Section II. That said court and the judge thereof shall have and exercise all the jurisdiction, power and authority, and shall perform all the duties that are now or may hereafter be conferred by law on justices of the peace in civil and criminal cases, and such preliminary jurisdiction as is now or may be hereafter conferred by law on justices of the peace.

Section III. That said court shall conform to and be governed by the rules of practice and procedure that are now or that may hereafter be made applicable to justices of the peace. in this state.

Section IV. That there shall be one judge of said court, who at the time of his election or appointment shall be a resident of precinct 3 Houston County, Alabama, twenty-one years of age or over and shall have been admitted to practice of law in the courts of the State of Alabama. The first judge of said court shall be appointed by the Governor of the State of Alabama and shall hold office until the general election for state and county officers in the year 1924 and until his successor is elected and qualified. That a judge of said court shall be elected at the general election for state and county officers in 1924 and every four years thereafter and shall hold office four years and until his successor is elected and qualified. That such election shall be by the qualified electors of precinct 3 Houston County, Alabama.

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Section V. That the judge of said court before performing any of the duties of office shall take the oath of office as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of Alabama for justices of the peace and enter into bond with sureties in the sum of Two Thousand Dollars payable and conditioned as in case of justices of the peace, which bond shall be approved by the Judge of Probate of Houston County, and which oath and bond shall be filed and recorded in the office of such Judge of Probate.

Section VI. That the judge of said court shall be liable to all the pains and penalties that may now or may hereafter be imposed on justices of the peace.

Section VII. Vacancies in the office of Judge of said court shall be filled by appointment of the Governor and shall hold office for the unexpired term and until his successor is elected and qualified. In the event the judge of said court is disqualified, or disabled or is temporarily absent from the precinct, the Probate Judge of Houston County shall appoint a temporary or special judge to discharge the duties of the regular judge during his disability, or disqualification or absence, and such temporary judge shall receive for the time he serves compensation at the same rate that the regular judge, such compensation to be paid on the warrant of the Probate Judge on the Inferior Court Fund.

In the absence of the Probate Judge in cases of emergency the Judge of the Circuit Court of Houston County, Alabama, shall make the appointment of a temporary or special judge of said court.

Section VIII. The judge of said court shall not hold any other office of profit in the state except a judicial office. The judge of said court shall not be disqualified from practicing in the courts of the state other than the Court of Common Pleas of Dothan, Alabama, provided that he shall not accept employment in any case originating in or passing through the court of which he is judge.

Section IX. That the judge of said court shall receive a salary of Twelve Hundred Dollars per annum, payable monthly, out of the Inferior Court Fund upon warrant drawn by the Judge of Probate of Houston County.

Section X. The judge of said court shall tax in each case in said court as court cost the same fees allowed justices of the peace in similar cases, which cost as well as all fines, forfeitures and penalties assessed or imposed in said court shall be paid in lawful money and on the first day of each month the judge of said court shall file with the judge of probate his report giving a full statement of all cost, fines, forfeitures and penalties collected since his last report and the style of the case in which the same were collected and the said funds so reported shall be paid by the judge of said court to the depositary of the county and such depositary shall place said funds in a special fund to be known as "The Inferior Court Fund" and shall pay no money out of such fund except on warrants drawn by the Probate Judge of Houston County, on such special fund. That the Judge of Probate of Houston County is hereby authorized and it is made his duty to draw his warrant against said Inferior Court fund for the compensation of the judge of said Inferior Court and for the necessary expenses of said court for dockets and other stationery that may be bought by the judge of said court, and immediately after the first of January of each year he will draw his warrant against said fund for the excess thereof remaining on deposit after all demands against the same have been paid for the previous year, and be transferred to the fine and forfeiture fund of Houston County, Alabama.

Section XI. All process issued out of said court shall be directed to any lawful officer of the State of Alabama and shall be executed by the sheriff of Houston County, Alabama, or his deputy, where execution may be had in said county, and in all other cases shall be executed in the same manner and by the same officers as though it had been issued by a justice of the peace. For services rendered in the execution of the process of said court the officer executing shall receive the same com

pensation issued by justices of the peace and served by sheriffs, the same to be taxed and collected as taxed and collected in courts of the justices of the peace. Witnesses in said court shall be entitled to the same fees as in justice court to be taxed and collected as in said justice court.

Section XII. Appeals from the judgment of said inferior court in civil and criminal cases may be taken as by provided for appeals from judgments of justices of the peace.

Section XIII. The Court of Common Pleas of Dothan, Alabama, shall be open at all times for the disposition of business of the court and the judge of said court shall designate on the docket of the court a certain day of each week as return day. Said court shall be held at the court house of the county.

Section XIV. The offices of justices of the peace and notaries public with powers of justice of the peace in said precinct 3 are hereby abolished, to take effect 60 days after the approval of this Act, and immediately thereafter all the justices of the peace and notaries public with powers of justice of the peace in said precinct 3, Houston County, Alabama, shall deliver their dockets, official papers and records of all kinds of their respective offices to the judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Dothan, Alabama, and all causes pending in said courts shall be by such delivery transferred to the court hereby established and subsequent proceedings in said causes shall be had in said Court of Common Pleas as though they had originally been brought in said court; execution or other appropriate process for the collection of judgments rendered before the transfer of the causes may be issued by the court hereby established and all fees and cost accruing before the transfer shall be paid on collection to the parties to whom they were payable but for such transfer.

