MINING CORPORATIONS.

I. ORGANIZATION:

Any number of persons, not less than three, desiring to form a corporation for the purpose of mining, smelting, reducing, refining or working ores or minerals, or for working coal mines or stone quarries, and marketing the materials: or for manufacturing brick or stone, or iron, steel, copper, or other metals; or for the purpose of buying, working, selling and dealing in metals or other mineral products, or for the whole or any part of such purposes, may do so by signing and severally acknowledging articles of incorporation which shall declare that they do thereby associate together and agree upon said articles for the purpose of forming a corporation under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of corporations for mining and smelting ores and for manufacturing iron, copper and other metals," approved February 24th, 1876, and acts amendatory thereof.

The articles shall set out: 1. The name of the corporation, which shall not be the same as that previously assumed by any other corporation in this State. 2. The general nature of the business to be carried on, and the place of the principal office or headquarters of the company. 3. The names and places of residence of the persons so associating to form such corporation. 4. The amount of the capital stock of said corporation. It is usual to insert the limit of indebtedness in the articles of incorporation, though it is not required.

These articles must be executed in duplicate, one copy filed with the register of deeds in the county in which the principal office of the company is located, and the other copy in the office of the Secretary of State in St. Paul, Minn.; and upon being so deposited, said corporation shall be deemed to exist, for the purposes specified in the articles, as a manufacturing and mechanical corporation, under the constitution and laws of this State, and it thereafter has all the crdinary powers of corporations. It is not necessary to publish the articles of incorporation where the corporation is formed under the act mentioned above. The certified copy of said articles made by the register of deeds or the Secretary of State shall be evidence, in all courts, of such corporation.

The articles may be amended by a majority vote in amount of the stockholders, amendment for record in the offices where the articles and by depositing such of incorporation are deposited for record.

II. BY-LAWS:

Such a corporation may prescribe and adopt by-laws for the management of its business, and such by-laws may be amended by the board of directors from time to time, and may be amended by the stockholders at any regular meeting, and, such amendment by stockholders shall stand until repealed or changed by the stockholders themselves at some regular meeting thereafter. All bylaws shall be filed in the offices where the articles of incorporation are required to be filed and shall not be operative until they are so filed.

Until the corporation shall have been duly organized and the board of directors elected, the persons executing the articles of incorporation shall constitute a first board of directors, with full power and authority to act, to make by-laws, and complete the organization of the company. III. CAPITAL STOCK:

The minimum amount of capital stock allowed is ten thousand dollars, and such capital stock shall be divided into shares of not more than one hundred dollars each. Each share shall have one vote at stockholders, and may be represented in person, or by all meetings of proxy, under written appointment.

Such stock is deemed personal property and may be issued, sold and transferred as may be prescribed by resolution or by-laws of the corporation or its managing board. No stock so issued, purporting to be full paid, shall be subject to any further assessment in the hands of the lawful holder thereof. IV.

MEETINGS:

A majority in amount of the stockholders may call a meeting of stockholders at any time, irrespective of any by-laws, at the principal office of the company, or at the capital of the State, upon giving thirty days' notice by publication in a newspaper published in the place of such office, or, if there is no such paper, then in one published in the capital. Directors and stockholders may also hold meetings out of the State and maintain offices out of the State, but shall always have an office in this State where legal process may be served on it. V. BOOKS AND RECORDS:

The corporation must keep a record of the proceedings had at meetings of stockholders and also of all proceedings had by the board of directors, and such record shall be subject to the inspection of all the stockholders at all reasonable times.

VI. POWERS:

Such a corporation may sell, mortgage or lease its real

estate on a majority vote in amcunt of the stockholders, and not otherwise. in any other corporation, if a majority in amount of the And may also acquire and hold stock stockholders shall so elect.

