Certain boards and officers to deliver certain bodies to the Demonstrator of University. (2110.) SEC. 1. Any member of either of the following boards, and any of the following named officers or persons, to-wit: The board of health of any city, village, or township, the common Anatomy at the council of any city, the board of trustees of any village, the mayor of any city, president of any village, any board, or officer having the direction, management, charge, or control, in whole, or in part, of any prison, house of correction, work-house, jail, or lock-up, county superintendents of the poor, keepers of poor-houses and almshouses, any physician, or other person in charge of any poorhouse or almshouse, sheriff, coroners, the board of State commissioners, the board of trustees, board of control, and all officers, physicians, and persons in charge, in whole, or in part, of any institution for the deaf and dumb, blind, and insane, or other charitable institution founded or supported, in whole, or in part, at public expense, having in his or their possession or control the dead body of any person not claimed by any relative, or legal representative, as hereinafter provided, and which may be required to be buried at public expense, or the expense of any one of such public or charitable institutions, shall deliver such dead body or bodies, within thirty-six hours after death, or after he or they shall become possessed thereof, to the express or railway company at the nearest railway station, placed in a plain coffin and enclosed in a strong box, securely fastened, and plainly directed to the "Demonstrator of anatomy, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan," excepting only the dead bodies of such persons as shall have died from some infectious disease. And such boards, common councils, officers, or other persons making such shipment shall take the usual shipping receipt for such package, and shall notify the consignee of such shipment by letter, mailed on the day the package is so delivered as aforesaid; and shall also inclose in such letter a statement, giving, as nearly as can be ascertained, the name, age, residence, and cause of death of such deceased person, and the name and postoffice address of the known relatives of such deceased person, whose body has been shipped as aforesaid; and also a statement of the costs and expenses which have been incurred in the procuring of the coffin, box, preparation of body for shipment, and shipping the same. And, upon the receipt of such consignment, the said demonstrator of anatomy of the University of Michigan shall immediately forward to such officers, board, council, or institution, or persons making such shipment, or incurring such expenses, the amount thereof, not exceeding in any case the sum of fifteen dollars: Provided, Such dead body shall not be so shipped or delivered as aforesaid, if it shall be requested in good faith for interment by any relative before the same shall be shipped as aforesaid, and in case the dead body of any person so delivered or shipped as aforesaid be subsequently claimed or demanded of said demonstrator of anatomy, or of any other person or institution, into whose possession or under whose control it may have been placed, by virtue of the provisions of this law, by any relative or legal representative of such deceased person, for private interment, it shall be given up to such claimant even after the same shall have Notice to consignee. Amount to be paid for body. Proviso. be used and dis been interred, as hereinafter provided. Such bodies shall be used only for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, and shall then, in all cases, be interred in some suitable place, kept for that purpose, and a correct record shall be kept of every such body; and all matters by which such body may be identified coming to the knowledge of the person or officer at any time in charge of such bodies, shall be faithfully recorded at length in a book to be kept for such purposes, to the end that the same may be at any time traced and recovered by the friends and relatives of such deceased person: And provided Proviso. further, That the institution, board, council, officer, or person aforesaid in charge of any such body as aforesaid shall, immediately after the death of such person, notify, if possible, by telegraph, or otherwise by letter, one or more of the nearest known relatives of such deceased person of the death of such person; and in no case shall the body of any such deceased person be delivered or shipped as aforesaid until after the expiration of twenty-four hours from death; and every individual officer or party violating any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. (2111.) SEC. 2. The bodies so delivered, or shipped as aforesaid, How bodies to shall be used for the advancement of anatomical science in this tributed. State and in the following institutions of learning only, viz.: The university of Michigan, Detroit medical college, and Michigan college of medicine. And said bodies shall be distributed to and among the same equitably, and in the order in which they are received, and the number assigned to each by said demonstrator of anatomy shall be proportional to that of its students in actual attendance. And each of said institutions shall pay quarterly to said demonstrator its ratable proportion of the expenses borne and incurred under this act: Provided, however, That said demonstra- Bodies to be tor of anatomy, upon the receipt of every body, under and by virtue of the provisions of this act, shall cause the same to be embalmed or put in a state of preservation, and shall not permit the same to be delivered to either of said institutions for the purpose of dissection, until the same shall have been in his possession at least ten days. And it shall be the duty of said demonstrator of anatomy, Notice to relaupon the receipt of every body, to immediately notify the relatives tives. of such deceased person, if known, of the receipt of such body, either by mail or telegraph, as he may deem best, and that said body will be preserved intact, for the space of ten days, in which time such relative will be entitled to said body for the purpose of private interment, upon payment of the expenses already incurred. And if the relatives or legal representatives of such deceased person When to be shall request said body for the purpose of interment, and shall pay relatives. said expenses, said demonstrator shall deliver to such relative or legal representative, the said body, together with the said coffin and box enclosing the same. But in case said body shall not be requested by such relatives until after the same shall have been applied to the purposes intended, the remains thereof, together with the coffin and box aforesaid, shall be delivered without charge: Pro- Proviso. vided, That the university of Michigan, Detroit medical college and Michigan college of medicine aforesaid, and each and every other embalmed. delivered to medical institution shall not receive into their possession any bodies This act is ordered to take immediate effect. Board of control authorized to transfer the St. the United States. Proviso. [No. 17.] AN ACT to authorize the board of control to transfer the Saint Mary's Falls ship canal, with the property belonging to the same, to the United States. WHEREAS, congress at its last session included in the river and harbor bill the following: For improving and operating Saint Mary's river and Saint Mary's Falls