Classification. ing: All such municipal coporations, as in any such law are denominated cities, shall be deemed cities; and those denominated towns, villages, or special road districts, shall be deemed incorporated villages; to be respectively governed as cities, or incorporated villages, and in case of the latter, for general or special purposes, as provided in this act; and all acts now in force, for the organization or government of any such municipal corporations, shall be, and they are hereby repealed; Provided, that such repeal shall not destroy, or bar, any right of property, action, or prosecution, which may be vested, or exist, at the time this act takes effect.

New corpora.

ganized.

SEC. 2. When the inhabitants of a part of any county, not tion how or embraced within the limits of any city or incorporated village, shall desire to be organized into an incorporated village, they may apply by petition, in writing, signed by the inhabitants so applying, to be in number not less than thirty qualified voters, to the county commissioners of the proper county; which petition shall describe the territory proposed to be embraced in such incorporated village, and have annexed thereto an accurate map or plat thereof; shall state the name proposed for such incorporated village, and in case the same be for the purpose of a road district only, shall so state, and shall also name the person or persons authorized to act in behalf of the petitioners in prosecuting said petition.

Petitions to be

filed, &c. Duty

ers.

SEC. 3. When any such petition shall be presented to the of commission. county commissioners, they shall cause the same to be filed in the office of the county auditor, to be there kept, subject to the inspection of any person or persons interested, until the time appointed for the hearing thereof; the said commissioners shall, at or before the time of such filing, fix and communicate to such petitioners, or their agent, a time and place for the hearing of such petition, which time shall not be less than sixty days after the time of such filing; and thereupon the petitioners or their agents, shall cause a notice to be published in some newspaper of general circulation in the county, not less than six consecutive weeks, and a copy of such notice to be posted at some public place, within the limits of the said proposed incorporated village, not less than six consecutive weeks before the time of such hearing; which notice shall contain the substance of said petition, and state the time and place appointed for the hearing thereof.

Proceedings to be public-con

mendments.

SEC. 4. Every such hearing shall be public, and may be adtests and a. journed, from time to time, or from place to place, and any person interested, may appear and contest the granting of said petition, and affidavits in support of, or against said petition, which may be prepared and submitted, shall be examined by said commissioners, and they may, in their discretion, permit the agent, or agents, named in the original petition, to amend or change the same, except that no amendment shall be permitted whereby

territory not before embraced shall be added, or the character of the proposed incorporated village changed, from general purposes to special, or from special to general, without appointing another time for hearing, and requiring new notice to be given as above provided.

of commission

regular.

SEC. 5. If the county commissioners, after hearing such Further duties petition, shall be satisfied that at least fifty qualified voters ac- ers, in case protually reside within the limits described in the petition, and that ceedings are said petition has been signed by a majority of them; that said limits have been accurately described, and an accurate map or plat thereof made and filed; that the name proposed for the said incorporated village, is proper and sufficient to distinguish it from others of like kind in the State; and it shall moreover, be deemed right and proper, in the judgment and discretion of said commissioners, that said petition shall be granted; then, they shall make and endorse on the said petition, an order, to the effect, that the incorporated village, as named and described in the petition, may be organized; which order said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall sign and deliver, together with the petition and the map or plat, to the recorder of their county, whose duty it shall be to record the same as soon as may be, in the proper book of records, and to Duties of refile and preserve in his office the original papers, having certi- corder. fied thereon, that the same have been properly recorded; and it shall also be the duty of said recorder, to make out and certify, under his official seal, two transcripts of said record, one of which he shall forward to the Secretary of State, and the other he shall deliver to the agent, or agents, of said petitioners, with a certificate thereon, that a similar transcript has been forwarded to the Secretary of State, as above provided.

be deemed an

village.

SEC. 6. So soon as said record shall be made, and said tran- when records scripts certified and forwarded, and delivered, the inhabitants completed, to within the limits described in the petition, shall be deemed an incorporated incorporated village, to be organized and governed under the provisions of this act, in like manner as if specially named therein; and so soon as said incorporated village shall be actually organized, by an election of its officers, as hereinafter provided, notice of its existence as such, shall be taken in all judicial proceedings in the State.

tion of officers,

months.

be taken.

SEC. 7. Two months shall elapse from the time such tran- Notice for elecscripts are forwarded and delivered, before notice shall be given not to be given of an election of officers, in any such incorporated village; and under two any person interested, or the prosecuting attorney of any coun- Injunction may ty, may, at any time within said two months, make complaint in writing, in the nature of an application for an injunction, to the court of Common Pleas of the county, or to the Judge thereof in vacation, having given at least five days notice thereof, and furnished a copy of the complaint to the agent or agents of the petitioners, for the purpose of having the organization of such proposed incorporated village prevented. It shall be the duty of the court or judge to hear such complaint

After two months, agents

tice of election.

in a summary manner, receiving answers, affidavits and proofs, as may be deemed pertinent; and if it shall appear that the proposed incorporated village does not contain the requisite number of inhabitants, or that a majority of them have not signed the petition, or that the limits of said proposed incorporated village are unreasonably large, or small, or are not properly and sufficiently described, then the said court or judge shall order that the record of said incorporated village shall be annulled; and it shall be the duty of the county recorder to endorse on the record the order so made, and to certify and transmit to the Secretary of State a copy thereof; and thereupon the record shall be of no effect; but such proceeding shall in no manner, bar a subseqnent petition to the county commis

sioners.

