Duties pertaining to elections transferred to Boston. Duties of ward officers in new the purpose of electing a representative in Congress, part of congressional district number three, as the same are now constituted. All the duties now required by law to be performed by the mayor and aldermen and city clerk, of the city of Roxbury, or either of them, pertaining to the election of representatives in congress, state councillors, senators, and members of the house of representatives, shall in like manner devolve upon, and be performed by the board of aldermen and city clerk of the city of Boston. It shall be the duty of the ward officers of the several wards, that wards erected. shall be erected out of said territory as hereinafter provided, to make return of all votes that may be cast therein, from time to time, for representatives in congress, state councillors, senators, members of the house of representatives. and for all other national, state, district, county, municipal, and ward officers, to the city clerk of the city of Boston. Public property of city, and municipal rights, liabilities, and in Boston. Treasurer of Roxbury to de. papers, and property. men to hold over certain other acts. Boston shall assume liabilities. and causes. Jurisdiction of courts in Suffolk and Norfolk counties. SECT. 2. All the public property of the said city of Roxbury shall be vested in and is hereby declared to be the property of the city of functions, to vest Boston; and said city of Boston shall succeed to all the rights, claims, causes of action, rights to uncollected taxes, liens, uses, trusts, duties, privileges, and immunities, of said city of Roxbury. The city treasurer of the city of Roxbury shall, on or before the secliver over books, ond Monday in January, in the year eighteen hundred and sixtyeight, under the direction of the mayor and aldermen of the city of Mayor and alder. Roxbury, who shall, for this purpose, and for all other purposes necfor same and for essary to carry into full effect the provisions of this act, continue to hold their offices over, transfer, deliver, pay over, and account for, to the city treasurer of the city of Boston, all books, papers, moneys, and other property in his possession as city treasurer of said city of Roxbury, when this act shall take effect; and the city of Boston shall become liable for and subject to all the debts, obligations, duties, rePending actions sponsibilities, and liabilities, of said city of Roxbury. All actions and causes of action which may be pending, or which shall have accrued at the time this act shall take effect, in behalf of or against the city of Roxbury, shall survive and may be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, in behalf of or against the city of Boston. SECT. 3. The several courts within the county of Suffolk, after this act shall take effect, shall have the same jurisdiction over all causes of action and proceedings in civil causes, and over all matters in probate and insolvency, which shall have accrued within said territory hereby annexed, that said courts now have over like actions, proceedings and matters within the county of Suffolk: provided, however, that the several courts within the county of Norfolk shall have and retain jurisdiction of all actions, proceedings, and matters, that shall have been rightfully commenced in said courts prior to the time when this act shall take effect; and the supreme judicial court and the superior court within the county of Suffolk, after this act shall take effect, shall have the same jurisdiction of all crimes, offences, and misdemeanors, that shall have been committed within the said territory, that the supreme judicial court and superior court within the county of Norfolk now have jurisdiction of: provided, proceedings shall not have been already commenced in any of the courts within the county of Norfolk, for the prosecution of said crimes, offences, and misdemeanors; in which case the said courts within the county of Norfolk shall have and retain jurisdiction of the same for the full, complete, and final, disposition thereof. All suits, actions, proceedings, complaints, and prosecutions, and all matters of probate and insolvency, which shall be pending within said territory, before any court or justice of the peace, when this act shall take effect, shall be heard and determined as though this act had not passed. Proviso. I'roviso. Roxbury to be southern district fined. SECT. 4. Said territory shall continue a judicial district under the Police court of jurisdiction of the police court of the city of Roxbury, which shall municipal court continue to exist, and shall hereafter be designated and known by of Boston. the name of the municipal court for the southern district of the city of Boston. Said court shall have the same civil and criminal Jurisdiction dejurisdiction in said district and the same civil jurisdiction in the county of Suffolk as the police courts, other than that of the city of Boston, have by law in their respective districts and counties. Appeals shall be allowed from all judgments of said court, in like Appeals. manner and to the same courts that appeals are now allowed from the judgments of the municipal court of the city of Boston. All Municipal duties acts and duties (if any), now incumbent upon the city council of the city of Roxbury, or