§ 73-3-5 — [Community ditches; laborers; refusing to work; fines.]

The owners of said community ditches or their bosses or representatives shall labor therein in proportion to their lands under cultivation. It shall be their duty to furnish the number of laborers, proportionate to their lands, required by the mayordomo, at the time and place he may designate for the purposes mentioned in the foregoing section [73-3- 4 NMSA 1978], and for the time he may deem necessary. If any person thus required shall wilfully neglect or refuse to comply with such requirements of the mayordomo, after having been duly notified by the mayordomo or his agent, he shall be fined, for each offense, in a sum not exceeding five dollars ($5.00), for the benefit of said ditch or acequia, which shall be recovered by the mayordomo in a summary way, and in case of default in the payment of said fine, it may be recovered by the mayordomo before any justice of the peace [magistrate court] in the county, within fifteen days after such default, and in such cases, the mayordomo may be a competent witness to testify therein.

Legislative History

Laws 1903, ch. 32, § 4; Code 1915, § 5791; C.S. 1929, § 151-507; 1941