Section XV. If any section or provision of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional it shall not affect or destroy the validity or constitutionality of any other section or provision thereof which is not in and of itself void or unconstitutional. Approved Sept. 27, 1923.

No. 411.)

AN ACT

(H. 903. Byars.

To provide further for the better construction, repairing, working and maintaining of the public roads and bridges in Lawrence County, Alabama, so as to regulate and control the expenditures of the revenue obtained under the operation of an Act approved February 10, 1923, "imposing an excise tax on persons, corporations, co-partnerships, companies, agencies or associations engaged in the business of selling or distributing gasoline or other liquid motor fuels in this State, provid

ing for the collection and payment of such tax and the distribution of the funds derived therefrom and fixing the penalties for the violation of any of the provisions of this Act," or any additional revenue from changes of or amendments to said act during the session or sessions of the present Legislature; to provide that no part of said revenue shall be used for the payment of any debt or debts contracted or made prior to the passage of this Act; to provide for the crushing of stone and the expense thereof and the hire of a road foreman; to provide that beginning January 1, 1924, not less than one-eighth of all moneys obtained under this Act, changes of or amendments thereto, during any four year period, shall be used in each commissioner's district; that five per cent of the revenue so obtained for the four-year period beginning January 1, 1924, shall be used in the purchase of ordinary road tools which tools shall be under the control of a bonded officer; to provide for the working of all persons subject to road duty in said county and the collection and disbursement of any moneys in lieu thereof; to provide that overseers keep a record and make reports to the probate judge, that overseers may be fined for misuse of tools or embezzlement of money; that owners of large trucks or other vehicles shall be liable if responsible for damage to bridges; that the Board of Revenue shall be prohibited from classifying and taxing wagons or other vehicles owned by the producer and used exclusively or partly in the production or handling of farm products; that all funds of the county accruing from the automobile license tax shall be used on the public roads and bridges; to provide for working convicts on roads of said county, to provide punishment for persons refusing or failing to work roads after legal warning, to provide that the Board of Revenue may impose a tax for road purposes on trucks, telegraph, telephone and express companies, sewing machine agents, lightning rod agents and circuses or traveling shows and to provide for the necessary blanks, books and stationery for the purposes of this Act.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of Alabama:

Section 1. The revenue obtained under the operation of an act approved February 10, 1923, "Imposing an excise tax on persons, corporations, co-partnerships, companies, agencies or associations engaged in the business of selling or distributing gasoline or other liquid motor fuels in this state-providing for the collection and payment of such tax and the distribution of the funds derived therefrom and fixing the penalties for the violation of any of the provisions of this Act" and any additional revenue from changes or amendments to said Acts during the session of the present Legislature, shall not be used for the payment of any debt or debts contracted prior to the passage of this Act.

Section 2. That fifty per cent of all revenue obtained under said Act, changes of or amendments thereto shall be used exclusively for the crushing of stone which shall be used in the building and repairing of the public roads of said county. Said crushed stone shall be offered by the Board of Revenue of Lawrence County to the citizens of the various communities who shall, in order to procure an apportionment of said crushed stone, raise by donation or otherwise, money, material or labor

in such amounts as shall be sufficient to grade the road bed and haul and put the crushed stone or other needed material on the road bed of the proposed project, exclusive of bridges, after having made a bond so to do in a sum equal to the estimated cost, having due regard for the importance of the proposed building or repairing project and the amount of funds available for that purpose, provided however, that during the four-year period beginning January 1, 1924, and each four-year period thereafter, not less than one-eighth of all the revenue obtained under said Act shall be used in each of the board of revenue or commissioner's district in said county.

Section 3. That at least five per cent of all revenue obtained under said Act, changes of or amendments thereto for the four-year period beginning January 1, 1924, shall be used in the purchase of sets of road tools for the county, consisting of one road plow, one small or medium size road grader, three road scrapes and five hand shovels, each tool to have cut or raised in a conspicuous place of the iron part of such tool the letters L. C., which road sets are to be placed at central points in the county under the control of the apportioners of the road precinct in which they are placed, who shall make a good and secure bond in favor of the county for an amount equal to value of tools placed in their care.

Section 4. It shall be the duty of the apportioners so bonded to see that any road tools placed with them shall be properly housed when not in use. They shall let out such tools as in their judgment seems best, to overseers applying for them, requiring a receipt of such overseer who shall be responsible for the tools so obtained until such tools are returned to said apportioners. In the event any county road tool or tools are lost or destroyed, unless such loss or destruction was unavoidable, said county may recover the value thereof on the apportioner's bond.

Section 5. That all persons subject to road duty under the general laws of this State shall be required to work eight days of eight hours each, sixty-four hours, upon the roads of said county, during each year, Any person liable to road duty may be exempt from work by paying to the overseer on or before the day appointed for work the sum of $1.00 per day for each of the eight days, and he may, at any time during the time for which he was warned, pay off any balance of days for which he is subject at the rate of one dollar per day. The money collected from persons liable to road duty shall be used on the road to which the person paying such money was apportioned.

Section 6. That each overseer after working his roads shall make a report to the probate judge showing all receipts and disbursements of moneys collected and paid out by him, from whom such moneys were collected, to whom and for what such moneys