SEC. 8. Unless the agent or agents of the petitioners shall, may give no within two months after a transcript shall be delivered, as above provided, be notified of a complaint having been made to the court of common pleas, or a judge thereof, then at the end of said two months, and in case of any such complaint, then at the end of said two months, and after the dismission of said complaint, the said agent or agents shall give public notice, by posting the same at three or more public places within the limits of such incorporated village, of the time and place of holding the first election for officers of said incorporated vil lage, which election shall be conducted, and the officers elected and qualified, in the manner prescribed by law in like cases; Provided, that if said election shall be had at any time other than that prescribed by law for the regular election of such officers, the officers elected shall continue in office so long, and in like manner, as if they had been elected at the next preceding period of such regular election.

SEC. 9. When the inhabitants of a part of any county, contiguous and adjoining to any city or incorporated village, shall desire to be annexed to such city or incorporated village, they may apply, by petition in writing, to the county commissioners of the proper county, signed by the inhabitants so applying, to be in number not less than a majority of the qualified voters, which petition shall describe the territory proposed to be annexed, and be accompanied by an accurate map or plat thereof; and shall name the person or persons authorized to act in behalf of the petitioners in prosecuting said petition.

SEC. 10. When any such petition shall be presented to the said county commissioners, they shall cause the same to be filed, and like proceedings shall be had for a hearing thereof, as is prescribed by the fourth and fifth sections of this act; and if the county commissioners, after such hearing, shall be sat isfied that at least ten qualified voters, and having a freehold interest in the territory proposed to be annexed, and who actually reside within the limits described in the petition, and that the said petition has been signed by a majority of them, that

the said limits have been accurately described, and an accurate map thereof made and filed; and it shall moreover be deemed right and proper, in the judgment and discretion of said commissioners, that said petition should be granted; then they shall make and endorse on the said petition, an order, to the effect that the territory described in the petition may be annexed to, and become part of the city or incorporated village named in said petition; which order said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall sign and deliver, together with the petition and map or plat, to the clerk of such city or incorporated village.

SEC. 11. No further action shall be taken on such order for How annexathe space of two months; and within that time any person in- tion may be reterested, or the prosecuting attorney of the county, may, in like manner as is provided in the seventh section of this act, institute a proceeding to have the proposed annexation prevented; and if it shall appear to the court or judge, hearing such proceeding, that a majority of the qualified voters, freeholders as aforesaid, actually residing within the limits described in such petition, have not signed the same, or that the territory proposed to be annexed is unreasonably large, or that said territory is not properly and sufficiently described, he shall make an order to restrain any further action, under the order of the county commissioners, and annulling the same; but such proceeding shall not bar any subsequent petition to the county commissioners.

tion to be con.

SEC. 12. When any complaint shall be made, as before pro- How annexavided, to prevent an annexation of territory, notice thereof shall summated. be given, as well to the proper authorities of such city or incorporated village, as to the agent or agents of the petitioners; and if no such notice shall be given, within two months after the delivery of the order of the county commissioners, to the clerk of said city or incorporated village, then, at the end of said two months, and within one year, and in case of any such complaint, then at the end of said two months, and after the dismission of said complaint, and within one year thereafter, the proper authority of such city or incorporated village, shall provide by ordinance, or resolution, for the submission to the qualified voters, at the next regular annual election of munici pal officers, of the question whether such annexation shall be made; and if a majority of the qualified voters of such city or incorporated village, voting at such election, shall vote in favor of such annexation, then, on the return of such vote to the proper authority of such city or incorporated village, a resolution or ordinance shall be adopted or passed, declaring that the territory described in the petition, has been annexed to, and is a part of such city or incorporated village; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of such city or incorporated village, to make out two copies of the petition, plat, order of the county commission

Inhabitants of annexed territory to enjoy

&c.

ers, abstract of votes and resolutions or ordinances, in relation to such annexation, with a certificate that the same are correct, attested by the seal of such city or incorporated village, and he shall deliver one of the said copies to the recorder of the county, whose duty it shall be, having first made a record thereof in the proper books of record, to file and preserve the same; and the other of said copies, shall be forwarded by the clerk of said city or incorporated village, to the secretary of

state.

SEC. 13. So soon as said resolution or ordinance declaring such annexation, has been adopted or passed, and said copies equal rights, transmitted, delivered and recorded, the said territory shall be deemed, and taken to be a part and parcel of the limits of said city or incorporated village; and the inhabitants residing thereon, shall have and enjoy all the rights and privileges of the inhabitants within the original limits of such city or incorporated village.

How corpora

tions may pro

ritory.

SEC. 14. When any municipal corporation, shall desire to ceed, to annex annex any contiguous territory thereto, not embraced within contiguous ter- the limits of any city or incorporated village, it shall be lawful for the trustees or council of the corporation proposing such annexation, to submit the question to the qualified electors of the corporation, by an ordinance passed for that purpose, at least one month before some general election in April or October; if a majority of the qualified voters of the corporation voting on the question, shall vote in favor of such annexation, the said corporation shall present to the county commissioners of the proper county, a petition, praying for such annexation, which petition shall describe the territory proposed to be annexed to such municipal corporation, and have attached thereto an accurate map or plat thereof; and like proceedings shall be had upon said petition, as are provided in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh sections of this act, so far as the same may be applicable; and if, within two months after a transcript shall be delivered as above provided, no notice of a complaint against such annexation shall be given, according to the provisions of this act, then, at the end of said two months, and in case of any such complaint, then at the end of said two months, and after the dismission of said complaint, the said contiguous territory proposed to be annexed, shall be in law deemed and taken to be included in, and shall be a part of said municipal corporation, and the inhabitants thereof shall, in all respects, be citizens thereafter of the said municipal corpo

How two

or

more contigu

ous tions united.

may be

ration.

SEC. 15. When any municipal corporation, the territory of corpora which shall be contiguous to and adjoining that of another municipal corporation, shall desire to be annexed thereto, it shall be lawful for the trustees or council of the corporation proposing such annexation, to submit the question to the qualified electors