Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That in selecting lands for sale in the execution of the laws authorizing the sale of canal lands, the commissioners shall, so far as may be consistent with the public interest, select those lands on which improvement was made previous to the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five; and in valuing said lands the price shall be fixed without reference to improvements, and as though it had never been occupied or used. The improvements shall also be valued separately; and whatever injury or deterioration of value the land may have sustained, by reason of the occupation or use thereof, shall be deducted from the present value of the improvements, and added to the value of the land; and upon making sale of said land, purchasers shall be required to pay in advance the value of such improvements ascertained, and (after making the deduction

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aforesaid,) settled upon the principles aforesaid, in addition to the ten per cent. upon the price of the land; which sum shall be paid to the owner of the improvement in case such owner is not the purchaser thereof.

Sec. 2. When the injury to lands, by reason of the occupation or use of the same, shall be estimated to exceed the value of the improvements, the owner of the improvement shall not be entitled to any compensation therefor.

Sec. 3. It shall not be necessary for the Board of Canal Commissioners to require the service of assessors in ascertaining damages accruing to individuals by reason of the use of land, water, or timber, where said Board can agree with the claimant for such damages.

Sec. 4. In constructing the canal, the commissioners shall, whenever it be found practicable, cause the water to be drained from canal lands subject to inundation, in case they shall be satisfied the value of such land will be enhanced thereby to an amount sufficient to justify the expense of such draining.

Sec. 5. If in any case two or more persons shall claim to be owners of the same improvement adverse to each other, and the question of right is not decided before a sale of the land on which such improvement is situated, the price paid for the improvement shall be retained until the question is decided; and the Board shall also retain out of the money all costs which may be adjudged against the Board in the settlement of such question.

Sec. 6. Hereafter, the per centage retained from contractors upon estimates of work done shall not exceed twenty nor be less than ten per cent. upon the amount of the estimate; and this section shall be held and considered as a part of the act, entitled “An act to amend the several laws in relation to the Illinois and Michigan canal,” passed at the present session of the General Assembly.

Sec. 7. In cases where one improvement is situated upon two lots of land required to be sold separately, the valuation of the improvements shall be made with reference to the lots of land and the lines dividing the same.

Approved, February 22, 1839.