either branch thereof, relating to the said court of the city of Roxbury, shall hereafter devolve upon and be performed by the city council of the city of Boston. All fines and Fines in and fees forfeitures, and all costs in criminal prosecutions in said court, and all fees and charges received in said court in civil proceedings, shall be accounted for and paid over, in the same manner as is now provided for the municipal court within the city of Boston. as to court. of court. Boston shall di wards. where to assem. now vested in SECT. 5. The city council of the city of Boston shall, as soon as City council of may be after the fifth day of November in the year eighteen hundred vide annexed and sixty-seven, divide the said territory into three wards, one of territory into which shall comprise the same territory now comprised in said fourth representative district, and the other two shall be so constituted as to contain as nearly as practicable an equal number of legal voters; and the wards thus established shall so remain until the alteration of the ward limits of said city of Boston provided by law. And the clerks Clerks of wards, of the said wards shall for the purposes mentioned in section eleven ble. of the eighth chapter of the general statutes of this commonwealth assemble at such places as are or shall be required by law. And the Aldermen to designate, and board of aldermen are hereby authorized to designate such places, have powers whenever such designation shall by law become necessary or proper, county comand said board shall succeed to all the powers and duties in reference missioners. to the same which are now vested in the county commissioners of the county of Norfolk. And each of the wards so established shall be entitled to all the municipal and ward officers which each of the other wards of said city of Boston is entitled to. And the board of Shall issue war. aldermen of said city of Boston shall, in due season, issue their of officers. warrants for meetings of the legal voters of said wards respectively, to be held on the second Monday of December in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, at some place within said wards respectively, which shall be designated in said warrants, there first to choose a warden, clerk, and five inspectors of elections for each of Tenure of said wards, who shall hold their offices until the first Monday of January in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and until others shall be chosen and qualified in their stead; second, to give in their ballots for the several inunicipal and ward officers for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, for which they shall be entitled to vote by virtue of the provisions of this act. rants for election officers chosen. tee voters shall to be prepared. The voters of each said wards shall designate, by their ballots School commit. cast at said meetings, the term of service for which each of the six designate terms. school committee men, who shall be chosen in each of said wards, shall serve, so that two of the number chosen in each ward shall serve for three years, two for two years, and two for one year. The Lists of voters board of aldermen of the city of Boston shall prepare lists of all the legal voters in said wards respectively, to be used at said meetings, and shall do all other things which they are now by law required to do in respect to like elections in the other wards in the city of Bos- Ward meetings, ton; and at said meetings, any legal voter of said wards respectively pro tempore. how organized, Ward officers shall be sworn. Residence of voters to be valid in Boston for may call the citizens to order, and preside until a warden shall have been chosen and qualified. All ward officers whose election is provided for in this section shall be qualified according to law. The citizens of the territory by this act annexed to the city of Boston, shall have the same right to vote election of 1867. for municipal officers, at the annual municipal election of the city of Boston, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, as they would have had if said territory had formed part of the city of Boston for more than six months next before said election. Repeal of law for election in city of Roxbury in December, 1887. Aldermen and councilmen of Police officers and watchmen of Roxbury to continue as of Boston. Interest of Roxbury in county property to be released. Balance of indebtedness to County, Boston to pay. SECT. 6. All provisions of law requiring an election of municipal and ward officers for said city of Roxbury on the second Monday of December in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, for the municipal year then next ensuing are hereby repealed. SECT. 7. After the present municipal year the board of aldermen of the city of Boston shall consist of twelve members, and the common council of the city of Boston shall consist of sixty members. The number of wards of said city, including the wards to be formed out of the territory hereby annexed, shall be fifteen. SECT. 8. The several police officers and watchmen that may be in office in the city of Roxbury when this act shall take effect, shall thereafter continue in the discharge of their respective duties, in the same manner as if they were police officers and watchmen in the city of Boston, until