5. Prosecutions.] § 5. It shall be the duty of the commissioner to prosecute or complain to the proper authorities of any person or corporation who may violate any law now existing, or which may hereafter be passed, on the subject of Canada thistles. [See Rev. Stat., Crim. Code, ch. 38, § 40, 41.

6. Report of commissioner.] § 6. The commissioner shall, annually, before the first day of November, make a written report to the supervisor of the town, or to the county commissioners, as the case may be-which report shall be filed with the town clerk, or, in counties not under township organization, with the county clerk. The report made to the supervisor shall be publicly read at the annual town meeting. Said report shall state

First-Whether there are or not any Canada thistles growing in the town or precinct.

Second-If any are growing, where and how many, and when and how introduced.

Third-A detailed statement of his treatment of each infected tract, with cost and result.

Fourth-He shall report such other matters as may be required of him by the board of town auditors, or by the county commissioners.

Fifth-He shall state his views on their further treatment, and make such suggestions and recommendations as he may deem proper and useful.

And he shall also forward a copy of said report to the secretary of the state board of agriculture, who shall collate and report the same to the governor by the first day of December of each year. (1)

[or to

(1) Form of Report of the Commissioner of Canada Thistles. To A. B., Supervisor of the Town of —, in the County of the County Commissioners, as the case may be]. The undersigned, commissioner of Canada thistles for the town of said county, would report that said thistles are now growing in said town [as the case may be], on the farm of J. D. [describe its location], and that the same were introduced about - by; that his treatment of each infected tract of land, with the cost and result, has been as follows [state particulars]: and that he believes said thistles should be treated for another year in the same way, by which time they will probably be entirely eradicated. Said commissioner would suggest and recommend that, etc. C. D., Commissioner of Canada Thistles for the town of day of, A. D. 18—.

Dated this

Form of Decision of Commissioners of Highways in Case of Appeal.

The commissioners of highways of said town of, having heard the appeal of A. B., from the decision of C. D., commissioner of Canada

7. Accounts audited.] § 7. The board of town auditors, and the county commissioners in counties not under township organization, shall audit the accounts of the commissioner, both for his services and for the money expended or labor employed by him; and they shall provide for their payment as they now do for other town or county expenses.

8. Appropriations-control by county board.] § 8. The boards of supervisors and county commissioners may make appropriations from the county treasury to aid in destroying the Canada thistle in any one or more towns or precincts of the county; and in case they deem it expedient, they may assume control over any one tract or of all the Canada thistles in the county, and make such provision as they may deem necessary, and impose penalties, not exceeding $100 for each offense, for a violation of any provisions, by-laws or regulations made by them on this subject, to be sued for by the commissioner, in the name and for the use of the proper county, before any justice of the peace having jurisdiction. Whenever the board of supervisors, or county commissioners shall decide to assume control, and so long as they exercise it, their jurisdiction shall be superior to that of the commissioner.

9. Emergency.] § 9. Whereas, Canada thistles are now growing in various parts of the state, requiring attention before the first day of July: therefore this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

thistles of said town, filed in the town clerk's office, on the of

day

18-, do affirm the decision of said commissioner, and that the boundaries of said infected tract remain as marked by said commissioner, or "We do in all things reverse the decision of said commissioner," or if the boundaries are changed add after the as follows: We do change the boundaries of said infected tract as follows [here set forth the boundaries].

of

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this day A. D. 18—.

Signed by the Commissioners.

Form of Decision of Commissioner of Canada Thistles.
County.

Town of

SS.

The undersigned commissioner of Canada thistles for said town of having found Canada thistles growing upon the enclosed lands of A. B., in said town, and having advised with him in the matter, and not being able to agree with him in the premises, and said commissioner deeming it expedient that he should fully control the same, he proceeded and marked out the following as the tract of land of said A. B., infected by Canada thistles, to-wit: [here describe the boundaries].

Witness my hand this day of, A. D. 18—.

C. D., Commissioner of Canada Thistles.

PUBLICATION OF ANNUAL STATEMENTS. (1)

SECTION.

1. Officers to publish annual statements.

2.

Penalty.

AN ACT to require officers having in their custody public funds, to prepare and Publish an Annual Statement of the receipt and disbursement of such funds. [Approved May 80, 1881. In force July 1, 1881.]

