1913 public local laws – Ch.1 Sec.7

The board of road commissioners shall have the power, on petition or upon their own motion, to locate, relocate, construct, widen, or otherwise change public roads or parts thereof, and to lay out and construct new roads when in their judgment the same will be advantageous to public travel, and for such purposes are authorized, through their agents, to enter upon lands to make the necessary surveys. Before doing any work of construction, apart from the surveying, the board of road commissioners shall give to the owner or owners of land over which the proposed new road or change of road may run, at least five days notice in writing of the time and place when and where the board will consider the question of condemning the necessary land. If the landowner be a minor or insane, such notice shall be given to him and his guardian; if there be no guardian, to the person with whom he is living. If the landowner be a nonresident or cannot be found within the county, such notice shall be mailed to his last known address and published in a newspaper published in Davie County at least ten days before the hearing. If the board shall find the proposed improvement advantageous to public travel and shall decide to condemn the land necessary for the road, they shall so declare and enter the order of condemnation in their minutes. Upon question of condemnation, the finding of the board shall not be subject to review. No strip of land wider than forty feet, with such additional width as shall be necessary for cuts and fills, shall be acquired by condemnation. Upon making the order of condemnation, the board shall have authority, through their agents, to immediately take possession of the land and construct the road. If the landowner, after the road has been relocated or changed, or after the new road has been opened, shall consider himself damaged, and shall be unable to agree with the board-as to the amount of damages, he shall, within ninety days after opening, relocating, or otherwise changing the road, apply to the clerk of the Superior Court for an assessment of damages. Five days notice of such application shall be given to the board of road commissioners. The clerk of the court shall appoint and cause to be summoned a jury of three disinterested freeholders to assess the damages, and shall, at the time of appointing the jury, fix the time and place of their meeting. If for any cause the jury shall fail to so meet, they shall meet at such other time and place as may be fixed by them, after giving fortyeight hours notice thereof to the board and to the landowner or his attorney. The jurors, after being duly sworn by the sheriff, shall, in considering the question of damages, take into consideration the benefits to the landowner and shall render a verdict for such amount, if any, as the damages may exceed the benefits, and shall report their findings and verdict to the clerk of the court, and the clerk shall render judgment accordingly, and shall tax the landowner with the costs of the assessment if the damages assessed shall not exceed the amount offered by the board of road commissioners. Either the board of road commissioners or the landowner may appeal to the Superior Court within ten days from the filing of the report. If the landowner appeals, the clerk shall require him to give a bond or make a deposit in a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, to secure such costs as may be recovered against him on appeal, and if the amount of damages recovered by him in the Superior Court shall not exceed the assessment appealed from, he shall be taxed with all the costs on appeal. If the landowner make affidavit, by reason of poverty, to give the bond or make the deposit required, he shall be allowed to appeal without bond. The bond or deposit may be increased by the judge of the Superior Court. The appellate court shall in no wise adjudicate the necessity of the location, relocation, widening, changing or of the opening of the road, but shall try, under the rules of procedure of the Superior Court, only the question of damages and benefit: Provided, that if the board shall desire to have the damages assessed before proceeding to the work of construction, and shall fail to agree with the landowner as to the damages, they shall, within sixty days after the order of condemnation, make application to the clerk accordingly, first, however, serving upon the landowner, in the manner hereinbefore provided for condemnation, notice of such application. Upon hearing the application, the clerk shall appoint and cause to be summoned a jury of three distinguished freeholders, who shall proceed and make report, as hereinbefore directed, except that they shall separately state therein the damage, if any, causd by the survey or surveys, and the rights of appeal and proceeding on appeal shall be as hereinbefore set forth: Provided, that within ten days after filing said report or before final judgment in the Superior Court, if any appeal shall have been taken, the board shall have the election to abandon the proposed road improvement or construction, and in such case the clerk or judge of the Superior Court, if an appeal shall have been taken, shal! render judgment so declaring, setting aside the order of condemnation, awarding to the landowner the damages actually sustained, and taxing the board with all costs.