are different persons the same with the consent of all, shall be worked through a common shaft, tunnel, incline, adit, drift or other excavation, then all the mines, lodes or deposits so worked shall, for the purpose of this act, be deemed one mine; Provided, further, That this section shall not be deemed to apply to the owner or owners of any mine, lode, deposit, shaft, tunnel, incline, adit, drift or other excavation when the same shall be worked by a lessee, under bond or otherwise; but, in such case, the persons entitled to a lien under this act shall have a lien on the leasehold interest and on the ores and mineral bearing rock or dirt mined and excavated by the lessee.

SEC. 4. Whoever shall do work or furnish materials by contract, express or implied, with the owner as in this act provided shall be deemed an original contractor and all other persons doing work or furnishing materials shall be deemed subcontractors.

SEC. 5. The liens provided for herein are preferred to any lien, mortgage or other incumbrance which may have attached subsequent to the time when the building, improvement or structure was commenced, work done or materials were commenced to be furnished; also to any lien, mortgage or other incumbrance of which the lien holder had no notice and which was unrecorded at the time the building, improvement or structure was commenced, work done, or the materials were commenced to be furnished. The liens herein provided shall relate back to and take effect as of the time of the commencement to do work upon and furnish materials on the ground for the structure or improvement, and shall have priority over any lien or incumbrance subsequently intervening, except a lien herein provided for of the same class, or which may have been created prior thereto, which was not then recorded and of which the lienor under this act did have actual notice. SEC. 6. Every original contractor, within sixty days after the completion of his contract, and every person save the original contractor claiming the benefit of this act, must, within forty days after furnishing the last material, or performing the last labor for any building, improvement or structure, or for any alteration, addition to, or repair thereof, or performance of any labor in or furnishing any materials for any mining claim, file for record with the county recorder of the county in which the property or some part thereof is situated, a claim in writing containing a notice of intention to hold and claim a lien, and a statement of his demand, after deducting all just credits and offsets, with the name of the owner, if known, and also the name of the person by whom he was employed, or to whom he furnished the material, with a statement of the terms, time given and conditions of his contract, specifying the time when the first and last labor was performed or the first and last materials furnished, and also a description of the property to be charged with the lien, sufficient for identification, which claim inust be verified by the oath of himself or of some other person.

Liens against two or more buildings, mining claims or other improvements owned by the same person or persons may be included in one claim; but in such case the person filing the claim must designate therein the amount claimed to be due to him on each of such buildings, mining claims, or other improvements.

Any subcontractor before commencing to furnish materials or to perform work, or at any time thereafter and before the completion of his contract, may file a statement of claim with the recorder as herein provided, containing a notice of intention to hold and claim a lien, a description of the property to be charged, and the probable value of the work to be done, or the probable value of the materials to be furnished, as near as may be. From the time such statement shall have been filed, he shall have a lien for the work thereafter done, or materials furnished by him, not exceeding the sum stated as the probable value thereof; and in the event of such subcontractor claiming to have done work, or furnished materials before the filing of such statement, he may include therein a statement of the value of the work already done, or material furnished, as near as may be, for which, to the extent of the sums mentioned, his lien shall likewise attach.

SEC. 7. The recorder must record the claim in a book kept by him for that purpose, and from the time of the filing thereof for record, all persons shall be deeined to have notice.

SEC. 8. The liens herein provided for may be enforced by an action in any court of competent jurisdiction, at any time within twelve months after the completion of the original contract or the suspension of work thereunder for a period of thirty days, on setting out in the complaint the particulars of the demand, with a description of the premises to be charged with a lien; and at the time of filing the complaint and issuing the summons, the plaintiff shall cause a notice to be published at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in one newspaper of general circulation, published in the judicial district, notifying all persons holding or claiming liens under the provisions of this act, on said premises, to be and appear before

said court on a day specified therein, and during a regular term thereof, and to exhibit then and there the proof of said liens. On the day appointed, all persons claiming liens against the premises shall appear before said court and exhibit the same, whereupon the court shall proceed to hear and determine the claims in a summary way, or may refer the same to a referee to ascertain and report thereon, and shall enter judgment according to the right of the parties, and all liens not so exhibited shall be deemed to be waived against the property.

