Penalty for CHAPTER CXLIII. AN ACT To prevent the Counterfeiting of Gold Dust and other species of Gold. [Approved April 28, 1855.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. If any person shall counterfeit any kind or species of counterfeiting. gold dust, gold bullion or bars, lumps. pieces or nuggets of gold, or any description whatsoever of uncoined gold, currently passing in this State, or shall alter or put off any kind of uncoined gold mentioned in this section, for the purpose of defrauding any person or persons, body politic or corporate, or shall make any instrument for counterfeiting any kind of uncoined gold as aforesaid, knowing the purpose for which such instrument was made; or shall knowingly have in his possession and secretly keep any instrument for the purpose of counterfeiting any kind of uncoined gold as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of counterfeiting, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the State Prison for a term not less than one year, nor more than fourteen years. For keeping instruments. For receiving. Take effect. SEC. 2. Every person who shall have in his possession, or receive for any other person any counterfeit gold dust, gold bullion or bars, lumps, pieces or nuggets of gold, or any description whatsoever of uncoined gold currently passing in this State, or entering in any wise into the circulating medium of the State, with intention to utter, put off or pass the same, or permit, cause or procure the same to be uttered or passed, with intention to defraud any person or persons, body politic or corporate, knowing the same to be counterfeit, and being there of duly convicted, shall be punished by imprisonment in the State Prison for a term not less than one year, nor more than fourteen years. SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect from and after its passage. CHAPTER CXLIV. AN ACT To amend an Act entitled An Act for the Government and Protection of [Approved April 28, 1855.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and amended. SECTION 1. Section six of the Act entitled "An Act for the Gov- Section 6 ernment and Protection of Indians," passed April 22d, 1850, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: Section 6. Complaints may be made Complaints. before a Justice of the Peace, by white men or Indians, and in all cases arising under this Act, Indians shall be competent witnesses, their credi- Witnesses. bility being left with the jury. Section 15 ing intoxicating liquors. SEC. 2. Section fifteen of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows: Section 15. If any person in this State shall sell, give or Penalty for sellfurnish, or knowingly cause to be sold, given or furnished to any Indian male or female, any intoxicating liquors, he, she or they so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, be fined not less than forty, nor more than five hundred dollars, or be im prisoned not less than ten days, nor more than three months, or fined and imprisoned, as the Court shall determine. amended. SEC. 3. Section eighteen of said Act is hereby amended so as to Section 18 read as follows: Section 18. All fines, forfeitures and penalties incurred Fines. under or by virtue of this Act, except section fifteen, shall, after payment of the costs of prosecution, be paid into the County Treasury to where paid. the credit of the Indian Fund, as provided in section eight; and all fines recovered under section fifteen shall, after payment of costs, be How disposed of. paid one half to the informant, and the other half into the County Trea. sury, to the credit of such Indian Fund. Duty of Surveyor Expense. Board of to contract. Proviso. Bonds. Western termination. CHAPTER CXLV. AN ACT To provide for the Survey and Construction of a Wagon Road over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. [Approved April 28, 1855.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. The Surveyor-General of the State shall cause to be surveyed a good Wagon Road over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, at an expense not to exceed five thousand dollars, and no further liability shall be incurred for this purpose. The Governor, the Secretary of Commissioners State and the Surveyor-General shall constitute a Board of Commissioners, and they are hereby authorized to contract for the making of said road, either as a whole or in sections, under (the provisions and reSealed proposals. strictions of this Act. The Commissioners shall advertise for at least twenty days in the newspapers of the county or counties through which the road passes, and also in one daily paper in Sacramento, and one in San Francisco, for sealed proposals for the performance of the work to be done in improving said road; and shall, after opening said proposals, Work-how let. let the work by contract, to the lowest and most responsible bidder or bidders; provided, that the accepted bidder or bidders shall give bonds in double the amount of their contracts, with two or more sureties, to be approved by the Commissioners, and conditioned for the faithful performance of such contracts. The western termination of said road shall be at the western foot of the steep slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains; and nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the expenditure of any money on account of the State, in improving any road in the Sacramento Valley, or in the western foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, which is now usually traveled with ordinary ease and safety with loaded wagons. The right of way for said road is hereby granted through any lands the property of this State, and in cases where said road shall necessarily pass through enclosed lands and valuable improvements to the property of private persons, which enclosures and improvements private property. have been made in good faith, previous to the first day of February, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, the actual damage thereby occasioned shall be ascertained and assessed in the manner by law prescribed in cases of county roads and cart-roads through private property; and when it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that such assessments have been lawfully made, they shall issue