VII. LIABILITY OF STOCKHOLDERS:

The constitution of the State of Minnesota declares: "Each stockholder in any corporation, excepting those organized for the purpose of carrying on any kind of manufacturing or mechanical business, shall be liable to the amount of stock held or owned by him." relative to the organization of mining corporations, sumThe statutes marized above, enact that such a corporation shall exist "as a manufacturing and mechanical corporation, under the constitution and laws of this state." (See supra Execution of Articles.) It is the intention of the Legislature, apparently, to classify mining corporations as mechanical or manufacturing corporations and thus free the stockholders from any personal liability. While the matter has never been passed upon by the Supreme Court, it would seem pretty clear that the legislature cannot do so, and it has been so held by at least one district judge. There is little question that stockholders are liable for the debts of the corporation to the amount of their stock. VIII. RELIEF OF JOINT OWNERS:

Where veins, lodes or deposits of iron, iron ores, minerals or mineral ores of any kind, coal, clay, sand, gravel or peat are known to or do exist on or in lands which belong to a plurality of owners, and some of said owners are not willing to operate or work said veins, lodes, etc.. the others may maintain an action to be allowed operate the same under certain restrictions and requirements, to be imposed by the court in which said action is brought.

DIGEST OF THE

Commercial and Corporation Laws

OF MISSISSIPPI.

to

The Supreme Court receives appeals from the Circuit and Chancery Courts.

VI. DEEDS:

Are required to pass estate in lands greater than one year. Must be acknowledged and recorded to affect third parties.

VII. DEPOSITIONS:

Of witnesses without the State may be taken by a properly constituted commission. Depositions may be taken without the State by any person qualified to administer oaths.

VIII. DESCENT:

Estates go: 1. To descendants per stirpes. 2. To brothers and sisters and their descendants per capita. 3. To father or mother. 4. To next of kin. Whole and half blood inherit the same. Illegitimates inherit from mother and her kin. Without any heir the property escheats to the State.

IX. EXECUTIONS:

Equitable and undivided interests, bank notes and bills are evidences of debt, circulating as money or stocks and are vendable under execution at law or equity. Executions must be delivered to the sheriff within twenty days after adjournment of the court.

X. EXEMPTIONS:

There is no exemption for non-payment of taxes; for due amounts for materials or labor; for forfeited bail bond, or where the debt is founded on the purchase money. Otherwise a homestead, not in excess of two thousand dollars in value, or one hundred and sixty acres in extent, may be claimed, and including therewith two horses, two oxen, two cows, two calves, twenty hogs, twenty sheep, two hundred and fifty bushels of corn, ten bushels of wheat or rice, one-half a ton of hay, forty gallons of molasses, a sugar mill under one hundred and fifty dollars in value, bridle, saddle and side saddle, five hundred pounds of meat, wagon, buggy, harness, furniture under one hundred and fifty dollars in value and growing crops. XI. INTEREST:

The legal rate is six per cent, but ten may be paid on contract. When more than ten per cent is contracted for the whole interest is forfeited.

V. Claims against Es-
tates.

VI. Courts, and
VII. Fees.
VIII. Deeds.

IX. Depositions.
X. Descent.

XI. Eminent Domain.
XII. Executions.
XIII. Exemptions.
XIV. Homestead.
XV. Interest and Usury.
XVI. Judgments.
XVII. Liens.
XVIII. Limitations.

XIX. Married Women.
XX. Milldams.
XXI. Mortgages.
XXII. Notes and Bills.
XXIII. Suits.

XXIV. Taxes. XXV. Wages. XXVI. Wills.

CORPORATIONS:

I. Organization.
II. Powers.

III. Meetings and Elec-
tions.

IV. Books and Records.
V. Liability of Stock-
holders.

VI. Pools, Trusts, and
Conspiracies.
VII. Dissolution.
VIII. Foreign Corpora-
tions.

MINING:

I. Owners-Lessees.

II. Coal Mining in Cities.

III. Inspection of Mines. IV. Measures of Safety. V. Weight of Coal.

COMMERCIAL LAW.

I. AFFIDAVITS:

Affidavits to be used in the courts may be taken before commissioners for the State, notaries public, or judges or clerks of courts of record, and should be attested by the official seal of these officers.

II.

ALIENS:

Aliens, or any corporation not created by or under the laws of the United States or of some state or territory of the United States, cannot hereafter, unless such right is secured by existing treaties (June 21, 1895), acquire, hold or own real estate, or any interest therein, in this State, except such as may be acquired by inheritance or in good faith in the ordinary course of justice in the collection of debts. No corporation or ascociation, more than twenty percentum of the stock of which is or may be owned by any person or persons, corporation or corporations, association or associations, not citizens of the United States, shall hereafter (June 21, 1895) acquire, hold or own any real estate in this State.

III. ASSIGNMENT.

Every assignment for the benefit of creditors is for the benefit of all the creditors in proportion to their respective claims. No preferences can be made in the deed of assignment: but the courts have upheld mortgages and deeds of trust given just before the assignment was made to secure certain creditors, whether given by individuals or corporations.