In every case in which different liens are claimed against the same property, the rank of each lien or class of liens, as between the contractor and subcontractor, shall be declared and ordered to be satisfied, in the decree, in the following order, viz:

First. Subcontractors who were laborers or mechanics working by the day or piece, but without furnishing material therefor.

Second. All other subcontractors and all material-men.

Third. The original contractors, and the proceeds of the sale in all actions for the satisfaction of liens against the same, improvements or structures, shall be paid in the order above designated, and pro rata to the persons claiming in each class, where the sum realized is insufficient to pay the persons of one class in full. SEC. 9. The court shall.cause the property to be sold in satisfaction of the liens and costs, as in the case of foreclosure of mortgages, subject to the right of redemption of the owner and creditors as provided by law; and if the proceeds of sale, after the payment of costs, shall not be sufficient to satisfy the whole amount of liens included in the decree, then said proceeds shall be apportioned according to the rights of the several parties, and to the several classes in the order as hereinbefore specified. In case of any excess of proceeds of sale, the remainder shall be paid over to the owner; and every person whose claim is not satisfied as herein provided, may have judgment docketed for the balance unpaid, and execution therefor against the party personally liable. As between the owner and the contractor, the court shall apportion the costs according to the right of the case, but in all instances subcontractors shall have their costs, including the costs of preparing and recording statement of claim, awarded to them, for each claimant exhibiting a lien.

SEC. 10. Whenever materials have been furnished for use in the construction, alteration or repair of any building, work or other improvement, mentioned in the first section of this act, such materials shall not be subject to attachment, execution or other legal process, to enforce any debt due by the purchaser of such materials, other than a debt due for the purchase money thereof, so long as in good faith the same are about to be applied to the construction, alteration or repair of such building or improvement. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to impair or affect the right of any person to whom a debt may be due for work done, or material furnished, to maintain a personal action to recover the

same.

SEC. 11. All liens under this act shall be assignable as other choses in action and the assignee may commence and prosecute actions thereon in his own name, in the manner herein provided.

SEC. 12. All foundrymen and boiler makers, and all persons performing labor or furnishing machinery or boilers, or castings, or other material for the construction or repairing or carrying on of any mill, manufactory or hoisting works, shall have a lien on such mill, manufactory or hoisting works, for such work or labor done on such machinery, or boiler or casting or other material furnished by such respectively. And all the provisions of this act respecting the mode of filing, recording, securing and enforcing the liens of contractors and others, and the word superstructure wherever it occurs in this act, shall be applicable to the provisions of this section.

SEC. 14. Any person who shall knowingly cause to be filed for record, a claim of lien against any property whatever, which shall contain a greater demand than the sum that is due him, with the intent to cloud the title, or to exact from the owner or person liable, by means of such excessive claim of lien, more than is due him, or to procure any advantage or benefit whatever, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 15. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any public building, structure or improvement.

VERMONT.

REVISED LAWS OF 1880.

CHAPTER 22.—Exemption from taxation.

SECTION 270. The following property shall be exempt from taxation:

X. Household furniture of every person, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value; wearing apparel; private and professional libraries; mechanics' tools, and farmers' tools including carts, wagons and vehicles, necessary to carry on their respective occupations; provisions necessary for the consumption of the family of a person for one year; fowls; sheep, cattle, horses and swine, not more than four months old on the first day of April, and hay and produce sufficient to winter out the stock; and for each person one wagon, one sleigh, and harnesses for using the same. But no pleasure wagon or other vehicle, valued at more than one hundred dollars, shall be exempt from taxation.

[Added by act No. 4, acts of 1886] One watch not exceeding the value of twenty dollars.

CHAPTER 63.-Exemption from garnishment, etc.-Wages.

SEC. 1075. * * * a person [shall not] be adjudged a trustee by reason of wages or compensation due the principal debtor, for work and labor performed by him in person after the service of the trustee process upon the trustee; and no earnings of a minor, or married woman, shall be subject to the trustee process in a suit against the parent of such minor or husband of such married woman.

CHAPTER 83.—Exemption from execution, etc.-Personal property.

