reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MS Code § 51-29-3 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-3. Definitions

 The words "real property", whenever used in this chapter, shall have the same meaning as when used in the law providing for state and county revenues, and shall embrace all railroads within the district.   The word "ditch," as used in this chapter, shall be held to include branch or lateral drains, tile drains, levees, sluiceways, water courses, floodgates, and any other construction work found necessary for the reclamation of wet and overflowed lands.
MS Code § 51-29-7 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-7. Organization of district in two or more counties

 If land in more than one county is embraced in the proposed district, the application shall be addressed to the chancery court of any county of such district, and all proceedings shall be had in such chancery court. The chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation shall apportion all costs between the county or counties in proportion to the benefit assessed in each county, and such expenses as were incurred prior to the time when such assessment was made shall be apportioned between the counties in the proportion which the chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation, shall deem to be just and equitable. All notices, in that event, shall be published in newspapers having a bona fide circulation in each county in which the district embraces land. All such districts shall be numbered consecutively or else shall receive names selected by the chancery court or the chancellor in vacation.
MS Code § 51-29-9 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-9. Hearing on engineer's report

 As soon as the engineer has completed his survey of the proposed drainage district, he shall make a report thereof to the said temporary commissioners, who shall file the same with the clerk of the chancery court. Upon the filing of the report of said engineer, the chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation, shall enter an order directing the clerk of the chancery court to give notice by publication for two weeks by two insertions in some newspaper published and having a general circulation in the county or counties in which the lands of the proposed district lie, calling upon all persons owning property within said district to appear before the chancery court, or chancellor in vacation, on the date and at the time and place fixed by said order, which date shall not be earlier than twenty days and not later than forty days after the first publication, to show cause in favor of or against the establishment of the district.   At the time named in said notice, the court or chancellor in vacation shall hear all property owners within the proposed drainage district who wish to appear and advocate or resist the establishment of the said district. Any petition of proponents or objectors, advocating or resisting the establishment of said district, shall be filed with the clerk of said court prior to the time designated for said hearing. If the court or chancellor in vacation deems it to the best interest of the owners of the real property within the said district that same shall become a drainage district under the terms of this chapter, he shall make an order establishing same as a drainage district, subject to all the terms and provisions of this chapter. Upon the organization of said drainage district, it shall, in its corporate name by its commissioners, henceforth have power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, and to do and perform in the name of such district all such acts and things for the accomplishment of the purpose for which it was organized.
MS Code § 51-29-11 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-11. Presentation of petitions

 If upon the hearing provided for in Sections 51-29-5 through 51-29-9 a petition is presented to the chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation, signed by a majority of the landholders owning one third of the land, or by one third of the landholders owning a majority of the land, praying that the improvements be made, it shall be the duty of the court or chancellor to make the order establishing the district without further inquiry, if it appear that the establishment thereof be necessary for the promotion of public health and for agricultural purposes. However, if upon that day a petition signed by a majority of the landowners owning one third of the land, or by one third of the landowners owning a majority of the land, be presented praying that the improvements be not made, it shall be the duty of the court or chancellor to so order; but if no such petition is filed, it shall be the duty of the court or chancellor to investigate as provided in the aforesaid sections and to establish such drainage districts as he is of the opinion the establishment thereof will be to the advantage of the owners of real property therein, and is for the public benefit. The petition provided for therein may be signed by women, whether married or single, owning land in the proposed district; guardians may sign for their wards; and trustees, executors, and administrators may sign for the estates represented by them; and if the signature of any corporation thereto is attested by the corporate seal, the same shall be sufficient evidence of the assent of the corporation to said petition.
MS Code § 51-29-13 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-13. Order establishing district