The assignor must sign and acknowledge the deed of assignment and make a verified statement of the nature and value of the property assigned. The assignee must give bond with security within three days, and file in

ventory of assets within fifteen days; give notice of the allowance of claims within three months by advertisement published for four weeks successively; pay on demands within one month after allowance as much as the means on hand will permit, and as often thereafter as he can pay five per cent, and make a report every term to the Circuit Court, under whose directions he must act, and by whom he is discharged after the execution of his trust.

The Circuit Court may remove an assignee for cause and appoint a new one, or appoint one in case of vacancy.

Taxes and all wages due employees from corporations are preferred claims; other claims are paid pro rata, and discharge the debts only by the amount paid. Creditors who have not presented their claims on the days fixed for allowance, on account of sickness, absence from the State or other good cause, may, before the final dividend is declared, prove up their claims and receive the remaining dividends declared.

IV. ATTACHMENTS:

Attachment issues in aid of summons upon filing bond and affidavit showing that the defendant: 1. Is not a resident of this State. 2. Is a corporation, whose chief office or place of business is out of this State. 3. Conceals himself, so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon him. 4. Has absconded or absented himself from his usual place of abode in this State, so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon him. 5. Is about to remove his property or effects out of this State, with intent to defraud, hinder or delay his creditors. 6. Is about to remove out of this State, with intent to change his domicile. 7. Has or is about to fraudulently convey or assign his property or effects so as to hinder or delay his creditors. 8. Has or is about to fraudulently conceal, remove or dispose of his property or effects, so as to hinder or delay his creditors. 9. That the cause of action accrued out of this State, and the defendant has absconded, or secretly removed his property or effects into this State. 10. That the damages for which the action is brought are for injuries arising from the commission of some felony or misdemeanor, or for the seduction of any female. 11. That the debtor has failed

to pay the price or value of any article or thing delivered, which by contract he was bound to pay upon the delivery. 12. That the debt sued for was fraudulently contracted on the part of the debtor.

Attachment can be had for a debt not yet due in any of the cases above mentioned except the first four, but no judgment till the debt matures; may be levied on both real and personal property; and debtors of defendant may be garnisheed thereunder. Attachment may be issued and served also on Sunday and legal holidays. An attachment, if sustained, gives prior right over subsequent attachments, but wages of servants and laborers, not exceeding one hundred dollars, which accrued within six months prior to an attachment or receivership, are preferred debts.

V. CLAIMS AGAINST ESTATES:

The testator may by will appoint an executor, but if this is not done or if there is no will, priority of right is given in granting letters of administration: 1. To the husband or wife. 2. To one or more of the distributees of the estate according to the discretion of the court, or judge or clerk in vacation; but non-residents cannot be appointed.

Executors and administrators are required to give a bond not less than double the value of the estate, excepting where a testator in naming an executor has requested that he be not required to give bond, but he may still be required to do so at the discretion of the Probate Court.

Executors and administrators are required to publish in some newspaper in the county in which letters are granted, notice of the grant of letters and the date thereof, requiring all persons having claims against the estate to exhibit them for allowance within one year after the date of letters, with the further notice that if such claims are not exhibited within two years from the time of such publication they will be barred.

Demands against the estate of a deceased person are divided into the following classes and priorities: 1. Funeral expenses. 2. Expenses of the last sickness, and wages of servants. 3. All debts, including taxes due the State or any county or incorporated city or town. 4. Judgments rendered against the deceased in his lifetime, and judgments rendered upon attachments levied upon property of the deceased during his lifetime. 5. All demands legally exhibited against the estate within one year after granting letters. 6. All demands thus exhibited and presented to the court for allowance after the end of one year and within two years after letters are granted. All demands not thus exhibited and presented to the court for allowance within two years shall be forever barred, saving in case of legal disability; and said two years shall begin to run from the date of the letters where notice shall be published within thirty days after the granting thereof, and in all other cases said

two years shall begin to run from the date of the publication of the notice.