SEC. 1556 (as amended by act No. 137, acts of 1884). The goods or chattels of a debtor may be taken and sold on execution, except the following articles, which shall be exempt from attachment and execution, unless turned out to the officer to be taken on the attachment or execution by the debtor: such suitable apparel, bedding, tools, arms, and articles of household furniture as may be necessary for sustaining life, one sewing machine kept for use, one cow, the best swine or the meat of one swine, sheep not exceeding in number ten, and one year's product of said sheep, in wool, yarn or cloth, forage sufficient for keeping not exceeding ten sheep and one cow through one winter, ten cords of firewood or five tons of coal, twenty bushels of potatoes, the pistols, side arms and equipments of a soldier in the service of the United States, and kept by him or his heirs as mementoes of his service, growing crops, ten bushels of grain, one barrel of flour, three swarms of bees and their hives with their produce in honey, two hundred pounds of sugar, lettered gravestones, the Bibles and other books used in a family, one pew or slip in a meeting house or place of religious worship, live poultry not exceeding in value the sum of ten dollars, the professional books and instruments of physicians, and the professional books of clergymen and attorneys at law, to the value of two hundred dollars, one yoke of oxen or steers, as the debtor may select, two horses kept and used for team work, and such as the debtor may select in lieu of oxen or steers, but not exceeding in value the sum of two hundred dollars, with sufficient forage for the keeping of the same through the winter; * * There shall be exempt as aforesaid, also, one two-horse wagon with whiffletrees and neck yoke, or one one-horse wagon used for purposes of teaming, or one ox-cart, as the debtor may choose; one sled, or one set of traverse sleds, either for horses or oxen, as the debtor may select; two harnesses, two halters, two chains, one plow, and one ox-yoke, which with the oxen or steers or horses which the debtor may select for team work, shall not exceed in value two hundred and fifty dollars; * * * There shall be exempt as aforesaid, also, one tool chest kept for use by a mechanic; CHAPTER 93.- Wages preferred-In assignments.

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SEC. 1867 (as amended by act No. 53, acts of 1886).

In the order for

dividends under this chapter, the following claims shall be entitled to priority or preference, and be paid in the following order:

First. The fees, costs, and expenses of suits, and the several proceedings in insolvency under this chapter, and for the care and custody of property as herein provided.

Second. Debts due the United States, and taxes and assessments made under the laws thereof.

Third. All debts due the State, and taxes and assessments under the laws thereof. Fourth. Wages due any employee, clerk or house servant, to an amount not exceeding fifty dollars for labor performed within six months next preceding the date of the adjudication of insolvency.

CHAPTER 95.-Exemption from execution, etc.—Homesteads.

SEC. 1894. The homestead of a housekeeper or head of a family, consisting of a dwelling-house, outbuildings, and the land used in connection therewith, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, and used or kept by such housekeeper or head of a family as a homestead, shall, together with the rents, issues, profits, and products thereof, be exempt from attachment and execution, except as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 1898. If such housekeeper or head of a family dies leaving a widow or minor children, his homestead to the value aforesaid shall pass to and vest in such widow or children, or, if there are both, in such widow and children, without being subject to the payment of the debts of the deceased, unless legally charged thereon in his lifetime; *

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SEC. 1901. Such homestead shall be subject to attachment and levy of execution upon causes of action existing at the time of acquiring the homestead, except as herein otherwise provided, *

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CHAPTER 100.-Mechanics' liens.

SEC. 1981. A person who performs labor, or furnishes materials in building, repairing, fitting, or furnishing a ship, vessel, or steamboat, shall have a lien on the same for his wages and materials, until eight months after it is completed, and may secure the same by attachment thereof, which attachment shall have precedence of all other attachments and claims.

SEC. 1982. Before such lien attaches, such person shall have a legal claim for his services performed, or materials furnished, and shall demand payment of the same of the owner, agent, contractor, or person in whose care such ship, vessel, or steamboat is; and upon such demand, or if he demands more than is due to him, a payment or tender of the just amount due him shall discharge such lien. SEC. 1983. When a contract or agreement is made, whether in writing or not, for erecting, repairing, moving, or altering a building, or for furnishing labor or materials therefor, the person proceeding in pursuance of such contract or agreement shall have a lien to secure the payment of the same upon such building, and the lot of land on which the same stands; and such lien shall continue in force for three months from the time when payment becomes due for the labor, or materials. But no lien shall attach thereto until the person claiming the lien files and causes to be recorded, in the town clerk's office of the town where such real estate is situated, a written memorandum, by him signed, asserting such claim, which shall charge such real estate with such lien. The provisions of this section shall also apply to a waterwheel or steam engine erected within or near a sawmill, gristmill or factory, to be used for the purpose of operating machinery therein.

