Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force March 4th, 1837.

AN ACT relating to a State road in Tazewell county.
1

Commissioners to accept report of reviewers of road.

Allowance of commissioners.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the county commissioners court of the county of Tazewell be, and they are hereby authorised and required to accept the report of Christopher O. Neville and Simon Porter, two of the commissioners appointed by the general assembly under an act approved Feb. [February]10, 1835, to review so much of the state road leading from the county seat of Peoria county to the state line of Indiana, as lies in the county of Tazewell, and to cause the same to be entered on their records: said road, as relocated by said commissioners, is hereby declared a state road,2 shall be opened four poles wide, and kept in repair as other public roads are, and it shall be the duty of said court to allow the said commissioners a fair compensation for their services, and such hands as they were compelled to employ, Provided, That said report shall exhibit a plain map of the route of said road.

Acts repealed.

Sec. 2. All acts and parts of acts coming within the perview of this act, are hereby repealed.3

This act to take effect and be in force from and after the first day of May next.4

Approved March 4, 1837.

1On February 13, 1837, James Shields introduced HB 275, originally titled “A Bill to Amend ‘An Act concerning Judgments and Executions,’” in the House of Representatives. The House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on February 27 without amendment, recommending its rejection. The House amended the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause. The House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on March 2 with an amendment. The House amended the amendment by adding a new last sentence to the second section. The House also amended the amendment by striking out the first section. The House concurred in the amendment as amended. On March 3, the House passed the bill as amended, amending the title so as to read, “A Bill relating to a State Road in Tazewell County.” On March 4, the Senate passed the bill without further amendment. That same day, theCouncil of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 579, 728, 799-800, 834, 852, 855, 856; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 622, 636, 639.

2State roads were those public roads established or designated by the General Assembly and usually crossed county lines. Only the General Assembly could establish, alter, or abandon state roads, until 1840 and 1841, when the General Assembly gave counties the authority to alter or to abandon state roads upon petition by a majority of voters in the area of the change.
An Act concerning Public Roads, sec. 9; An Act Authorizing Commissioners’ Courts to Alter, Change, and Relocate State Roads; An Act concerning Public Roads.

3The laws most directly affected were one passed in January 1826, appointing commissioners to lay a road from Peoria to the state line between Illinois and Indiana, and one enacted in January 1831 compensating the commissioners for their services.
“An Act Appointing Commissioners to Lay a Road from the Seat of Justice in Peoria County to the State Line Between Illinois and Indiana,” 23 January 1826, Laws of the State of Illinois (1826), 67-68; “An Act for the Benefit of Abner Eads, and Others, Road Commissioners, and Authorising an Alteration in a State Road in Vermilion County,” 22 January 1831, The Laws of Illinois (1831), 135-36.

4On March 2, 1837, the House of Representatives added this last sentence.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 800.