To secure allowance of claims against the estate, notice of the intended presentation of a demand must be given in writing to the executor or administrator at least ten days before the commencement of the term of court at which the demand is intended to be presented, unless such notice be waived in writing by the executor or administrator, or in open court. The claimant is also required to make an affidavit showing that he has given credit to the estate for all payments and offsets to which it is entitled, and that the balance claimed is justly due. Besides such affidavit, the claimant is required to prove his claim as in ordinary cases, except that demands for ten dollars or less may be proved by affidavit and allowed without further proof upon the certificate of the administrator that they are correct. The claimant cannot be a witness to establish his own claim; it must be proved by other testimony.

In partnership estates the surviving partner has prior right to administer, and if he knows the assets to be ample to pay all debts, he may pay them without requiring them to be proven up in the Probate Court. Executors and administrators perform their duties under the supervision of the Probate Court, and are required to make yearly settlements, and unless given further time, make final settlement at the first regular term after the expiration of two years from the publication of notice of the grant of letters of administration, having given notice thereof for four weeks. VI. COURTS:

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Justices' Courts in counties having over fifty thousand inhabitants have jurisdiction on contracts and torts the extent of three hundred dollars, and of all actions against railroads for killing or maiming stock, irrespective of value; in counties having less than fifty thousand, in all cases of contract and tort to the extent of two hundred and fifty dollars, and against railroads for killing or maiming stock irrespective of value; in St. Louis they have jurisdiction to the extent of five hundred dollars.

Circuit Courts have unlimited general jurisdiction in cases exceeding fifty dollars. In some counties there are local courts called Common Pleas, of concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Courts over certain districts. Circuit Courts hold two to three terms annually (in St. Louis five), and where not otherwise provided have jurisdiction in criminal cases. There is a Probate Court in each county with the usual powers.

Witness: In Justice Court, mileage 5 cents, and per day

.50

1.00

Protest: Contingent;

Court of record, mileage 5 cents, and per day.. VIII. DEEDS:

Every deed, mortgage, conveyance, deed of trust, bond or other instrument authorized by law to be recorded (except wills) in order to be recorded must be acknowledged before some officer authorized to take acknowledg ments of deeds, whose certificate shall be attached to such instrument.

Deeds need not be under seal unless executed by a corporation. They must be acknowledged or proved in this State before a court having a seal or some judge. justice or clerk thereof; a notary public, or justice of the peace of the county in which the real estate is conveyed or affected is situated. If acknowledged or proved without this State, and within the United States, by any notary public or by any court of the United States. or of any state or territory having a seal, or the clerk

of any such court, or any commissioner appointed by the Governor of this State to take acknowledgment of deeds. If acknowledged or proved without the United States, by any court of any state, kingdcm or empire having a seal, or the mayor or chief officer of any city or town having an official seal, or by any minister or consular officer of the United States, or notary public having a seal. No witnesses are necessary. If the acknowledgment to a deed be taken by a notary public in this State the officer must give the date in writing when his commission expires.

Husband and wife must join in conveying the legal title of the wife to real estate. When a married woman unites with her husband in the execution of any such instrument and acknowledges it she shall be described in the acknowledgment as his wife, but in all other respects her acknowledgment should be taken and certified as if she were sole; and no separate examination of a married woman in respect to the execution of any release of dower or other instrument affecting real estate shall be required.

IX. DEPOSITIONS:

Depositions in cases pending may be taken out of the State by procuring a commission from a court of record, and giving three days' written notice to the opposite party of the time and place of taking such depositions. Such notice shall be extended one day additional for every fifty miles distance between the places specified, up to three hundred miles, over which distance said notice shall be extended one day additional for every hundred miles of such distance.

The depositions must be taken by some commissioner, consul, commercial or diplomatic representative of the United States, having a seal; or mayor or chief officer of any city, town or borough having a seal of office; or by some judge, justice of the peace, or other judicial officer or by a notary public. If taken before any of said officers, except a judge or justice of the peace, and certified by him in his official character, accompanied by his seal of office, no other proof of his official character is necessary. If taken before a judge or justice of the peace, his official character must be shown by the certificate and seal of the clerk of some court of record within the county where the officer resides, stating that such officer was an acting judge or justice of the peace, and duly commissioned as such, at the time the depositions were taken.

