The inhabitants of the portion of the County of Brooke, in the State of West Virginia, within the limits of the City of Wellsburg as they now are, or as they may hereafter be, shall be and continue a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of "City of Wellsburg," and as such, and by that name, shall have perpetual succession and may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, and may purchase, acquire by condemnation proceedings for public use, take, receive, hold and use goods and chattels, lands and tenements and choses in action, or any interest, right or estate, therein either for the proper use of said City, or in trust for the benefit of any person or association therein; and the same may grant, sell, convey, transfer and assign, let, pledge, mortgage, charge and encumber, in any case and in any manner in which it would be lawful for private individuals so to do, except where its power may be limited by law, and may have and use a common seal, and alter and renew the same at pleasure; and generally have all the rights, franchises, capacities and powers appertaining to municipal corporations in this State.
All real and personal estate, and all funds, rights, titles, taxes, credits and claims and rights of action owned by the City of Wellsburg immediately before this Charter takes effect of which are then held in trust or have been appropriated for the use or benefit of said City or of the inhabitants thereof, shall be and the same are hereby transferred to and vested in the City of Wellsburg under this Charter.
All lawful contracts with and all lawful rights, claims and demands against the City of Wellsburg, at the time this Charter takes effect, shall be good in law against the said City under this Charter.