YEAR. CH. 1884. 173. 223. 250. 278. An act relating to safety appliances in hotels and public buildings 315 315 316 316 317 Provisions of the Public Statutes referring especially to the city of 318-338 APPENDIX. 1821. 110. An act establishing the city of Boston 341 1806. 65. An act to divide the town of Cambridge, and to incorporate the southerly 350 1846. 95. 1847. 29. 1851. 250. An act to establish the city of Charlestown. An act to incorporate the town of West Roxbury An act to establish the city of Roxbury 352 359 366 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General powers. SECTION 1. The inhabitants of the city of Boston, for all the Corporate purposes for which towns and cities are by law incorporated in this I Pick. 375. commonwealth, shall continue to be one body politic, in fact and 1 Met. 473. in name, under the style and denomination of The City of Boston: and as such, shall have, exercise, and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and shall be subject to all the duties. and obligations now incumbent upon, and appertaining to, said city, as a municipal corporation. ment. SECT. 2. The administration of all the fiscal, prudential, and City govern municipal concerns of said city, with the conduct and government thereof, shall be vested in one principal officer, to be styled the mayor, one council of twelve persons, to be called the board of aldermen, and one council of forty-eight persons, to be called the common council, which boards, in their joint capacity, shall be denominated the city council; and also in such other boards of officers as are hereinafter specified. twelve wards. [SECT. 3. It shall be the duty of the city council, and they are Division into empowered, during the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty, 1875, 243. and whenever thereafterwards they may deem it expedient, not P. S. 28, 14. oftener than once in ten years, to cause a new division of the city to be made into twelve wards, in such manner as to include an equal number of voters in each ward, as nearly as conveniently may be, consistently with well-defined limits to each ward; and until such division be made, the boundary lines of the wards shall remain as now established.]" SECT. 4. The annual meeting of citizens for the election of mu- Annual meeting nicipal officers hereinafter mentioned, shall be held on the second of city officers. 1 The establishment of the town of Boston dates from the passage of the order of the Court of Assistants, September 17 (7th, O. 8.) 1630, "that Trimountain shall be called Boston." The act of the legislature establishing the city of Boston was passed February 23, 1822, and adopted March 4, 1822 (St. 1821, c. 110). The Act to revise the Charter (St. 1854, c. 448) is here printed as it was enacted. The sections which have been repealed or superseded, are enclosed in brackets, and amendments or modifications are indicated in the notes. Roxbury was first recognized by the Court of Assistants as a town October 8, 1630. It was incorporated as a city March 12, 1846 (St. 1846, c. 95), and annexed to Boston by vote of the two cities September 9, 1867 (St. 1867, c. 359). Dorchester was named by the Court of Assistants in the same order in which Boston was named, and it retained its town organization until annexed to Boston, June 22, 1869 (St. 1869, c. 349). Charlestown was founded July 4, 1629; incorporated as a city in 1847 (St. 1847, c. 29); annexed to Boston October 7, 1873 (St. 1873, c. 286). West Roxbury was incorporated as a town March 24, 1851 (St. 1851. c. 250); annexed to Boston October 7, 1873 (St. 1873, c. 314). Brighton was incorporated as a town in 1806 (St. 1806, c. 65); annexed to Boston October 7, 1873 (St. 1873, c. 303). The changes in the original charter (St. 1821, c. 110), prior to the general revision, may be traced through the following statutes, which, having been repealed or superseded, are not printed in this volume: 1822, 85, 107; 1823, 2; 1824, 28, 49; 1829, 80; 1830, 7; 1831, 38; 1838, 123; 1850, 167; 1851, 337; 1852, 266; 1853, 354. 2 By St. 1875, c. 243, the number was increased to seventy-two. St. 1875, c. 243, required the city council in 1875, and during each tenth year thereafter, to cause a division of the city to be made into twenty-four wards. By St. 1876, c. 242, Ward 22 was divided into two wards, one being numbered twenty-five. for the election Certificates of election to be furnished. Commencement of municipal year. Election of ward officers. Ward officers to be sworn. Non-election of ward officers. Absence of ward officers. Power and duty of warden. Duties of ward clerk. Duties of war Monday of December, and the citizens of said city, qualified to vote in city affairs, shall, for the purpose of such election, then meet together within the wards in which they respectively reside, at such hour and place as the board of aldermen may, by their warrant, direct and appoint; and the person receiving the highest number of votes for any office shall be deemed and declared to be elected to such office; and, whenever two or more persons are to be elected to the same office, the several persons, to the number required to be chosen, having the highest number of votes, shall be declared elected. [SECT. 5. Every person so chosen in any ward shall, within forty-eight hours of his election, be furnished by the clerk with a certificate thereof, signed by the warden, clerk, and a majority of the inspectors, which certificate shall be presumptive evidence of the title of such person to the office therein mentioned.] SECT. 6. The municipal officers to be chosen at the annual election shall enter upon the duties of their respective offices on the first Monday of January. [SECT. 7. The qualified voters of said city shall, at the annual meeting, choose, by ballot, one warden and one clerk, and five inspectors of elections for each ward, who shall be resident in said ward, and who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others shall be chosen and qualified in their stead. [SECT. 8. The ward officers mentioned in the preceding section shall respectively make oath faithfully and impartially to discharge their several duties, which oath may be administered by the clerk of such ward to the warden, and by the latter to the clerk and inspectors, or