is a capitation or poll tax. Idem.

3015. Petition to open roads-Viewers, how selected-Parties aggrieved

may commence action.

SEC. 10. At any time when a majority of the resident taxpayers of a

road district, according to the last previous assessment roll, shall petition the county commissioners of their counties, for the location, opening for public use, establishment, change or vacation of any public road or highway, or road to connect with any highway heretofore established, any street or alley in any unincorporated town in such county, setting forth in such petition the beginning, course and termination of such road, or highway, street or alley proposed to be located and opened for public use, established, changed or vacated, together with the names of the owner or owners of the land through which the same will pass, said petition may be presented to the county clerk of said county, and the clerk shall lay said petition before the board of county commissioners, at their next meeting after the reception of said petition, and thereupon said board of commissioners shall, within thirty days thereafter, proceed to locate, open to public use, establish, change or vacate such road, highway, street or alley. Before opening any new road, street or alley, or changing same through private property, such property shall be condemned for public use as follows: The board of county commissioners shall appoint one disinterested person, and the owners or agents of the land through which said highway may run, shall select one such person; and the two shall proceed to view out such road, street or alley, and shall ascertain and make estimates of damages done to any property through which it may be located, changed or vacated, after deducting any advantage arising from such location, change or vacation of such road, street or alley, to the owner or owners of such property; provided, if the owner or owners shall refuse or neglect, for a period of ten days after receiving notice from said board of its said appointment, to appoint such person on their part, it shall be the duty of said board to appoint such person for them; and provided further, that if there shall be more than one owner of land through which said highway may run they shall unite in such appointments. If the two viewers cannot agree as to such damages, then they shall choose a third person, and the three persons so selected as viewers shall be authorized to administer oaths, compel the attendance of witnesses before them as road viewers, and their decision in the matter shall be final; and provided further, that said viewers shall take an oath prior to entering upon the discharge of their duties, before some person authorized to administer oaths, to faithfully discharge the duties of their trust in accordance with the provisions of this act; and provided further, that the parties aggrieved by the decision of such road viewers may commence action in the district court within twenty days from the date of such decision to set aside their award; and upon the final award and decision of such damages, the board of county commissioners shall order the road supervisor of the district to open, establish, change or vacate, as the case may be, such road, street or alley, according to the petition aforesaid; provided, that in no case shall the commissioners cause any road or street to be opened where the same shall run diagonally through any lands or lot, so as to greatly impair it in shape, or through an orchard four years old, without the consent of the owner or owners thereof; and in all cases they shall follow legal subdivisional lines of the government surveys or of town plats, where the same is practicable. As amended, Stats. 1879, 142; 1895, 35.

compliance with the statute was a jurisdictional fact, which must appear, and the action of the board was null and void. Godchaux v. Carpenter, 19 Nev. 416, 417 (14 P. 140).

For condemnation of property, see secs. 5606-5629. A board of county commissioners granted a petition for the establishment of a public road which did not disclose the names of the owners of land through which the road was to pass, nor did the records of the board show that they had found that a majority of the resident taxpayers of the district, according to the last previous assessment roll, had signed a petition. It was held, that

A petition for the vacation of a road failing to show that the petitioners constitute a majority of the resident taxpayers in the district according to the last assessment is