Pennsylvania Act 1862-393 — LOG AND LUMBER OWNERS ON SUSQUEHANNA RIVER - PROTECTION OF

Act text

LOG AND LUMBER OWNERS ON SUSQUEHANNA RIVER - PROTECTION OF
                 Act of Apr. 10, 1862, P.L. 383, No. 393              Cl. 32
                                  AN ACT

     For the more effectual protection of the owners of Logs and
        Lumber on the Susquehanna river.

        Section 1.  Marks and devices for identifying lumber
        From and after the passage of this act it shall and may be
     lawful for any person or persons, party or company, who are or
     shall be engaged in lumbering, in any manner, upon the West
     Branch of the river Susquehanna, or any of its tributaries, to
     adopt one mark of designation, which mark may be either in
     letters, figures, words, names, or other devices, at the
     discretion of such person, party or company, wherewith to stamp
     or mark all logs, masts, spars, shingles, shingle-bolts, square
     timber, boomsticks, boards, or other lumber put or intended to
     be put in said stream or its tributaries to be run, driven or
     floated to any mills, booms or markets anywhere, at or above the
     Susquehanna boom at Williamsport, and to furnish to the
     prothonotary of the court of common pleas, at Williamsport, in
     the County of Lycoming, or other county, where the said kinds of
     lumber shall be put into said stream or tributary, a statement
     in writing of the mark so adopted, as aforesaid, with a
     certificate appended, that the same has been so adopted, as a
     mark of designation, as aforesaid, signed by the person, party,
     or some officer of the company adopting the same, as aforesaid;
     and no person, party or company shall be entitled to adopt more
     than one of any of the kinds of marks aforesaid, as a mark of
     designation, but any such person, party or company shall not be
     prohibited from using any other mark or marks, in addition to
     the mark of designation, for distinguishing different kinds or
     lots of lumber, or lumber obtained from different localities, so
     always as that it interfere not with the mark of designation of
     any other person, party or company; and it shall be the duty of
     the prothonotary aforesaid, to receive and file of record, in
     his office, any mark stated and certified as aforesaid, and to
     give a certificate thereof to the person filing the same, and
     certificates thereof from time to time to any person demanding
     the same, under his hand and seal of the court; and the said
     prothonotary shall be entitled to demand and receive for the
     first certificate as aforesaid, the sum of one dollar, and for
     every subsequent certificate, the sum of twenty-five cents; and
     the certificates shall be prima facie evidence of the right of
     the person, party or company filing the same, to the use of the
     mark mentioned therein, and that all logs, shingles, shingle-
     bolts, masts, spars, square timber, boom-sticks, boards or other
     lumber in and along said streams, or in and along the main river
     Susquehanna, are the property of the person, party or company,
     whose mark of designation duly registered, as aforesaid, shall
     be thereon; the right to the use of any mark of designation as
     aforesaid, shall depend upon the priority of the registry on
     record, as aforesaid, and no mark of designation, as aforesaid,
     shall be received or filed or certificate given therefor, by the
     prothonotaries aforesaid, if the same shall have been previously
     registered it, it being the true intent and meaning of this act
     to prevent the use of the same mark of designation by more than
     one person, party or company.  1862, April 10, P.L. 383, Sec. 1.
        Section 2.  Taking up marked lumber
        From and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful
     for any person or persons, without authority from the owner or
     owners, to catch, stop, take up or detain any lumber of any of
     the kinds mentioned in the first section of this act excepting
     masts, spars, square timber and boards, which shall be floating
     in any of the streams or main river above said Susquehanna Boom,
     mentioned in said section, having thereon any duly registered
     mark, under any pretense whatsoever, and the owner or owners of
     any of the kinds of lumber aforesaid, marked with duly
     registered marks, or his, her or their agent or agents, shall be
     entitled to take possession of and remove, at his or their
     pleasure, any lumber of any of the kinds before mentioned, so
     taken up, stopped or detained, as aforesaid, contrary to the
     provisions of this act without being in any manner liable for
     damages or expenses incurred by any person or persons so taking
     up, stopping or detaining the same, as aforesaid, without let or
     hindrance, upon the production of the certificate of the
     prothonotary made in conformity with the provisions of this act
     either by the owner of the mark mentioned therein, or by any
     other person or persons, agent or agents, with the authority
     from the owner or owners, in writing, indorsed thereon or
     annexed thereto for the purpose, and duly acknowledged before
     any officer authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds or other
     writings: Provided, That this section shall not apply to any
     incorporated boom company, or to lumber of any of the kinds
     aforesaid, taken up below said Susquehanna Boom; and that for
     the purpose of encouraging persons to catch, take up and secure
     logs and lumber floating down the Susquehanna river, below the
     Susquehanna Booms, it shall and may be lawful for any person or
     persons so taking up and securing any of this said kinds of
     lumber, so found floating down the said river, below said booms,
     to charge and receive from the owner or owners of said lumber
     the sum of fifty cents per thousand feet, board measure, and to
     have a lien upon the same until payment is made or tendered by
     the owner or his agent; and for all such lumber, as aforesaid,
     taken up below the Columbia bridge, seventy-five cents per
     thousand feet, board measure.  1862, April 10, P.L. 383, Sec. 2.
        Section 3.  Owners of marked lumber may search for and remove
     same., suits for damages
        The owner or owners of any of the kinds of lumber aforesaid,
     their agent or agents, shall have the right and by this act are
     authorized to enter peaceably upon the lands, mills or other