 The order of the chancery court, or chancellor in vacation, establishing such drainage districts shall have the force of a judgment. Any owner of real property within the district may appeal from said judgment to the supreme court within twenty days after said order has been made; but if no appeal is taken within that time, such judgment shall be deemed conclusive and binding upon all real property within the boundaries of the district, and upon the owners thereof. Any owner of property in the district proposed to be organized may, within a like time and in a like manner, appeal from any order refusing to establish such district.
MS Code § 51-29-15 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-15. Commissioners appointed; vacancies; removal; quorum

 When the chancery court or chancellor in vacation has established such district, he shall appoint three (3) owners of real property within the district to act as commissioners; and such persons, when so appointed, and their successors in office shall constitute, and are hereby declared to be, a body politic and corporate by the name and style selected as mentioned in this chapter, by the court or chancellor. Each of these commissioners shall take the oath of office as required by Section 268, Article 14 of the Constitution of the state, and shall also swear that he will not, directly or indirectly, be interested in any contract made by the board of commissioners save and except insofar as he may be benefited as a landowner, in common with other landowners, by the work contracted for, and that he will well and truly assess all benefits resulting from said improvements, and all damages caused thereby. Any commissioner failing to take oath within thirty (30) days after his appointment and to give bond in the sum of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), to be fixed by the court or chancellor, shall be deemed to have declined to act as commissioner, and his place shall be filled by the court or chancellor. Provided, however, where revenue for a drainage district is less than one thousand dollars ($ 1,000.00) per year from taxes or other sources, the chancellor, in his discretion, may reduce the bond to any amount he may deem sufficient.   All vacancies on the board shall be filled by the chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation, of the county; but, if a majority in number of the owners of real property in the district shall petition for the appointment of particular persons as commissioners, it shall be the duty of the court or chancellor to appoint the persons so designated. In the same manner, the commissioners shall be appointed at the expiration of the term of said commissioners. A majority of the commissioners shall constitute a quorum. The chancery court, or chancellor in vacation, shall remove any member of the board of commissioners, on the petition of the majority of the owners of land in the district, who shall own a majority of the acreage therein.
MS Code § 51-29-17 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-17. Terms of office and compensation

 The commissioners appointed as aforesaid shall hold their offices, one (1) for two (2) years, one (1) for four (4) years, and one (1) for six (6) years, from the date of their appointment and until their successors are appointed and qualified. On the expiration of their terms of office, their successors shall be appointed in like manner for the term of six (6) years thereafter. They shall hold their meetings at any time and place in the county or counties in which any part of the district is situated, upon the call of the president.   The commissioners herein provided for shall receive per diem compensation as provided by Section 25-3-69, together with mileage as provided in Section 25-3-41 for the distance traveled from their homes to and from the place of meeting.
MS Code § 51-29-19 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-19. Power and duties of commissioners

 The said commissioners may adopt a common seal of the drainage district and alter the same at pleasure. They may, from time to time, make such bylaws, rules, and regulations, and alter and change the same as they may deem proper, not inconsistent with this chapter and the laws of this state, for the purpose of carrying into effect the object of their incorporation. They shall elect a president from their own number and appoint such other officers, agents, and attorneys, and employ such persons as they may think necessary for the efficient management of their business, and remove them at pleasure. They may do all acts and things not inconsistent with this chapter and with the laws of the state, and proper to effect the purpose and objects of this chapter.   Upon their qualification, the board of commissioners shall prepare plans for the improvement within the district, as prayed for in the petition, and shall procure estimates from a competent engineer or engineers as to the cost thereof. For that purpose, the board of commissioners may employ such engineers and other agents as may be needful, such engineer to give bond in the sum of at least one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), payable to the drainage district and conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties required of the engineer, which bond shall be approved by the board of commissioners, or the president. Said board of commissioners may employ the services of an attorney or a firm of attorneys as may be needed in the prosecution of the work for which the drainage district is organized, may employ such other agents as may be needed, may purchase such material and supplies, and pay for such publications and printing necessary or incidental in the prosecution of the work. Said board of commissioners shall provide for reasonable compensation to the engineer or engineers, attorneys, and other agents, and for the cost of such material, supplies, publications, and printing, and the same shall be taken as a part of the costs of the improvements; or said board of commissioners may borrow money necessary to pay for the services of the engineer or engineers, attorneys, and other agents, and for the cost of such material, supplies, publications, and printing, at a rate of interest not exceeding six per cent, per annum, and may execute a note or notes or other evidences of indebtedness therefor and may renew the same as may be necessary, and the money borrowed for such purposes shall be taken as a part of the costs of the improvements.
MS Code § 51-29-21 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-21. Content of plans