a certificate for the payment of the same, in the manner provided for in section two of this Act. Expenditure, Right of way. Damages to Duty of Treasurer. Denomination of bonds. Interest. SEC. 2. For the purpose of paying the contractors for the work aforesaid, it is hereby made the duty of the Treasurer of the State to cause to be issued Bonds of the State, not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars in all, of the denomination of "five hundred dollars," payable ten years after date, and bearing an annual interest of seven per cent., payable semi-annually; which bonds shall be signed by the Governor, and coun tersigned by the Controller, and endorsed by the Treasurer of State, and Force and shall have the same force and validity as the bonds issued under "An validity. Act to fund the Indebtedness of the State," passed April twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and fifty-one. They shall be made payable in the city where payable. of New York; but the interest may be made payable either in the city Interest-where of New York, or at the office of the State Treasurer. payable. SEC. 3. The payments on the said contract or contracts shall be made Payments of monthly; and for the purpose of ascertaining the amount due at the end contracts. of each month, it is herein made the duty of the said Commissioners to Commissioners ascertain and certify the same to the Controller of the State, who shall to certify. thereafter issue his warrants on the Treasurer of the State, in the sum or Controller. Duty of sums certified, payable out of the bonds herein provided for; provided, Proviso. that the sum so paid shall not exceed seventy-five per cent. on the amount of work performed, as certified by said Commissioners, until the completion of said contracts. SEC. 4. The Commissioners, or either of them, acting under or by Commissioners virtue of this Act, shall not, either directly or indirectly, be in any man- not interested. ner interested in any contract or undertaking, either for supplies, materials or otherwise in the construction of the road herein contemplated. Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor, and upon con- Penalty. viction thereof, before any competent tribunal, said Commissioners, or either of them, shall be fined in any sum not less than five thousand dollars. SEC. 5. The said road shall be a "Free Public Wagon Road," and made Road free. in such a manner as to allow the free and convenient passage of wagons and other vehicles; and for the purpose of constructing such road the said Commissioners are hereby empowered to appropriate and set apart Commissioners as much territory on either side thereof as may be absolutely necessary; provided, no private property shall be taken without just compensation Proviso. therefor. to give land. Commissioners. SEC. 6. Any two of the Commissioners appointed under this Act, Any two are hereby authorized to make contracts and do all acts and things herein contemplated to be done; and the same shall be as effectual and valid as if made by all such Commissioners. limited. of bonds. Location of road. SEC. 7. Said Commissioners are hereby authorized to expend a sum Expenditure not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars, and they are hereby required to keep a minute account of all expenditures connected with the Account of. construction of said road, and to report the same to the next Legislature, and they also shall be held to show the disposition of all bonds issued Disposition under the provisions of this Act. The said Commissioners are required to locate said road at the earliest practicable day, following (in their judgment) the most practical and economical route, and if possible, to have said road so far completed as to make it beneficial to the emigration of the present year; provided, any expenditure made, or contract Proviso. entered into, by the Commissioners, beyond the one hundred thousand dollars, shall be null and void as against the State, and the Commissioners shall be jointly and severally liable to the same prosecution and pen-Commissioners. alties for a violation of the provisions of this section, as is provided in section four of this Act. Liability of SEC. 8. All liabilities authorized and incurred under, and by virtue Liabilities— of the provisions of this Act, shall be paid out of the appropriation made how paid. by this Act. Compensation Thirteenth Fourteenth. Terms of Court. Mariposa. Tulare. Fourteenth County of Nevada. Sierra. CHAPTER CXLVI. AN ACT To establish the Salaries of the Judges of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Judicial Districts, and to define the time for holding Courts in said Districts. [Approved April 28, 1855.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and SECTION 1. There shall be paid in the manner provided by law to the Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District, four thousand dollars per annum; to the Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District, five thousand dollars per annum; to the Judge of the Fifteenth Judicial District, four thousand per annum. SEC. 2. The terms of the District Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District, shall be held as follows: In the county of Merced on the first Mondays of February, June and October; of Mariposa, on the second Mondays of February, June and October of each year; in the county of Tulare, on the first Mondays of March, July and November of each year. SEC. 3. The terms of the District Court of the Fourteenth JudiDistrict Court. cial District shall be held as follows: In the county of Nevada, on the third Mondays of April and July, and the second Mondays of October and December in each year; in the county of Sierra, on the second Mondays of March and June, and the third Mondays of September and November of each year: in the county of Plumas, on the first Mondays of April and November, and the third Monday in May in each year. Plumas. Fifteenth Trinity. SEC, 4. The terms of the District Court of the Fifteenth Judicial District shall be held as follows: In the county of Humboldt, on the first Mondays in January, April, July and October in each year; in the county of Trinity, on the third Mondays of February, May, August and November in each year.. |