Depositions of witnesses in this State may be taken by any officer authorized as above, without any commission or order of the court, on giving notice as above stated to the adverse party; provided, that in any cause pending in a city having over fifty thousand inhabitants the party to whom notice is given for taking the depositions of witnesses at any place in such city is entitled at any time before such taking is commenced, upon one day's notice of the application therefor served upon the party giving notice for depositions, to obtain from the court, judge, or clerk, an order appointing some disinterested attorney of such court a special commissioner to take such depositions and fixing the time and place thereof, and the depositions must then be taken pursuant to such order. Such commissioner is empowered to hear and determine objections to testimony, but must on demand of the party aggrieved, report his ruling excluding any evidence to the court or judge forthwith for approval or reversal, keeping open the depositions for further proceedings if required.

Every deposition must be reduced to writing in presence of the officer before whom it is taken, and signed by the witness. By agreement of parties, depositions may be taken down in short-hand and afterward written out and then signed by witness, or the signature of witness waived. Should the depositions be taken in shorthand by agreement, afterwards transcribed, and the signature of the witness waived, or read over and signed by the witness, the certificate should so state.

The return must, except in the cases above stated, be accompanied by a certificate of the official character of the officer taking them, attested by the seal of the state of his residence, or by the seal of some court of record within said state.

X. DESCENT:

All property of a person dying intestate, and not limited by marriage settlement, subject to dower and the payment of debts of deceased, descends and is distributed: 1. To children or their descendants, in equal parts. 2. If there be no children or their descendants, then to father, mother, brothers and sisters and their descendants in equal parts. 3. If there be none such, then to the husband or wife. 4. These failing, then to grandfather, grandmother, uncles and aunts, and their descendants, in equal parts, and so on to the nearest lineal ancestors and their children and descendants. 5. To kindred of the wife or husband of the intestate, in the same order.

Heirs of the half blood take only half the shares of like heirs of the whole blood. If all the heirs are of

the same degree of relationship to the decedent they take per capita; if in unequal degrees, per stirpes.

XI. EMINENT DOMAIN:

Railroad companies have the right: 1. To enter upon the lands or waters of any person to examine and survey for its proposed railroad, subject to responsibility for damages. 2. To lay out its road, not exceeding one hundred feet in width: to construct the same; for the purpose of cuts and' embankments to take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security of the road; and to cut down any standing trees that may be in danger of falling on the road, making compensation therefor. 3. To condemn land for depots and tracks, and may enter upon any land in the neighborhood of the line of their railroad to take there1rom earth, gravel, stone, wood, water or other material necessary for the construction and operation of said road, or for the purpose of depositing thereon earth, etc. 4. For procuring water for use to lay pipes, erect pumps, dams and reservoirs and keep them in repair, paying the owner the damages or having them assessed by a jury. 5. To construct the road across, along or upon any stream of water, street, highway or canal, which the route of its road shail intersect or touch, but the stream, etc., shall be restored to its former condition or to such a state as not to have impaired its usefulness (but such construction must not interfere with the navigation of a navigable stream, nor be constructed on a street or highway without the assent or the corporate authorities of the city, or the County Court), and may maintain and operate in connection with any railroad bridge a toll bridge and charge toll. 6. To cross, intersect, join and unite its railroad with any other railroad before constructed at any points in its route upon the grounds of the other company, with the necessary turnouts and sidings, and in pursuit of such purpose to agree upon compensation or have the same fixed by condemnation. Railroads must maintain fences along their line of road and cattle guards at crossings.

Macadamized, graded and plank road companies may appropriate any State or county road with the consent of the County Court, and may take releases necessary and material by condemnation for, as do railroads constructing their road; and condemn land not to exceed one acre for the erection of a toll-house.

Operators of mines, saw-mills or other industries, with the consent of the State Railroad Commissioners, may build and maintain private switches to connect with a railroad.

Telegraph and telephone companies are authorized to set their poles, wires and other fixtures along, across or under any of the public roads, streets or waters in such manner as not to incommode the public in the use of the same, but in cities permission must be obtained to put the wires underground; and may enter upon private lands and condemn and occupy so much of said lands as may be necessary to erect their poles, wires and other necessary fixtures.

Water companies may take water from any stream not navigable, erect dams, lay pipes to convey water, and condemn lands for the same, and for the erection of reservoirs, pumping stations, etc.