1. Officers to publish annual statements.] § 1. That each and every public officer elected or appointed, of each and every county and township in this State, who shall, by virtue of his or her office, have the custody of public funds, shall at the expiration of each fiscal year, prepare a statement of the amount of public funds received and expended by him or her during the fiscal year just closed; which statement shall show the amount of public funds, if any, on hand at the commencement of said fiscal year, the amount of public funds received, and from what sources received, the amount of public funds expended and for what purposes expended; and the officer making such statement shall subscribe and swear to the same before some person authorized to administer oaths; and such officer shall cause such statement to be published in some newspaper published in the county in which such officer holds his or her office, for one week, and if no newspaper be published in such county, then such officer shall make three (3) written copies of such statement, and post them in three (3) of the most public places nearest to the location of his or her office:

Provided, that the provisions of this act shall not apply to sheriffs, circuit clerks, county clerks, county recorders, county superintendents of schools, county treasurers, county collectors and township collectors in counties under township organization: And provided further, that the cost for the publication of said statement shall not exceed the sum of one dollar ($1) per one hundred words, to be paid out of the funds in the hands of the officer making such statement: And provided further, that said public officer shall not be required to have said statement pub

(1) Public officers under township organization, who have the custody of publio funds, are: the town supervisor, treasurer of the commissioners of highways, and overseers of highways in road districts in towns that have adopted the labor system. The foregoing officers would, therefore, seem to come within the provisions of the above act, and be required to prepare and publish at the end of each fiscal year a statement of the funds received and expended by them.

The fiscal year for supervisor and treasurer of the commissioners of highways it is understood ends on the day before the Tuesday next preceding the annual town meeting in April. The fiscal year for overseers of highways ends on the day before the second Tuesday preceding the annual town meeting.

Township school treasurers are likewise public officers, having the custody of public funds, and as such would also seem to come within the provisions of the above act.

Blank forms for making Statements for Publication by public officers, in the best form and style, are furnished at THE LEGAL ADVISER othce, Chicago.

lished if he shall be unable to procure such publication at the price allowed by this act

2. Penalty.] § 2. Any public officer of any county or township in this State, who, by virtue of his or her office shall have the custody of public funds, and who shall refuse or neglect to comply with the provisions of the first section of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50), nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), at the discretion of the court, which fine shall be paid into the treasury of the county or township in which the officer convicted of said misdemeanor shall hold his or her office; and it shall be the duty of the State's Attorney for the county in which said misdemeanor is committed, to bring suit against any public officer charged with the violation of the provisions of this act in any court having jurisdiction.

DIVISION II.

ROADS AND BRIDGES.

IN COUNTIES UNDER TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

AN ACT in regard to roads and bridges in counties under township organization, and to repeal an act and parts of acts therein named. [Approved June 23, 1883. In force July 1, 1883.]

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS DEFINED.

SECTION.

1. Public highways.

1. Public highways.] § 1. That all roads in this State which have been laid out in pursuance of any law of this State or of the territory of Illinois, or which have been established by dedication or used by the public as a highway for twenty years, and which have not been vacated in pursuance of law, are hereby declared to be public highways.(1)

(1) As to the law concerning the vacation of highways see post, ? 31.

A highway is a public way for use of the public in general, for passage and tramc without distinction. Persons making use of horses as the means of travel or trafic by the highways have no rights therein superior to those who make use of them in other permissible modes. Improved methods of locomotion are admissible and cannot be excluded from existing public roads if not inconsistent with the present methods. 34 Mich. R., .

Navigable rivers and public streams are public highways, and every person has an equal right to a reasonable use of them as such. Davis v. Winslow, 51 Maine R., 264.

Plank roads are undoubtedly public highways, and different from common highways in the mode of construction, and the taking of tolls, and on the payment of the latter, travelers have the same right to use them as they have to use other highways. And where the company forfeit their charter, or abandon it, or suffer the road to become out of repair so as to amount to an abandonment, the right of way of the company ceases and the road becomes a common highway. Craig v. The People ex rel., 47 Ill. R., 488.

The fact that a town has expended money and labor on a road, and included it in the rate bills of the highway surveyors, as a public road on which highway taxes are to be expended, and has left it open for public travel, and all as a common highway, tends to prove that the town has adopted it as a highway, therefore a bridge on said highway, necessary to connect the portions of it on each side of the bridge, was also adopted. Folsom v. Underhill, 36 Vt. R. 580.

There are several modes of acquiring a highway or public right of way. 1. By condemnation, so called. 2. By dedication. 3. By prescription or user. Highways are also allowed by necessity. Daniels v. The Feople, 21 Ill. R., 439; Grube v. Nichols, 36 Ill. R., 92.

I. HIGHWAY BY CONDEMNATION.

Condemnation is the ordinary mode of acquiring a highway prescribed by the statute, by petition to the commissioners, an examination and survey of the route, and a declaration of establishment, if it is found necessary for the public interest. The right is given to take the land of individuals by awarding compensation, which is called condemnation. The property is taken by what is called the right of eminent domain. See post, ¿ 31.

II. HIGHWAY BY DEDICATION.

Dedication is the act of donation, or appropriation of land by the owner to the use of the public generally, as a common way; and an acceptance, on the part of the public of the land so appropriated. Bouv. Law Dict., title "Highways." Gentleman v. Soule, 32 Ill. R., 272.

To make the dedication complete, it is essential that there should be an acceptance on the part of the public, as well as a donation on the part of the individual. Oswego v. Oswego Canal Co., 2 Selden, 263. Although the owner may declare land dedicated to the public for a highway by