SEC. 1984. Within three months from the time of filing such memorandum, if such payment is due at the time of such filing, and within three months from the time such payment becomes due, if it is not due at the time of such filing, such person may commence his action for the same, and cause said real estate or other property to be attached thereon; and if he obtains judgment in the suit, the record of such judgment shall contain a brief statement of the contract upon which the same is founded; and the plaintiff may within five months after the date of such judgment cause a certified copy of the record of the judgment to be recorded in the town clerk's office of the town where such real estate or other property is situated; and it shall be thereupon holden for the amount due upon such judgment, with the cost of the copy of the record of the judgment and recording, as if it had been mortgaged for the payment of the same from the time the copy of the contract and declaration were lodged in the town clerk's office; and the plaintiff may obtain possession, and foreclose the defendant's equity of redemption as in case of a mortgage.

SEC. 1986. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to property held as a homestead.

SEC. 1987. The real estate of a married woman may be charged with a mechanics' lien under the provisions of this chapter when she assents to the contract; and in

suits brought to enforce the same, the wife may be joined as defendant with the husband, and coverture shall be no defense thereto.

SEC. 1988. A person cutting or drawing logs shall have a lien thereon for his wages which shall take precedence of other claims except public taxes, and shall continue sixty days after the services are performed. But such lien shall not attach until the person claiming it files in the town clerk's office of the town where he performed the services, or if the town is not organized, in the county clerk's office, a brief statement of the contract under which he claims a lien and his purpose to enforce it against the property for the amount due for such service.

SEC. 1989. Such lien shall have no validity against a subsequent purchaser unless a suit is brought and the logs attached thereon within thirty days from the time the plaintiff's right of action accrues against the person for whom he performed the service; and shall be vacated as to all persons unless a suit is brought and the logs attached thereon within sixty days from such time.

SEC. 1990. Such attachments shall be made by leaving a copy of the process in the town clerk's office of the town where the services where [were] performed and also where the logs are, and if either town is unorganized in the county clerk's office.

CHAPTER 100.-Wages preferred—In attachments.

SEC. 1991. If a person or company is compelled to stop business by reason of attachments upon mesne process and does not resume business within thirty days, and is indebted to an employee for wages, such employee may attach the same property upon his debt and the attachment shall take precedence over such prior attachment to an amount not exceeding fifty dollars, if made before sale thereof on execution.

CHAPTER 126.-Power of selectmen as to children in manufactories.

SEC. 2518. The selectmen shall inquire into the treatment of minors employed in manufacturing establishments in their respective towns; and if, in their opinion, the education, morals, health, food, or clothing of any such minor is unreasonably neglected, or he is treated with improper severity or abuse, or is compelled to labor at unreasonable hours or times, or in an unreasonable manner, they shall, if such minor is not a servant or apprentice bound under the provisions of this chapter, and if he has no parent or guardian residing in this State, discharge him from such employment, and, with his consent, bind him as a servant or apprentice to some other person;

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CHAPTER 157.-Contractor's bond-Security for wages of railroad employees.

SEC. 3372. A railroad company shall require sufficient security from the contractors for the payment of labor performed in constructing the road by persons in their employ; and such company shall be liable, to the day laborers employed by the contractors, for labor actually performed on its road, if the person having such claim shall, in writing, within forty days after the performance of the labor, notify the engineer in charge of the section on which the labor was performed, that he has not been paid by the contractors.

CHAPTER 157.-Railroad bridges-Protection of employees.

SEC. 3418 (as amended by chapter 63, acts of 1891). All single track railroad bridges in this State shall, when built or rebuilt, be hereafter so constructed as to leave a clear space of not less than fifteen feet between the inner sides of said bridges, and also a clear space of not less than twenty feet from the lowest timbers, boards, or irons in the covering of said bridges, to the top of the rails under the same. And in all double track bridges the clear space of inside width shall be not less than twenty-seven feet.

SEC. 3419. No railroad company shall run cars of its own with ladders or steps to the top of the same on the sides of its cars, but said ladders or steps shall be on the ends or inside of the cars.

SEC. 3420. A railroad corporation not complying with the requirements of the two preceding sections shall forfeit fifty dollars for every day's neglect, and be liable for the damages and injuries to passengers and employees on its roads, resulting from such neglect.