The commissioners, before entering upon their duties, shall take an oath faithfully to perform the same, and thereupon shall proceed to inquire and ascertain, if the leave be granted, whether the mansion house of any person, or the outhouses, yard, garden, or orchards thereto belonging, will be overflowed or taken; whether and in what degree ordinary navigation and the passage of fish will be obstructed; whether by any, and if any, by what means such obstruction may be prevented; and whether the health of the neighbors will be annoyed by the stagnation of the waters or otherwise. They shall also circumscribe so much of the lands, not owned by the applicant, as may be necessary for the canal, dam, or work to be constructed as aforesaid, not being (beyond what is in the bed of the watercourse) more than one acre for a dam, nor more than 100 feet in width for a canal, and shall ascertain what will be a just compensation therefor. Any lands which will probably be overflowed or deprived of water, or otherwise injured by such canal or dam, or be injured by the construction of the work aforesaid, shall likewise be examined by them, and they shall ascertain what will be a just compensation to the several owners thereof, for the damage to the same respectively. All of which matters the commissioners shall set forth in a report, which they shall make out, sign, and return to the court by which they were appointed.

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Code 1950, § 62-98; 1968, c. 659.