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chanics and laborers who perform work or labor, or furnish materials to the amount of $25 or more for construct ing or repairing any water-ditch, flume, aqueduct, or reservoir, shall have a lien on such * * * water-ditch, flume, aqueduct, or reservoir for the amount and value of the work performed or materials furnished, by filing in the recorder's office, within forty days after the completion of the work, a statement containing a notice of intention to hold the lien, a description of the property, and an abstract of the indebtedness, as required by Section two, respecting liens on other superstructures. And if the lien is claimed by others than a contractor or material man, such notice and statement are required to be filed within twenty days, and a copy of the statement is to be served upon the owners or their agents. It is also provided that where personal service of such notice cannot be had, the owners may be notified through the post-office. By Section four of the act, the provisions of the preceding sections are rendered available to "all miners, laborers, and others who work or labor to the amount of $25 or more in or upon any mine, lode, or deposit," and also for those who furnish materials for such work; Provided, that two or more lodes, worked through the same opening, shall be considered one mine, and that the law shall not apply to mines worked under a lease. Section six provides that the lien in favor of sub-contractors, material men, and workmen shall cover the property upon which the work was done, or for which materials were furnished, and authorizes their payment by the owners on service of copy of the statement, and in case of failure to pay by the owners, gives the sub-contractors, etc., a right of action against the owners. The same section forbids payments in anticipation of liens, declares a forfeiture of rights for making excessive and fraudulent claims, and attachments of money due the contractor,

pending the proceedings to enforce a lien. By Section seven the mechanic's or miner's lien is given priority over all mortgages and other liens unrecorded at the commencement of the work. By Section eight the lienor is required to commence an action to enforce the lien within six months. Section nine prescribes the manner of enforcing the lien in a court of competent jurisdiction by petition and summons as in chancery suits, publication of notice for three weeks in a newspaper, or by posting where there is no newspaper in the county, to bring in all parties holding or claiming liens. All parties not appearing in response to the notice will be deemed to have waived their liens. Judgment may be rendered on all claims brought in, and the property sold to satisfy the judgment in favor of the lienors. Sections ten and eleven merely preserve the rights of action parties would have independent of the lien law, and require the entry of satisfaction on payment of debt and costs, under a penalty of $20 a day for refusal to make the entry on request of the party paying. By Section twelve it is provided that assignees, being creditors of the same class as the assignors, may claim and hold and enforce their liens for the amount of their own and assigned claims. By an act amending the foregoing 4 it is provided, in Section one, that subcontractors, etc., may give notice to the owners of an intention to perform work or furnish materials of an estimated amount, before beginning, with like effect as though given at the completion of the work, or furnishing materials upon having the same recorded; or he may give such notice and have it recorded after the beginning of the work. But by Section two the filing of statement is still required; the notice before completion is optional with the lienor. By Section three the requisite notices must be recorded. By Section four notices may be served upon agents where the owners are non-residents, and in the absence of such agents, by posting on the property. By Section five the contractors and all parties interested in the property are to be made parties defendant; also requiring the publication of notice, as in Section 9 of the act of 1872.5 Section six provides that the lien or liens, singly or in the aggregate, of sub-contractors, etc., shall not exceed the amount due the original contractor. Section seven provides that where notice is given according to Section 1, and the work or materials are not done or furnished, or are paid for, satisfaction or a withdrawal of the notice shall be entered on the record within five days after notice from the owner, or for failure forfeit $20; for the first refusal, $50; and for each subsequent refusal, $100.6 By a still later act, most of the provisions of the foregoing statutes are re-enacted, and the acts themselves expressly repealed with a saving clause of all rights and remedies which accrued under the repealed statutes, and all suits and proceedings pending at the time of repeal. The most important changes are the forms of notices in Section two; the requirement that sub-contractors, material men, and laborers (miners) shall serve the notice on owners or post the statement before five o'clock p. m. of the Saturday following completion of the work, giving forms to be substantially followed for material men, sub-contractors, and mechanics or laborers, respectively. By Section five the "notice of claim" may be filed by sub-contractors, etc., at any time within forty days after work done or materials furnished, giving the form of such notice. By Section ten it is provided that if any contractor or sub-contractor deny the validity of any claim stated, he may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction making the owners and lienors parties defendant, in which suit the rights of the parties may be adjudicated; or the lienors may, in their action to enforce the lien, make the contractor or

sub-contractors parties defendant with the owners, and the former, in their answer, may deny the validity of the claims stated. Section twelve provides for suits to enforce liens by bringing in all the claimants; and in case the amount for which the property is sold on execution is insufficient to satisfy the claims in full, it is to be distributed pro rata, and judgment is entered for the amount unsatisfied in each case. Section fifteen provides for the aggregation of accounts by assignment, so as to make up the necessary amount of twenty-five dollars, and permits the assignee to recover the whole amount. Section sixteen includes surveyors of mines as entitled to liens for their services. By this act, which is the lien law now in force, the provisions in Section 6, as to forfeiture for fraudulent statement, and attachment are omitted. So, also, is the provision in Section 1 of the amendatory act of 1876, as to notice prior to completion of the work or furnishing materials. The penalty provided in Section 7 of the amendatory act for failing or refusing to withdraw notice of claim recorded prior to commencement, is no longer applicable under the new law. Beyond this the law is substantially the same as it was prior to the act of 1881.8

1 Ch. lix.

2 Session Laws, 1872.

3 General Laws, p. 587.

4 An act to amend an act entitled "An act to secure liens to mechanics and others, and to repeal all other acts in relation thereto," approved February 9, A.D. 1872.-Session Laws, 1876. 5 Supra.

6 General Laws, p. 593.

7 An act to secure liens to mechanics and others, and to repeal all other acts in relation thereto, approved February 12, 1881.

8 Session Laws, 1881, p. 168.

§ 261. Limitations.1-By "an act limiting the time for bringing actions respecting real estate, 2" it is provided in Section one that peaceable and undisputed possession for five years, under claim or color of title, made in good faith, and the payment of legally assessed taxes on the mining claim, shall raise a conclusive presumption of title in the possessor, whether such possession and payment of taxes were by himself or his grantors. By Section two it is provided that the mere payment of taxes for this period, upon unoccupied claims, or the improvements thereon will suffice, where the claim is made in good faith. And the rights of purchasers, devisees and decedents under the taxpayers are the same as by the preceding section; Provided, some one having a better paper title has not paid the taxes for one or more of the five years which constitute the adverse holding. By Section three the two preceding sections are rendered inapplicable to lands or tenements owned by the United States, except as to possessory rights to mining claims; to claims held or owned by persons resting under the disabilities of infancy, insanity, or imprisonment; Provided, that an action be brought for the recovery of the mining claims within one year after removal of the disability, and where the land is unoccupied, reimburse the payer of the taxes, with interest at 25 per cent. per annum; and to mining claims relocated on account of forfeiture under the provisions of the act of Congress of May 10, 1872. By Section four it is provided that the defendant in possession may plead the statute in bar of a recovery by plaintiff in all actions at law or in equity, excepting actions of ejectment.3 But a failure to plead the statute will be deemed a waiver of its benefits.4

1 Ch. lx.

2 Sess. Laws, 1874.

3 This action abolished as a distinct form of proceeding, though the action for the recovery of possession of real estate serves the

same purpose.-Code.

4 Gen. Laws, p. 600.

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