others shall be appointed in their stead. SECT. 9. All the interest which the city of Roxbury now has in the public property of the county of Norfolk, is hereby released and acquitted to said county of Norfolk. Such proportion of the debts and obligations of the county of Norfolk, existing when this act shall take full effect, over and above the value of all the property belonging to said county as should proportionally and equitably be paid by the inhabitants and property owners of the territory by this act annexed to the city of Boston, shall be paid by said city of Supreme judicial Boston to said county of Norfolk; and the supreme judicial court equity jurisdic. shall have jurisdiction in equity to determine the amount of such proportion (if any), and enforce the payment of the same upon a suit in equity, in the name of said county, to be brought therefor within six months after this act shall go into full operation, by the county commissioners of said county of Norfolk, if they shall deem such suit for the interest of said county; but no such suit shall be instituted after said six months. court to have tion over, in case of suit. Act not to impair Contracts. Nothing contained in this act shall impair the obligation of contracts; and the property and inhabitants of the territory by this act annexed to the city of Boston shall continue liable to the existing creditors of the county of Norfolk, in like manner Proviso person as if this act had not been passed: provided, that if any person, towards present by reason of his being an inhabitant of, or owning property in, debt of county said territory, shall be compelled to pay any part of an existing required to pay may recover sane. Act not to take full effect unless accepted by voters of said cities. Meetings for ригрове. Polls. debt or obligation of the county of Norfolk, the amount of such payment shall constitute a debt to him from said county as hereafter to be constituted, exclusive of said territory, and may be recovered in like manner as other debts against the county of Norfolk. SECT. 10. This act shall not take full effect, unless accepted by a majority of the legal voters of each of said cities, present and voting thereon by ballot, at meetings which shall be held in the several wards of said cities, respectively, upon notice duly given, at least seven days before the time of said meeting.' Meetings for that purpose shall be held simultaneously in said city on the second Monday of September next. And the polls shall be opened at nine o'clock 1 Accepted by the voters of the two cities, Sept. 9, 1867. in the forenoon of said day, and shall be closed at six o'clock in the afternoon. may be chosen. tively, how In case of the absence of any ward officer, at any ward meeting, Ward officers held in either city for the purpose aforesaid, a like officer may be pro tempore chosen pro tempore, by hand vote, and shall be duly qualified and shall have all the powers and be subject to all the duties of the regular officer, at said meetings Said ballots shall be "Yes" or "No" Ballots. in answer to the question, Shall an act passed by the legislature of the commonwealth in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, entitled an act to unite the cities of Boston and Roxbury,' be accepted?" Such meeting shall be called, notified, and warned, by the Meetings respec mayor and aldermen of the city of Roxbury, and the board of alder- warned. men of the city of Boston, respectively, in the same manner in which meetings for the election of municipal officers in said cities, respectively, are called, notified, and warned. The ballots given in shall be Voting to be assorted, counted, and declared, in the wards in which they are given, in open ward meeting, and shall also be registered in the ward records. The clerk of each ward in the city of Boston shall make Clerks of wards return of all ballots given in, in his ward, and the number of ballots votes in Boston in favor of the acceptance of this act, and the number of ballots to aldermen and against said acceptance, to the board of aldermen of the city of mayor and alder-Boston, and like returns by the clerks of the several wards in the city of Roxbury shall be made to the mayor and aldermen of the city of Roxbury. All of said returns shall be made within forty-eight hours Time. of the close of the polls. made of record. shall return in Roxbury to men. shall certify to It shall be the duty of the board of aldermen of the city of Boston, Said boards and of the mayor and aldermen of the city of Roxbury, respectively, secretary of to certify and return as soon as may be the ballots cast in their re- commonwealth. spective cities, and the number of ballots in favor of the acceptance of this act and the number of ballots against said accep ance, in their respective cities, to the secretary of the commonwealth. And if it Act being ac shall appear that a majority of the votes in each of said cities is in cepted, secre favor of the acceptance of this act, the said secretary shall immedi- and publish. ately issue and publish his certificate declaring this act to have been duly accepted. tary so to certify mitted to voters SECT. 11. So much of this act as authorizes and directs the sub- Act may be sub. mission of the question of acceptance of this act to the legal voters upon passage. of said