Bridge companies organized for constructing and maintaining a bridge over a stream may condemn land for approaches, roads, foot or wagon-ways of such bridge. Any person may erect a dam for mill purposes over a non-navigable stream and if he own the land on but one side, may have condemned one acre on the opposite side for that purpose. (See "XIX. Mill-Dams.") XII. EXECUTIONS:

Executions may issue at any time within ten years from the time judgment is rendered. Justices' executions are returnable in ninety days, and executions from a court of record are returnable to the next term of court after they are issued. Execution from the Circuit Court not a lien upon property until levied. Execution from Justice Court a lien upon personal property as soon as placed in the hands of constable. There is no stay of execution. Real estate taken under execution is sold without appraisement fo the highest bidder.

XIII. EXEMPTIONS:

Exemption from attachment and execution is allowed to the head of a family on a homestead owned and occupied of the value of one thousand five hundred dollars in the country, or in towns and cities of less than forty thousand inhabitants; and of the value of three thousand dollars in cities whose population exceeds that number; and on personalty amounting to about five hundred dollars in value.

To one not the head of a family nothing is exempt but wearing apparel and the necessary tools of trade of a mechanic. If the defendant is a non-resident or is about to abscond or leave the. State with intent to change his domicile, he loses his right to exemption. When the defendant has absconded or absented himself from his abode his wife may claim exemptions, not exceeding in value three hundred dollars. No property is exempt from levy for wages of a house servant or common laborer

up to ninety dollars, if suit is commenced within six months after last services have been rendered. Personal property is in all cases subject to execution on a judgment against the purchaser for the purchase price, without notice, except in the hands of an innocent purchaser. XIV. HOMESTEAD:

A homestead may be conveyed or encumbered as other property, and for that purpose no special form of conveyance is required. If no such conveyance or encumbrance has been made, the wife or the owner of a homestead may file her claim to the tract of land occupied by her and her husband, or by her alone if the husband has abandoned her. Such claim must describe the property, and state that the claimant is the wife of the person in whose name the property is recorded, and must be acknowledged as deeds are, and recorded in the county recorder's office; and after such filing no conveyance of or incumbrance on the homestead can be made without the consent of the wife.

Upon the death of a person owning a homestead, leaving minor children or a widow surviving, such homestead vests as a homestead in the widow and minor children until the death of the widow, and until the youngest child is of age. The fee simple of the property, subject to the homestead so contained therein, will pass by descent or devise, and may be sold for the decedent's debts as in other cases. If the decedent during his lifetime has legally charged his homestead with the payment of any debt, such charge will continue and may be enforced after his death. The homestead is liable to attachment and execution upon all causes of action existing at the time the same is acquired.

XV. INTEREST AND USURY:

The legal rate of interest is six per cent, but parties may contract in writing for not more than eight per cent. The penalty for usury is the forfeiture of the interest at eight per cent to the common schools, if the interest has not been paid; and if the interest has been paid the excess will be applied on the principal, and the defendant recover costs. Judgments bear interest at the rate of six per cent per annum; if the contract sued on calls for a higher rate-not exceeding eight per cent-the judgment thereon bears the higher rate. An open account bears interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from the time when demand for payment is made. XVI. JUDGMENTS:

Judgments of courts of record, including United States Circuit Courts, are liens upon the real estate of defendant within the county, and may be extended to other counties by filing a transcript of same. In the city of St. Louis such judgments are not liens until abstracts thereof are entered in the abstract book. Judgments of justices of the peace are liens on realty after transcript thereof is filed in the circuit clerk's office. The lien continues three years from the rendition of judgment and may be renewed for three years by scire facias. Judgment may be renewed within ten years for an additional period of ten years.

Judgment by confession may be entered without action, either for money due or to become due, or to secure a contingent liability. A statement in writing must be signed and verified by the defendant, showing the amount for which judgment may be rendered and authorizing entry of judgment thereon, and must state concisely the facts out of which the claim arose, and show that the sum is justly due or to become due; and if it be for the purpose of securing a contingent liability, the facts constituting the liability, and show. that the sum confessed does not exceed the same.

XVII. LIENS:

Persons furnishing materials, machinery or fixtures for any building, erection or improvement on land or for repairs thereof, under contract with the owner, proprietor or his agent, trustee, contractor or sub-contractor, may have a lien on the erection and on the land, not exceeding one acre in the country or the lot in a town or city. The lien only covers the title or interest which the possessor has for whose use the structure is erected. The lien attaches to buildings when the land is previously incumbered, and the building may be removed when the lien is enforced. The lien attaches to the leasehold interest of the tenant, and the buildings and improvements erected by the tenant may be removed within sixty days after the lease terminates.