to all of said officers, by any justice of the peace for the county of Suffolk; and a certificate thereof shall be entered in the record to be kept by the clerk of the ward.] [SECT. 9. In case of the non-election of any ward officer at the annual meeting adjournments may be had for the purpose of effecting such election, in the same manner as is hereinafter provided with regard to the election of members of the common council.] [SECT. 10. In case of the absence of any ward officer at any ward meeting such officer may be chosen pro tempore, by hand vote, and shall have all the powers, and be subject to all the duties of the regular officer, at such meeting.] [SECT. 11. It shall be the duty of the warden to preside at all ward meetings, with the powers of moderators of town meetings. In case of his absence, the clerk, and, in case of the absence of the clerk, any inspector shall preside according to seniority, until a warden shall be chosen, as provided in the preceding section.] [SECT. 12. It shall be the duty of the clerk to make a fair and true record, and to keep an exact journal of all the acts and votes of citizens at the ward meetings, and to deliver over such records and journals, together with other documents and papers held by him in his said capacity, to his successor in office.] [SECT. 13. It shall be the duty of the warden and inspectors of den and inspec- each ward to receive, sort and count, and of the warden to declare, all votes at any election within such ward.] tors. Duties of ward officers at all elections. [SECT. 14. It shall be the duty of all ward officers, authorized to preside and act at elections of city officers, to attend and perform 1 By P. S. c. 7, § 67, the municipal election is now held on the Tuesday next following the second Monday. 2 St. 1878, c. 243, § 1 provides for a division of each ward into precincts, and requires (§ 4) meetings for elections to be "at the several polling-places" within each ward. 8 Annulled by St. 1878, c. 243, § 2. Sections seven to fourteen, inclusive, were repealed by St. 1876, c. 218. By St. 1878, c. 243, § 2, the powers, duties, and liabilities of ward officers devolved on precinct officers. their respective duties at the times and places appointed for elections of any officers, whether of the United States, state, city, or wards, and to make and sign the regular returns of the same.] mayor. SECT. 15. The qualified voters of said city shall, at the annual Election of meeting, be called upon to give in their votes for one able and discreet person, being an inhabitant of the city, to be mayor of said city for the term of one year. ['All the ballots, so given in, in each ward, being sorted, counted and declared, shall be recorded at large by the clerk, in open ward meeting; and, in making such declaration and record, the whole number of votes or ballots given in shall be distinctly stated, together with the name of every person voted for, and the number of votes given for each person respectively; such numbers to be expressed in words at length, and a transcript of such record, certified and authenticated by the warden, clerk, and a majority of the inspectors of elections, for each ward, shall forthwith be transmitted or delivered by such ward clerk to the clerk of the city. It shall be the duty of the city clerk forthwith to enter such returns, or a plain and intelligible abstract of them, as they are successively received, upon the journal of the proceedings of the board of aldermen, or some other book to be kept for that purpose.] men to examine SECT. 16. The board of aldermen shall, as soon as conveniently Board of alder. may be, within three days of such election, meet together and examine returns of votes all the said returns, and they shall cause the person who may have for mayor. been elected mayor to be notified, in writing, of his election; but if it shall appear by said returns that no person has been elected, or if the person elected shall refuse to accept the office, the board shall issue their warrants for a new election, and the same proceedings shall be had as are provided in the preceding section for the choice of a mayor, and repeated, from time to time, until a mayor shall be chosen. choice of fore the commence municipal year. SECT. 17. Whenever, on examination by the board of aldermen of Proceedings the returns of votes given for mayor, at the meetings of the wards in case of no holden for the purpose of electing that officer, last preceding the first mayor be Monday of January in each year, no person shall appear to be chosen, the board of aldermen, by whom such examination is made, ment of the shall make a record of that fact, an attested copy of which record it shall be the duty of the city clerk to produce and read, on the first Monday of January, in the presence of the members returned to serve as aldermen and common councilmen; and the oaths prescribed by law may be administered to the members elect. The members of the board of aldermen shall thereupon proceed to elect a chairman, and the common council a president, in their respective chambers; and, being respectively organized, they shall proceed to business in the manner hereinafter provided in case of the absence of the mayor; and the board of aldermen shall forthwith issue their warrants for meetings of the citizens of the respective wards, for the choice of a mayor, at such time and place as they shall judge most convenient; and the same proceedings shall be had, in all respects, as are hereinbefore directed, and shall be repeated, from time to time, until a mayor shall be duly chosen. in case no mayor is full board of SECT. 18. Whenever it shall appear, by the regular returns of the Proceedings elections of city officers, that a mayor has not been chosen, or that a full board of aldermen has not been elected, such of the board of chosen, or a aldermen, whether they constitute a quorum or not, as may have been aldermen is chosen, shall issue their warrant in the usual form, for the election of not elected. a mayor, or such members of the board of aldermen as may be neces 1 Modified by statutes dividing wards into precincts, and prescribing the duties of precinct officers. See St. 1878, c. 243, §§ 4, 18, 19; 1884, c. 299, § 19. 2 Modified by St. 1884, c. 299, § 32. 1884, 250. |