     premises of any person or persons, above said Susquehanna Booms,
     doing no damage, to search for any such lumber, duly marked with
     registered marks, as aforesaid, and shall have the right, and by
     this act are authorized to remove any such lumber, marked as
     aforesaid, without let or hindrance, first paying to the owner
     or owners of such mill, premises or land the actual damage done
     thereto, by occasion of such lumber having floated or remained
     thereon, or damage done in the removal of such lumber therefrom;
     and if the parties cannot agree as to the amount of damages
     done, as aforesaid, the said lumber shall be delivered up to the
     owner or owners thereof, his, her or their agents, upon the
     production of a certificate, as provided in the second section
     of this act; and the owner or owners thereof, his, her or their
     agents, as aforesaid, shall be liable to arrest, at the suit of
     the owner or owners of any such mill, premises or land, as
     aforesaid, upon a capias ad respondendum, from which he or they
     shall not be discharged until he or they shall give bail
     absolute, before the justice or prothonotary who shall issue the
     same, to pay to the owner or owners of any such mill, premises
     or land, as aforesaid, the amount of the judgment that may be
     finally recovered for the damages as aforesaid, with costs of
     suit: Provided, That if the person or persons commencing any
     such suit, as aforesaid, shall fail to recover, on final
     hearing, a greater amount than was tendered by the owner or
     owners, his, her or their agents, as aforesaid, at the time of
     claiming such lumber, as aforesaid, then the party plaintiff
     shall pay the party defendant, his, her or their necessary costs
     of suit, and for his, her or their witnesses; which costs, as
     aforesaid, shall be paid before the amount of the judgment
     obtained shall be collected, or be made a set off against the
     same; and it shall not be required, upon the trial of any such
     case, to bring the money offered into court.  1862, April 10,
     P.L. 383, Sec. 3.
        Section 4.  Forfeiture of lumber
        If any of the kinds of lumber aforesaid, duly marked with
     registered marks, as aforesaid, which may float or come upon any
     land, as aforesaid, shall not be claimed, as aforesaid, within
     three months thereafter, the same shall be forfeited to the use
     of the owner or owners of any such land, as aforesaid: Provided,
     That the said lumber shall have been first advertised for three
     successive weeks, in the newspaper published nearest to said
     land, the cost of which to be added to the other charges and
     paid by the owner, before he shall be entitled to remove the
     said lumber. 1862, April 10, P.L. 383, Sec. 4.
        Section 5.  Penalty for wrongful acts
        If any person or persons shall fraudulently or wilfully use
     the registered mark of another, or shall fraudulently make claim
     to be the owner of any lumber of any kind, whether marked or
     not, in and along said streams and main river, or shall
     fraudulently refuse to deliver up any lumber of the kinds
     aforesaid, duly stamped or marked as aforesaid, in accordance
     with the second and third sections of this act; or shall,
     without authority from the owner or owners thereof, wilfully
     deface or obliterate any marks, names, figures, letters or other
     devices of designation thereon, whether registered or not; or
     shall fraudulently saw, split, consume, destroy, or injure or
     knowingly permit to be sawed or consumed upon his, her or their
     mill, or other factory, or shall fraudulently sell or purchase,
     or convert to his, her or their use any lumber of the kinds
     mentioned in the first section of this act, whether marked with
     registered marks as aforesaid, or not, unless the same shall
     have become duly forfeited, according to the provisions of this
     act, or the provisions of existing laws, every such person so
     offending shall, for every such offense, upon conviction
     thereof, forfeit and pay a sum, not exceeding one thousand
     dollars, and if the court deem proper, also undergo an
     imprisonment by separate and solitary confinement at labor, or
     simple imprisonment, not exceeding three years.  1862, April 10,
     P.L. 383, Sec. 5.
        Section 6.  Boom companies not liable except for marked
     lumber
        No incorporated boom company upon said streams shall be held
     legally responsible for any logs or lumber, such as they are
     authorized by their respective charters to catch or stop, that
     may escape from any booms, unless the same shall have been duly
     marked as aforesaid, with registered marks, and the production
     to the officers of said companies of a certificate, as provided
     in the second section of this act, shall be sufficient evidence
     to warrant the delivery of any lumber caught in said booms, to
     the person, party or company certified to be the owner or owners
     of the marks thereon, or his, her or their agent or agents, in
     the absence of any express notice of any other claim to the
     same: Provided, That this section shall not be so construed as
     to prevent the said companies from collecting boomage upon such
     nonmarked lumber, according to the provisions of their
     respective charters: Provided, Further, That such boom companies
     shall not be released from legal responsibility for any such
     logs or lumber as may escape from the control of the owner or
     owners, by reason of high water, or from other causes, which may
     be stopped by, or come into any boom, as aforesaid. 1862, April
     10, P.L. 383, Sec. 6.
        Section 8.  Bills of sale of marked lumber
        Any bill of sale of any of the kinds of duly marked lumber
     aforesaid, executed and acknowledged as provided in the second
     section of this act, either by the owner of the mark stamped
     thereon, or his, her or their administrators or executors, or by
     any sheriff or other public officer, that he has made sale of
     any such marked lumber as aforesaid, by virtue of lawful
     authority, shall be prima facie evidence that the title of the
     person, party or company owning the mark thereon in such lumber
     has become vested in the grantee or grantees mentioned in such
     bill of sale, as aforesaid, and the like effect shall be given
     to every subsequent bill of sale of any such lumber, made and
     acknowledged as hereinbefore provided.  1862, April 10, P.L.
     383, Sec. 8.