Chapter 156

All persons to whom may descend, or who may otherwise own or occupy lands drained by any canal or ditch, for the privilege of cutting which any labor for repairing is assessed, shall contribute the same, and shall be bound therefor to all intents and purposes, and in the same man…

In order to carry out and accomplish the objects and purposes of this Article, the board of commissioners of any such county may annually levy and collect a countywide tax not exceeding two cents (2¢) upon each one hundred dollars ($100.00) in value of the taxable property in suc…

This Article shall apply only to those counties which may have a population in excess of 100,000 persons. (1943, c. 553, s. 3.)

Whenever there shall be a dam, canal, or ditch, in the repairing and keeping up of which two or more persons shall be interested and receive actual benefit therefrom, and the duties and proportion of labor which each one ought to do and perform therefor shall not be fixed by agre…

Any person owning lands lying upon any creek, swamp, or other stream not navigable, which are subject to inundation and which cannot be conveniently drained or embanked on account of the volume of water flowing over the same from lands lying above, and by draining the same the la…

The commissioners, or a majority of them, on a day of which each proprietor is to be notified at least five days, shall meet on the premises and view the land to be drained and the lands affected thereby, and shall determine and report whether the lands of the petitioner or petit…

Whenever any such ditch, canal, or embankment shall need repairs or cleaning out, and any of the parties interested therein refuse to perform the labor apportioned to them, or refuse to contribute the amount assessed against them, the same shall be enforced in the manner hereinbe…

Where two or more persons have dug a canal or ditch along any natural drain or waterway under parol agreement, or otherwise, wherein all the parties shall have contributed to the digging thereof, if any servient or lower owner shall fill up or obstruct said canal or ditch without…

Any person owning pocosin, swamp, or flatlands, or owning lowlands subject to inundation, which cannot be conveniently drained or embanked so as to drain off or dam out the water from such lands, except by cutting a canal or ditch, or erecting a dam through or upon the lands of o…

In the absence of any agreement for maintaining the efficiency of such ditch or canal, or should the servient owner neglect or refuse to clean out or aid in cleaning out the same through his lands, it shall be lawful for the dominant or higher owner, after giving three days' noti…

After a canal has been dug along any natural depression or waterway and maintained for seven years, it shall be prima facie evidence of its necessity, and upon application to the clerk of the superior court of any landowner who is interested in maintaining the same, it shall be t…

The freeholders, commissioners or jurors, appointed in any application or proceeding filed or instituted under G.S. 156-21 or any other section of Article 1 of this Chapter, are authorized and empowered during the establishment of and providing for the construction, maintenance a…

If any persons, or those claiming through or under them, who have cut any ditch or canal into which any other person has been permitted to drain land under any proceeding authorized in this Subchapter, shall desire to surrender their easement or right in such ditch or canal and b…

If any person shall stop or in any way obstruct the passage of the water in any ditch or canal having been cut through lands of any person by consent of the owner of said land, before giving the interested parties a reasonable time to comply with the mode of proceedings provided …

If any person shall fell any tree in any ditch, canal, or natural drainway of any farm, unless he shall remove the same and put such ditch, canal, or natural drainway in as good condition as it was before such tree was so felled; or if any person shall stop up or fill in such dit…

(a) Agreement; Names Filed. - Whenever a majority of the landowners or the persons owning three fifths of all the lands in any well-defined swamp or lowlands shall, by a written agreement, agree to give a part of the land situated in such swamp or lowlands as compensation to any …

After the drainway herein provided for shall be completed the person, firm, or corporation cutting or digging the same shall be entitled to recover of the landowners owning that part of the land with reference to which no contract for compensating those cutting or digging the dra…

After the completion of the main drainway, upon the application of the person, firm, or corporation, or their heirs or assigns, digging or cutting the same, the clerk of the superior court of the county in which any land through which the drainway may pass is situated shall issue…

A report signed by two of the persons appointed as viewers shall be entered by the clerk as the report of the viewers. Any landowner affected by the report, and the person, firm, or corporation digging or cutting the drainway, has the right of appeal and the right to have any iss…

The commissioners, or a majority of them, on a day of which each proprietor of land aforesaid is to be notified at least five days, shall meet on the premises and view the lands to be drained or embanked, and the lands through or on which the drain is to pass or the embankment to…

Unless an appeal is taken, the clerk of superior court shall confirm the report of the viewers. If exceptions are filed and no jury trial is demanded, the clerk shall hear the exceptions and enter judgment as in other special proceedings. If the report is confirmed by the clerk b…

The amount to be recovered from any person as compensation for digging or cutting the drainway after the amount shall be definitely determined as herein provided for, shall be payable in five equal annual installments, the first payable one year from the filing of the report of t…

Upon the petition of three citizens in any county to the county commissioners, petitioning for the draining of any creek, swamp, or branch, either upon the plea of health or to promote and advance the agricultural interest of the farmers who may own lands lying on such creek, swa…

The board provided for in G.S. 156-32 shall meet at the call of the chairman and shall proceed to inspect and examine the lands as described in the petition to be drained, and the board shall have power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, and take testimony, and if the board d…

The board shall make a written report to the county commissioners showing all the acts and decisions of the board as to the length, depth, and width of the ditch, the names of all the owners of the lands that will be drained, and the amount of work to be performed and the amount …

All persons whose lands shall be drained under the provisions of this Article shall keep the ditch on their lands clear of all rafts of logs, brush, or any trash that will obstruct the flow of water through the ditch. (1887, c. 267, s. 4; Rev., s. 4014; C.S., s. 5293.)