canal, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. "And the secretary of war is hereby authorized to accept on behalf of the United States from the State of Michigan the Saint Mary's canal and the public works thereon: Provided, Such transfer shall be so made as to leave the United States free from any and all debts, claims or liability of any character whatsoever, and said canal after such transfer shall be free for public use: And provided further, That after such transfer the secretary of war be and hereby is authorized to draw from time to time his warrant on the secretary of the treasury to pay the actual expenses of operating and keeping said canal in repair;" therefore, SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the board of control of the Saint Mary's Falls ship canal be aud Mary's Canal to hereby is authorized and directed to transfer the said caual and the public works thereon, with all its appurtenances and all the right and title of the State of Michigan in and to the same, to the United States, in accordance with [the] provisions of the above mentioned clause: Provided, That this cession is upon the express condition that the State of Michigan shall so far retain concurrent jurisdiction with the United States over the Saint Mary's Falls ship canal, and in and over all lands acquired or hereafter acquired for its use; that any civil or criminal process issued by any court of competent jurisdiction, or officers having authority of law to issue such process, and all orders made by such court, or any judicial officer duly empowered to make such orders, and necessary to be served upon any such person, may be executed upon said Saint Mary's Falls ship canal, its lands, and in the buildings that may be erected thereon, in the same way and manner as if jurisdiction had not been ceded as aforesaid. Transfer of money and ma. terials, SEC. 2. The board of control of the Saint Mary's Falls ship canal are hereby authorized and empowered, at any time when they may deem it proper, to transfer all material belonging to said canal, and to pay over to the United States all moneys remaining in the canal fund, excepting so much as may be necessary to put the said canal [No. 18.] AN ACT to restrict the disposition of personal property by last will. to disposition of SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That Limitations as all dispositions of personal property by last will and testament personal prop shall be subject to the following limitations and restrictions: First, If the testator shall leave surviving him, a wife, the testamentary disposition shall be subject to the election of such wife, to take any interest that may be given to her, by the testator in his last will and testament; .or in lieu thereof, to take the sum or share that would have passed to her, under the statute of distributions, had the testator died intestate, until the sum shall amount to five thousand dollars, and of the residue of the estate one-half the sum or share that would have passed to her, under the statute of distributions, had the testator died intestate, and in case no provision be made for her in said will, she shall be entitled to the election aforesaid. Second, If by any will, any special devise or bequest is made to the wife in lieu of any particular thing or any particular interest, to which such wife might be entitled, in case of intestacy, the election by the wife to take the special devise or bequest, or the other particular thing or interest, in lieu of which it is given, shail not deprive the party electing, or any other person, of the right to leave the testamentary disposition of property in all other respects unaffected and unimpaired; and to have the benefit of any other provisions therein, the same as he or she would have had, if this act had not been passed. erty by will. and filed in SEC. 2. The election to take otherwise than under the will, in any Election to take, contingency above contemplated, shall be made in writing, and to be in writing, filed in the court in which proceedings for the settlement of the court. estate are being taken, within one year from the probate of the will; and the failure to file such election within the time above provided shall be deemed an election to take under the will. Approved March 10, 1881. County organ. ized. Election of county officers. [No. 19.] AN ACT to organize the county of Oscoda. SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the county of Oscoda shall be detached from the county of Alcona, and organized into a separate county, to be known as the county of Oscoda, and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges, powers, and immunities to which, by law, the inhabitants of other organized counties in this State are entitled. SEC. 2. At the township meeting of the several townships in said county, to be held on the first Monday of April next, there shall be an election of all the county officers to which, by law, the said county is entitled, who shall hold their several offices until the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and until their How conducted. successors shall have been elected and qualified. Such election of such officers, and the canvass thereof, shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by law: Provided, That the county canvass of such election shall be held at the office of the township clerk of the township of Atherton, on the Monday next succeeding such election, and the officers so elected shall qualify and enter on the duties of their respective offices on or before the fifteenth day of April Proviso. Location of determined. next. SEC. 3. The location of the county seat of said county shall be county seat, how determined by the vote of the electors of said county at a special election, which is hereby appointed to be held by the several townships of said county on the first Monday in October, eighteen hundred and eighty-one. There shall be written or printed on the ballots there polled by the qualified electors of said county, the name of one place, and the place which shall receive the highest number of votes cast at such election shall be the county seat of the county of Oscoda. Elections, how conducted. Board of county canvassers, how duties. SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the several boards of township inspectors in each of the townships of the said county to conduct the elections authorized by the provisions of this act, and to make returns thereof in accordance with the general provisions of law for conducting general elections in this State, 30 far as the same may be applicable thereto. SEC. 5. The board of county canvassers for the special election appointed, and for locating the county seat shall consist of the persons appointed on the day of such special election by the several boards of township inspectors, and the said board of county canvassers shall meet on the second Tuesday succeeding the day of said special election, at the office of the county clerk of said county in the township of Atherton in the county aforesaid, and having appointed one of their number chairman, and the county clerk of said county acting as secretary, shall proceed to canvass the votes, and determine the location of the county seat in accordance therewith, and it shall be the duty of the clerk of said board to file a copy of the determination of said board as to the location of the county seat, signed and certified by him, and countersigned by the chairman, with the sec |