 Such plans and specifications shall show not merely the location, width, and depth of the ditches, but also the work to be done in removing obstructions from water courses, the building of pumping stations, dams, flumes, floodgates, fences to protect the district, and such levees as may be necessary to protect the land from overflow. Whenever federal financial or other assistance is furnished in connection with the planning or construction of the proposed improvements, such plans and specifications shall be detailed only to the extent required by the federal department or agency responsible for furnishing such assistance.
MS Code § 51-29-23 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-23. Payment of costs for abandoned improvements

 If for any cause the improvements shall not be made, said costs shall be charged on the real property in the district, including railroads, if any, and shall be raised and paid by assessments in the manner hereinafter described; or, in the event said assessments are not made, or the improvements shall not be completed or the same be abandoned, for any cause, after such indebtedness is incurred, the board of supervisors of the county in which the drainage district is located shall levy an acreage tax, or an ad valorem tax, on the lands in said proposed district if the same has not been organized, or on the lands of the district if the same has been organized, the total collections from which shall be sufficient to pay such indebtedness. The board of supervisors may levy a sufficient tax in one year or may levy a succession of acreage taxes, or ad valorem taxes, over a period of years, not to exceed three years, to be determined by said board of supervisors. If an ad valorem tax be levied, the board of supervisors may use for that purpose the assessments of the land of the last assessment roll of the county in which said lands are situated. In case the lands in the proposed district lie in more than one county, then the chancellor aforesaid shall apportion said indebtedness between the several counties, and the boards of supervisors of the several counties shall thereupon levy such apportioned tax upon the lands of their counties respectively, according to the ruling of the said chancellor.
MS Code § 51-29-25 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-25. Costs for proceedings abandoned and afterwards resumed

 In any proceeding heretofore or hereafter had for the establishment of a ditch or drain or the doing of any other thing deemed necessary, when an engineer has been appointed and has made complete surveys and reports thereof, and for any reason the improvement has been abandoned and the proceedings dismissed, and afterwards proceedings are instituted for the establishment of a ditch or drain or for the doing of anything toward the prosecution of said work for the reclamation of the same territory surveyed in said former proceedings, or a part thereof and the territory additional thereto, the engineer's reports, surveys, stakes, and monuments made in former proceedings, as far as practicable or so much thereof as may be applicable, and the cost thereof in said former proceedings, or such parts thereof as used, shall be paid for as a part of the subsequent proceedings in which such report, surveys, stakes, and monuments, or a part thereof, are used.
MS Code § 51-29-27 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-27. Plans and estimates of commissioners to be filed

 As soon as said board of commissioners shall have formed its plan and shall ascertain the cost of improvement, it shall file the same with the clerk of the board of supervisors. Said plans shall be accompanied by a map showing the location of all the main and lateral ditches, and shall be accompanied by specifications describing the character of the improvements to be made, the width and depth of the ditches, the probable quantity of earth to be removed, all other work to be done, and the probable cost of draining said territory. Whenever federal financial or other assistance is furnished in connection with the planning or construction of the proposed improvements, such plans and specifications shall be detailed only to the extent required by the federal department or agency responsible for furnishing such assistance.
MS Code § 51-29-31 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-31. Notice of assessment to landowners