cities, respectively, provided for in the tenth section of this act, shall take effect upon its passage. be in force. SECT. 12. If this act shall be accepted as herein provided, it shall If accepted by take effect on the fifth day of November, in the year eighteen hun- Voters, when to dred and sixty-seven, so far as to authorize, legalize, and carry into effect, the acts and provisions of the fifth, sixth, and seventh sections of this act; but for all other purposes (except as mentioned in section eleven of this act), it shall take effect on the first Monday of January, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight. case supreme void. SECT. 13. If any election or balloting upon the question of the Proceeding in acceptance of this act, by either of said cities, shall within two judicia' court months thereafter be declared void by the supreme judicial court, declare balloting upon summary proceedings, which may be had in any county on the petition of fifty voters of either city, the question of accepting said act shall be again submitted to the legal voters of said city, and meetings therefor shall within thirty days thereafter be called, held, and conducted, and the votes returned and other proceedings had thereon, in like manner as herein before provided. But no election or balloting shall be held void for informality, in calling, holding, or conducting, the election, or returning the votes, or otherwise, except upon proceedings instituted therefor and determined within sixty days thereafter, as aforesaid. June 1, 1867. Commissioners of cemetery. Board, how elected and organized. Vacancies, how filled. Portion of cemetery to be set burial. Commissioners may make rules and regulations. 1868. CHAPTER 68. AN ACT RELATING TO A PUBLIC Be it enacted, etc.: CEMETERY IN THE TOWN OF DOR CHESTER. SECTION 1. The town of Dorchester is hereby authorized to elect by ballot, at a town meeting duly called, a board of five commissioners, who shall have the sole care, superintendence, and management, of the cemetery situated in said town, between Adams street and Neponset river, one member of which board shall be elected for the term of five years, one for four years. one for three years, one for two years, and one for one year; said terms to expire with the end of the municipal or official year. Said board may be organized by the choice of a chairman and clerk from their number, and a major part of the board shall be a quorum for the exercise of the powers of said office. In case of a vacancy occurring in the board, by death, non-acceptance, disability, resignation, or removal, during any municipal or official year, the remaining members shall notify the board of selectmen of Dorchester, in writing, thereof, and of the time and place appointed for a meeting of the two boards for the purpose of filling such vacancy, at least two weeks before the time appointed for said meeting; and, in pursuance of such notice, said two boards shall proceed to fill such vacancy until the end of the then current or official year, by electing, upon joint ballot, a suitable person thereto; and at each successive annual election of town officers after the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, said town shall elect by ballot, a suitable person or persons to serve on said board for the remainder of any unexpired term or terms, and for such full term of five years as shall expire before the next annual election. SECT. 2. Said board of commissioners shall set apart a portion of apart for public said cemetery, as a public burial place for the use of the inhabitants of the town of Dorchester, free of charge therefor; and they may lay out said cemetery in suitable lots or other subdivisions, with necessary paths and avenues; may plant, embellish, and ornament, the same; may enclose and divide the same with proper fences, and erect such suitable edifices, appendages, and conveniences, as they shall, from time to time, deem convenient; and may make all such by-laws, rules, and regulations, in the execution of their trust, not inconsistent with the laws of the commonwealth, as they may deem expedient. May convey, by deed, rights of burial and of erecting tombs, etc. Proceeds of sales to be used for cemetery. SECT. 3. Said board of commissioners shall have authority to grant and convey to any person, by deed executed in such manner and form as they may prescribe, the sole and exclusive right of burial, and of erecting tombs, cenotaphs and other monuments, upon such terms and conditions as they shall by rules and regulations prescribe. SECT. 4. The proceeds of sales of lots or rights of burial in said improvement of cemetery shall be paid into the town treasury of Dorchester, to be kept separate from its other funds, and be devoted to the improvement and embellishment of the cemetery as aforesaid, subject to the order of the board of commissioners. Commissioners may hold in for embellish SECT. 5. Said commissioners are authorized to take and hold any trust property appropriation, grant, donation, or bequest, upon trust, to apply the same, or the income thereof, for the improvement or embellishment of said cemetery, or for the erection, repair, preservation, or renewal, of any monument, fence. or other erection therein, or for the care, improvement, or embellishment, of any lot, or its appurtenances, in ment of cemetery. |