Section 8

Section 8. Before the president and managers of the company aforesaid shall proceed to build said bridge, it shall and may be lawful for them to contract with the owner or owners of any land, for the purchase of so much thereof as shall be necessary for the purposes of erecting and completing said bridge, and making all the necessary works and causeways to and from the same, if they can agree with the said owner or owners; but in case they cannot agree, then it shall and may be lawful for the said president and managers to apply to the court of Common Pleas of Northampton county, who, upon such application, are hereby authorized and required to appoint two discreet and disinterested freeholders of this state, and also to call upon the owner or owners of said lands, whose duty it shall be to appoint one, who, after being duly sworn or affirmed to perform the duties enjoined on them by this act, shall carefully proceed to view and examine the said lands, as shall be necessary, for the purpose of erecting and completing the said bridge, and making all the necessary works and causeways to and from the same, and shall, according to the best of their skill and judgment, estimate the value of lands so necessary to be taken as aforesaid, and having estimated the advantages as well as the disadvantages which may be sustained by the owner or owners of such lands, shall make an appraisement thereof in writing, and the same shall return, together with a map describing the bounds of such land, to the said court of Common Pleas, and the said appraisement, having been confirmed by the court, shall be filed in the prothonotarys office, together with the said map; and the said president, managers and company having paid to the said owners, respectively, the several sums awarded to be paid to them, together with the costs of the appraisement, the said corporation shall be entitled to have and to hold, to them and their successors an assigned, the said lands, as fully as if they had been granted by their respective owners.