Register of Laws. 3101. [R. S. 1457.] The Secretary of State shall keep a register in which he shall write down the title of all the laws passed by the Legislature, together with the date when they shall have been respectively published in the State paper; and the register thus kept, or the certificate delivered from the same by the Secretary of State under his official signature and seal, shall be evidence of the publication of the laws, and whenever the promulgation of any law is contested, the person contesting the same shall be held to prove the fact. Bills and Notes. 3102. [R. S. 1458.] No bill of exchange, promissory note, or other obligation for the payment of money, made within this State, shall be received as evidence of a debt, when the whole sum shall be expressed in figures, unless the same shall be accompanied by proof that it was given for the sum therein expressed. The cents or fractional parts of a dollar may be in figures. Copies of Inventories. 3103. [Act 140, 1888, p. 197.] Duly certified copies of original inventories of a succession taken in the parish of Orleans may be returned into the court having jurisdiction of the settlement of the succession, and when returned may be admitted as proof in courts of justice. Records of District Court. 3104. [Sec. 1, Act 43, 1870, E. S., p. 98.] Whenever, during the trial of any suit or process, whether civil or criminal, before any of the district courts of this State, either party may desire to offer in evidence any record, paper of document belonging to the files or records of the district court of the parish in which the trial is proceeding, the presiding judge shall, at the request of such party, direct the clerk of the district court to produce such record, document or paper, in order that the same may be used in evidence; and it shall not be necessary for the clerk in any such case to make a copy of any such record, document or paper, unless the case in which the same is offered is appealed to the Supreme Court, in which case the transcript of appeal shall be made up from the papers themselves. Clerk's Duty. 3105. [Sec. 2.] Whenever such records, documents or papers are offered in cases in which the testimony is taken down, the clerk shall enter upon the notes of testimony a description of the document, record or paper thus offered, with the title and number of the suit or record to which it belongs. Clerk's Fee. 3106. [Sec. 3.] For each record, or suit produced, as provided in the first section of this act, the clerk shall be entitled to charge a fee of fifty cents, which shall be taxed as costs, and paid by the party cast; Provided, That this act shall not apply to the parish of Orleans. EXPROPRIATION. [Sec. 1479.] Method of Expropriating; Prescription of Action for Damages. 3107. [Sec. 1479.] Whenever the State or any political corporation of same created for the purpose of exercising any portion of the governmental powers in the same, and any corporation created by the State of Louisiana, for educational or charitable purposes, or the board of administrators or directors of any charity hospital or any board of school directors therefor, any corporation constituted under the laws of this State for the construction of railroads, plank roads, turnpike roads, or canals for navigation, or for the construction, maintenance and equipment of an exposition, having the endorsement of the National Government or for the construction or operation of waterworks or sewerage to supply the public with water and sewerage (or for the piping and marketing of natural gas for the purpose of supplying the public, with natural gas), or for the purpose of transmitting intelligence by magnetic telegraph, cannot agree with the owner of land which may be wanted for its purchase, it shall be lawful for such State, corporation, board of administrators, directors or persons to apply by petition to the District: Court, in which the same may be situated, or if it extends into two districts, to the judge of the District Court, in which the owner resides, and if the owner does not reside in either district, to either of the District Courts describing the land necessary for the purposes, with a plan of the same, and a statement of the improvement thereon, if any, and the name of the owner thereof, if known at present in the State, with a prayer that the land be adjudged to such State, corporation, board of administrators or directors upon payment to the owner of all such damages as he may sustain in consequence of the expropriation of said land for public works; all claims for land or damages to the owner caused by its taking or for expropriation for such public work shall be barred by two (2) years prescription which shall commence to run from the date at which the land was actually occupied and used for the construction of the works. (Amd. Sec. 1, Act 123, 1910, p. 194.) R. S. 698 is identical with R. S. 1479. R. S. 698 was so amended by Sec. 5, Act 125, 1880, p. 170, as to include telephone, drainage, sewerage and land reclamation companies. In Fuselier vs. Police Jury, 109 La. 551, it was held that an Act amending and re-enacting a Section of the R. S., identical with an Article of the Civil Code, likewise amends and re-enacts that Article, though not referred to in the amending Act; and in State ex rel. Rills vs. Barrow, 30 A. 658, it was held that a repeal of designated sections of the R. S. necessarily repeals all sections identical in language. Under these decisions the amendment of R. S., p. 698, by the Act of 1880 necessarily amended R. S. 1479, and as the subsequent amendments to R. S. 1479 make no mention of telephone, drainage or land reclamation companies, it should seem that as to such companies the provisions of the Act of 1880 have been repealed by the subsequent amendments to R. S. 1479. Action for damages caused by expropriation prescribed by two years, La. Land Co. vs. Blakewood, 131 La. 539. The two years prescription applies only when there has been a judgment of expropriation, and the corporation has entered into possession before actual payment, Arnet vs. R. R., 117 La. 454; Mitchell vs. R. R., 41 A. 363; Scovell vs. R. R., 117 La. 459, and 114 La. 847. To entitle to expropriate it is not necessary that the corporation carry both freight and passengers, it is enough that it have been organized for the construction of a railroad, R. R. vs. R. R., 136 La. (67 S. 553). Expropriation Process Applicable. 