Contractors must within six months, and sub-contractors within four months, file with the clerk of the Circuit Court of the county where the building is a just and true account of the amount, after allowing just credits, with a description of the property sufficient to identify the same, the name of the contractor, or both. This statement must be sworn to by the claimant of the lien or by some person for him. The lien has precedence over all incumbrances created after the commencement of the building. Sub-contractors must serve written notices on the owner that they have a claim, ten days before filing the lien. If the owner is absent, such notice is served by filing with the county recorder. Suit to enforce a lien must be

commenced within ninety days after the lien is filed and must be prosecuted without delay. If the sub-contractor file lien, it is the duty of the contractor to defend the suit thereon, and the owner may withhold the money due the contractor during the pendency of the suit. XVIII. LIMITATIONS:

Open accounts and all promises not in writing, fiveyears; judgments and contracts in writing, ten years. A new promise in writing or part payment on account constitutes revivor.

XIX. MARRIED WOMEN:

Married women hold their real and personal property in their own name, free from ccntrol of the husband, and not liable for his debts, and also through the intervention of a trustee. A wife is liable for her ante-nuptial debts; but her husband's property is not, except such as may be acquired from the wife. A married woman can make contracts in her own name, buy goods and give notes in settlement of purchases binding her own separate property, both real and personal; and sue and be sued in any court of law or equity, without joining her husband; and contract and be contracted with as if she were a femme sole.

XX. MILL-DAMS:

Anyone owning land on one side of a stream and a part of the bed, who desires to erect a milldam, if he cannot agree as to compensation with the owner of the opposite side, or with the owners of the land which will be flowed, may file a petition in the Circuit Court of the county in which the mill or dam is to be erected, and such court will issue a writ directed to the sheriff of the county commanding him to summon a jury to appraise the damages. Notice must also be served on the proprietors of the land at the time such petition is filed. After the payment of damages and expenses the appli'cant secures a right to erect his mill or dam.

XXI. MORTGAGES:

Mortgages and deeds of trust must be executed and acknowledged like other deeds and must be recorded. The usual form of security is a deed of trust, by which the property is conveyed to a trustee, with power to sell without the intervention of the court.

Chattel mortgages are void as to creditors of the grantor and purchasers without notice, unless possession of the property passes to and is retained by the mortgagee, or the mortgage or deed is recorded.

Unless evidenced by writing, executed, acknowledged and recorded as provided in cases of mortgages of personal property, all sales of goods and chattels, unless accompanied by a delivery of possession within a reasonable time, are fraudulent and void as against vendor's creditors and subsequent purchasers in good faith. All conditional sales, leases, rentings and hirings of personal property are void as to creditors and subsequent purchasers in good faith.

Real property sold under deed of trust without foreclosure may be redeemed within one year if bought in by the cestui que trust or his assignee, or by any person for them or either of them, but on the day of the sale security must be given to the satisfaction of the Circuit Court (or clerk thereof in vacation) for payment of interest to accrue after sale and for damages and waste. If bought by a stranger there is no redemption. XXII. NOTES AND BILLS:

Bills of exchange, notes payable to a party or order or bearer and expressed to be for value received, and bills of lading and warehouse receipts, are made negotiable by statute, and are governed by the rules applicable to commercial paper; and negotiable notes are payable as therein expressed; if made payable at a certain bank of face, demand of payment must be made at the bank named.

Sight drafts or demand drafts on persons residing in this State are due and payable on the day demand of payment is made, and must be protested on that day if not paid.

Upon protested bills, and upon notes that have been negotiated, the following rates of damages can be recovered if the bill or note is overdue twenty days before suit is begun: 1. If drawn upon a party in this State. four per cent. 2. If drawn upon a party out of this State and within the United States, ten per cent. 3. If drawn upon a party out of the United States, twenty per cent. The destruction of a bill by the drawee, or refusal to return it within twenty-four hours after presentation for acceptance, is taken to be an acceptance. Damages for protest are allowed only to holders for value or their assigns.

No days of grace are allowed on sight bills or orders. Public holidays are: January 1st, February 22d, May 30th. July 4th, the first Monday in September, December 25th, and public election day and Thanksgiving day; and in Kansas City and St. Louis, every Saturday after twelve o'clock noon is a legal half-holiday. Where any of such public holidays fall upon Sunday, the Monday next following shall be considered such holiday. Notes or bills