The compensation of the board shall be as follows: The county surveyor shall receive three dollars ($3.00) per day and the other members shall receive one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) per day while engaged in the duties imposed in this Chapter. (1887, c. 267, s. 5; Rev., s. 401…

Any proprietor in fee of swamplands, which cannot be drained except by cutting a canal through the lands of another or other proprietor in fee, situated at a lower level and which would also be materially benefited by the cutting of such canal, who desires that such canal be cut …

On the establishment by the petitioner of his allegations, the court shall appoint three persons as commissioners who, having been duly sworn, shall examine the premises and inquire and report: (1) Whether the lands of the petitioner can be conveniently drained otherwise than thr…

The commissioner may employ a surveyor to prepare the map required to accompany their report. (1868-9, c. 164, s. 4; Code, s. 1313; Rev., s. 3998; C.S., s. 5297.)

The commissioners shall report in writing, under their hands, the whole matter to the court, which shall confirm the same, unless good cause be shown to the contrary; and on payment of the damages and cost of the proceedings the court shall order and decree that the petitioner ma…

If it appear that the lands on the lower level will be increased in value twenty-five percent (25%) or upwards by the proposed improvement, within one year after the completion thereof, and that the cost of making such improvement will not exceed three fourths of the present esti…

Upon a final adjudication, confirming the report, the proprietors of the several pieces of land adjudged to be benefited by the improvement shall be declared a corporation, of which the capital stock shall be double the estimated cost of the improvements, and in which the several…

The clerk of the court of the county in which the proceeding is pending or any corporator, who is a petitioner, may call a meeting of the corporators, at which meeting the corporators shall choose a name for the corporation, unless the commissioners selected the name, elect a pre…

Whenever the proprietors of any canal already cut shall desire to become incorporated, any number of the proprietors, not less than one third in number, may file their petition before the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the canal is located, or in either county…

The ownership of the shares of stock is indissolubly annexed to the ownership of the pieces of land adjudged to be benefited by the improvement; and such shares, or a part thereof proportionate to the area of such land that may descend or be conveyed for any longer time than thre…

Every corporator shall be bound to obey the lawful bylaws of the company, and pay all dues lawfully assessed on him: Provided, he shall in no case pay more than his proportion of the expenses as fixed by this Subchapter; and such dues may be collected in the corporate name in any…

Every corporator paying his dues legally assessed without regard to the number of his shares, shall be entitled to the full and free use of the canal for drainage and navigation, and of the road for passage and transportation. Bylaws may be made to regulate these rights, but not …

If any proprietor whose lands are adjudged to be benefited by a canal shall be an infant, no process shall be issued against him during his minority, or within 12 months thereafter, to enforce payments of any assessment, and he may, at any time within such 12 months, apply to hav…

If any proprietor of lands shall be damaged by any improvement proposed, the commissioners shall so report, and he shall be entitled to be compensated as may be just by the proprietor whose lands are benefited in proportion to the benefit to them respectively; but in estimating s…

If, from any cause, the canal or other improvement shall become or shall prove to be valueless, any corporator may apply as is provided in other cases of special proceedings, and the court may dissolve the corporation created in connection with it. (1868-9, c. 164, s. 13; Code, s…

The commissioners, when they may deem it necessary, shall designate the width of the land to be left on each side of the canal, ditch, or dam, to be used for the protection and reparation thereof, which land shall be altogether under the control and dominion of the owner of the c…

Whenever work or repair shall be done on such canal and any of the parties owning lands liable to be assessed for such work or repairs shall fail or refuse to pay the amount assessed upon their land, then and in that event the laborers performing such work shall have a lien upon …

Whenever any person whose lands have been adjudged liable to contribute to the maintenance or repair of such canal shall fail or refuse to pay the amount assessed against his land for such maintenance or repair for 30 days after such payment has been demanded by the company, then…

The corporations organized under this Subchapter are authorized to issue bonds to such an amount and in such denomination as they may elect, payable at such times as may be provided, and to sell the same at not less than par, the proceeds of the sale of such bonds to be used for …

Upon default of the payment of the interest or principal of such bonds, the holders of the bonds of the corporations organized under this Subchapter shall have a right to enforce the lien created by G.S. 156-52 by civil actions in the superior courts of the State. (1908, c. 75, s…

The clerk of the superior court of any county in the State of North Carolina shall have jurisdiction, power and authority to establish levee or drainage districts either wholly or partly located in his county, and which shall constitute a political subdivision of the State, and t…

When the lands proposed to be drained and created into a drainage district are located in two or more counties, the clerk of the superior court of either county has the jurisdiction conferred by this Subchapter. Venue is in that county in which the petition is first filed. The la…

A petition signed by a majority of the resident landowners in a proposed drainage district or by the owners of three fifths of all the land which will be affected or assessed for the expense of the proposed improvements may be filed in the office of the clerk of the superior cour…

Upon filing with the petition a bond for the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) per mile for each mile of the ditch or proposed improvement, signed by two or more sureties or by some lawful and authorized surety company, to be approved by the clerk of superior court, conditioned fo…