§ 156-3. Duty of commissioners. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 156‑3.  Duty ofcommissioners.

The commissioners, or a majority of them, on a day of which eachproprietor of land aforesaid is to be notified at least five days, shall meeton the premises and view the lands to be drained or embanked, and the landsthrough or on which the drain is to pass or the embankment to be erected, andshall determine and report whether the lands of the petitioner can beconveniently drained or embanked except through or on the lands of thedefendants or some of them; and if they are of opinion that the same cannot beconveniently done except through or on such lands, they shall decide anddetermine the route of the canal, ditch, or embankment, the width thereof, andthe depth or height, as the case may be, and the manner in which the same shallbe cut or thrown up, considering all the circumstances of the case, andproviding as far as possible for the effectual drainage or embankment of thewater from the petitioner's land, and also securing the defendant's lands frominundation, and every other injury to which the same may be probably subjectedby such canal, ditch, or embankment; and they shall assess, for each of thedefendants, such damage as in their judgment will fully indemnify him for theuse of his land in the mode proposed; but in assessing such damages, benefitsshall be deducted. (1795, c. 436,P.R.; 1852, c. 57, ss. 1, 2; R.C., c. 40, s. 2; Code, s. 1298; Rev., s. 3984;C.S., s. 5262.)