3108. [Sec. 2, Act 123, 1910, p. 194.] All existing laws for the forms and processes of expropriation of property shall be applicable to the said Act and section thus amended and reenacted. Repealing Clause. 3109. [Sec. 3.] All laws or parts of laws in conflict with or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act be, and the same are, hereby repealed; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed as repealing any part of Act 80 of 1908. Board of Health May Expropriate. 3110. [Sec. 1, Act 133, 1890, p. 174.] The Board of Health of the State of Louisiana, through its proper officers, is hereby authorized to expropriate in the manner, form, and method now provided for by existing laws as in ordinary cases of expropriation, all lands, belonging to private individuals, lying adjacent to, opposite to or in the near neighborhood of the various quarantine stations, when in the opinion of said board it may be deemed necessary to more perfectly isolate said stations, and more effectually prevent communication and contact between vessels detained in quarantine and the adjacent shores. Expropriation by Telegraph and Telephone Companies. 3111. [R. S. 696.] Corporations chartered or formed under the laws of this or of any other State, or under the laws of the United States, for the purpose of transmitting intelligence, by magnetic telegraph or telephone or other system of transmitting intelligence, the equivalent thereof which may be hereafter invented or discovered, may construct [and] maintain such telegraph, telephone or other lines necessary to transmit intelligence along all State, parish or public roads or public works, and along and parallel to any of the railroads in the State, and along and over the waters of this State; provided, that the ordinary use of such roads, works, railroads and waters be not thereby obstructed, and along the streets of any city, with the consent of the council or trustees thereof, and such companies shall be entitled to the right of way over all lands belonging to the State and over the lands, privileges and servitudes of other persons and corporations, and the right to erect poles, piers, abutments and other works necessary for constructing, working, operating and maintaining their lines and works, upon making just compensation therefor. That in the event such company shall fail, on application therefor, to secure such right by consent, contract or agreement upon just and reasonable terms, then such companies or corporations shall have the right to proceed to expropriate the same, as provided in and by the laws of the State relative to expropriation of lands for railroads and other works of public utility, and shall so construct their works as not to impede or obstruct the full use of the highways, navigable waters, or the drainage or natural servitudes of the land over which the right of way may be exercised. But no company operating under the provisions of this act shall have the power to contract with the owners of land or with any other corporation for the right to erect and maintain any telephone, telegraph or other line for the speedy transmission of intelligence over his or its lands, privileges or servitudes, to the exclusion of the lines of other companies operating under the provisions of this act. Act 124, 1880, p. 168.) (Amd. Plaintiff, a foreign corporation, must show that it has the proper corporate powers under the laws of the State of its domicile, Cumberland T. & T. Co. vs. R. R., 112 La. 287; Southwestern T. Co. vs. R. R., 108 La. 691. "Along and parallel to any of the railroads" does not mean upon the railroads, but upon their right of way, Southwestern T. Co. vs. R. R., 109 La. 892. What the Telegraph Co. must pay, Postal Tel. Co. vs. R. R., 49 A. 1270. Telephone Cos. are granted a right of way over State land by this statute, but not a right to expropriate, hence nothing is due for the exercise of the right, State vs. Cumberland Tel. & Tel. Co., 52 A. 1411. When a permit has been granted a Telephone Co. to use the streets it cannot be taxed so much per pole by the city, City vs. Tel. & Tel. Co., 40 A. 41. Street and Interurban Railways May Expropriate. 3112. [Sec. 1, Act 80, 1908, p. 94.] Whenever any corporation constituted under the laws of this State for the construction and operation of street railways, urban railways or interurban railways, moved and operated by electric power can not agree with the owner of land or property which may be wanted for its purpose it shall be lawful for such corporation to apply by petition to the district court in which the said property is situated, or if it extends in two districts to the judge in the district court in which the owner resides, and if the owner does not reside in either district to either of the district courts, describing the land and property necessary for the purpose with a plan of the same and a statement of the improvements thereon, if any, and the name of the owner thereof if known at present in the State with a prayer that the land or property be adjudged to such corporation upon payment to the owner of all such damages or amounts as he may sustain in consequence of the expropriation of such land or property for such purpose. 3113. [Sec. 2.] Said right of expropriation shall be exercised in the same manner and by the same proceedings and under the same limitations now imposed by law on railroads and other quasi public corporations. Canal Companies May Expropriate. 3114. [Sec. 1, Act 157, 1914, p. 273.] Corporations created under the laws of this State, organized with power of building, constructing and operating canals for irrigation; for the |