§11-4-19 Land taken for public road or railroad. - West Virginia Statutes

§11-4-19. Land taken for public road or railroad.
Any person through whose lands a public road has been or may hereafter be established according to law, or through whose lands a railroad company has acquired or may hereafter acquire a right-of-way, by purchase or condemnation, may have the number of acres so taken for such public road or railroad deducted from the whole number of acres in the tract of land, and if such deduction is made on account of land taken for a railroad, the amount so deducted shall be transferred and charged to the railroad company until such time as the railroad is constructed and assessed by the board of public works under the provisions of this chapter, and when such railroad is so assessed by the board of public works the land occupied by its right-of-way and assessed to it under the provisions of this section shall be stricken from the landbooks, and be no longer assessed under this section. The reduction, provided for in this section, shall be made only by the county court of the county wherein such land is assessed at the time the reduction is applied for, after ten days' notice in writing to the prosecuting attorney of such county and upon satisfactory proof of the number of acres in any such public road or railroad, and of the number of acres in the whole tract or tracts of land from which the deduction is desired to be made. If the reduction is made on account of land taken for a public road, such reduction shall continue only so long as the land is used as a public highway, after which time the officer, whose duty it is to make out the landbooks, shall increase the quantity of land in the tract by adding to it the number of acres included in that part of the public road running through such land, with the proper value thereof, which has ceased to be used as such public road. Any order made by the county court upon such application shall direct such officer to correct the landbooks according to the facts established by such order.