 Upon the filing of such assessment, the chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation, shall enter an order directing the clerk of the chancery court to give notice by publication for two (2) weeks by two (2) insertions in some newspaper published and having a general circulation in each of the counties within which the lands of the district may lie, stating that the owners of lands assessed for drainage purposes in said district, if they desire, may appear before the chancery court, or chancellor in vacation, on the date and time and place fixed by said order, which date shall be not less than ten (10) days after the last publication of said notice, and present complaints, if any they have, against the assessment of land in the district.   The clerk of the chancery court shall publish said notice as directed by said order. The said notice shall give description of the lands assessed in as large tracts as the description will permit and shall state that said lands have been assessed for drainage purposes in said district; that any owner of real property, or the improvements thereon, within the district who conceives himself to be aggrieved by the assessment of benefits or damages or deems that the assessment of other lands in the district is inadequate shall file his written complaint or objection, in specific terms, with the clerk of said court prior to the time designated for said hearing.
MS Code § 51-29-33 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-33. Approved roll to be final assessment

 At the time designated in said notice the court, or chancellor in vacation, shall consider said complaint or objection and enter its or his findings thereon, either confirming such assessment or increasing or diminishing the same; and its or his findings shall be final and have the force and effect of a judgment from which an appeal may be taken within twenty (20) days to the supreme court of the state either by the property owner or by the commissioners of the district.   The assessment roll so prepared and filed by the commissioners, when approved by the chancery court, or chancellor in vacation, shall stand as a final assessment of benefits and damages upon the lands of the said district and no new assessment roll shall be required unless, in the opinion of the commissioners, it becomes necessary to raise the assessment of benefits to such lands because of additional benefits to the lands other than these assessed or because it becomes absolutely necessary in order to raise funds to preserve and maintain the improvements of the district.
MS Code § 51-29-35 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-35. Condemnation proceedings

 Any property owner may accept the assessment of damages in his favor made by the commissioners, or acquiesce in their failure to assess damages in his favor, and shall be construed to have done so unless he gives to said commissioners, within thirty days after the assessment is filed, notice in writing that he demands assessment of his damages by jury. In such event the commissioners shall institute in the proper court in the proper county an action to condemn the lands that must be taken or damaged in making such improvements, which action shall be in accordance with the proceeding for the condemnation of property for public use provided in the chapter on eminent domain. Where condemnation proceedings are had as herein provided and an appeal is taken to the circuit court, the drainage commissioners may pay the amount awarded by the jury into the hands of the clerk of the circuit court, who shall hold the same to abide the decision of said appeal, and the drainage commissioners may proceed with the work of constructing the drain as laid out by them.
MS Code § 51-29-37 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-37. Employment of counsel

 The drainage commissioners may employ an attorney to assist in the formation and administration of the drainage district, and to represent the district in all matters of a legal nature, at a fixed or agreed compensation, subject to the confirmation of the chancery court or chancellor in vacation, who may decrease but not increase such compensation.
MS Code § 51-29-41 (2020)
2020 Mississippi Code|Title 51 - Waters, Water Resources, Water Districts, Drainage, and Flood Control|Chapter 29 - Drainage Districts with Local Commissioners|§ 51-29-41. Hearing of appraisement and objections

 Proof of publication made in the manner prescribed by the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein recited. At the hearing the report and appraisement of the value of the land sought to be taken and the damages sustained by the owner thereof shall be prima facie correct. The court, or chancellor in vacation, may at such hearing hear all objections in entirety or severalty, and may enter a decree confirming the entire report of the commissioners, or may enter any number of decrees confirming the report as to any land taken. At such hearing the court, or chancellor in vacation, may direct the board to make such alteration in the appraisement as may be deemed just and equitable by raising or lowering any appraisement, and payment for such amount fixed by the judgment shall be made to the chancery clerk as hereinbefore provided. He shall receipt for the same on the judgment, and such judgment with receipt thereon shall be recorded.