AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION ONE OF CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN, HARBOR. Be it enacted, etc.: 1847, 234. SECTION 1. Section one of chapter two hundred and thirty-four of Amendment to the acts of the year eighteen hundred and forty-seven, is hereby amended by striking out the words "easterly side of Tuttle's Wharf," and inserting instead thereof the words "Meridian Street Bridge." SECT. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY OF NEWTON TO LAY AND MAINTAIN A Be it enacted, etc.: may lay sewer trict to Charles SECTION 1. The city of Newton is hereby authorized, by its mayor City of Newton and aldermen, or by a board of three commissioners to be chosen by through its city council, to lay and construct a main drain or common sewer Brighton dison the southerly side of Charles river, through a portion of the river. Brighton district of the city of Boston to a point in the deep water of said river near the Faneuil station on the Boston and Albany railroad, and opposite the United States arsenal in Watertown, for the purpose of discharging the sewage of the city of Newton into said river; and such main drain, and the works hereinafter mentioned, shall be the property and under the exclusive control of the city of Newton, which shall keep and maintain the same in good order and condition. SECT. 2. The city of Newton may also construct and maintain, at May maintain drainage works. or near the place of discharge of said sewer, such drainage works as it may deem necessary; but said sewer or works shall be so constructed as not to interfere with the navigation of said river or to create a public nuisance. SECT. 3. The city of Newton may take such lands and buildings May take land as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this act, and all and buildings. damages sustained thereby shall be paid by the city of Newton, and the same may be ascertained and recovered in the manner now provided by law for the assessment of damages in the laying out of highways in the city of Boston. under water way. SECT. 4. The city of Newton may construct such drain or sewer May construct over or under any water-course, highway, town way, railroad, or other sewer over or way, may change the course of any brook, may enter upon and dig course or townup the same for the purpose of constructing and maintaining such drain or sewer, and may do all such other acts as may be necessary to accomplish the work hereby authorized; but said city shall not unnecessarily interrupt public travel in the doing of said work, and the supreme judicial court in any county, or any justice thereof in Supreme court term time or vacation, upon complaint of the mayor or aldermen of method of perBoston, or of any corporation whose rights are invaded, may direct forming the the method of performing such work as may affect public travel, public rights, or public health, and enforce such directions and orders by injunction or other suitable process. may direct work. And the SECT. 5. Whenever the city of Newton shall dig up any highway, street, or way, it shall restore the same to as good order and condition as the same was in when such digging commenced. city of Newton shall at all times indemnify and save harmless the city of Boston of and from all damages which may be sustained by it by reason of any defect or want of repair in any street or way, caused by the construction, maintenance, or repair, of said drain or sewer. SECT. 6. The city of Newton may, within its corporate limits, construct any main drain or common sewer under any railroad, and maintain and repair the same; and it shall be liable to the corporation owning such road for all damages thereby sustained by it, to be recovered in an action of tort. SECT. 7. The provisions of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, sections of chapter forty-eight of the general statutes, and all other general laws, shall apply to said main drain or common sewer, so far as applicable; but no assessment shall be laid on any property outside the limits of said Newton. SECT. 8. This act shall take effect upon its acceptance by the city council of the city of Newton. April 20, 1877. City may take land to abate a nuisance. To file in reg. istry of deeds a description of the land taken. AN ACT TO ENABLE THE CITY OF BOSTON TO ABATE A NUISANCE EXIST- Be it enacted, etc. : SECTION 1. The city of Boston may purchase, or otherwise take, for the purpose of abating the nuisance now existing in and about the Roxbury Canal, so called, the land and easements, with the buildings and other fixtures thereon, situate and lying within the district hereinafter bounded and described, to wit: commencing at the junction of Harrison avenue and the northerly line of East Chester park, and thence running by said northerly line of East Chester park produced in an easterly direction across the said Roxbury Canal to Swett street, thence by the northerly line of Swett street to Northampton street, thence by the northerly line of Northampton street to Harrison avenue, and thence by the easterly line of Harrison avenue to the point of beginning. Said city shall, within sixty days from the time it shall take said lands or easements, file in the office of the registry of deeds for the county of Suffolk, a description of the lands or easements so taken as certain as is required in a common conveyance of lands, and a statement that the same are taken pursuant to the provisions of this act; which said description and statement shall be signed by the mayor of said city, and the title to all lands and easements so taken shall vest in the city of Boston, and if any party whose land or easement is taken, shall agree with the said city upon the damage done to him by the said taking, the same shall be paid to him by the said city forthwith. And it shall be the duty of the city of Boston forthwith to raise the grade of said territory so purchased or taken, by filling up the same, including that portion of the Roxbury Canal lying within the described district, with good clean earth or gravel, and with reference to a complete drainage thereof, so as to abate the present nuisance, and to preserve the health of the city. SECT. 2. Any person entitled to any estate or easement in any file bill in equity part of the lands so taken, may, at any time within one year from the in supreme judi- time when the same shall be taken, as well in his own behalf as in Complainant for damages may cial court. behalf of all other persons having estates in the lands or easements so taken, file a bill in equity in the supreme judicial court in the county of Suffolk, setting forth the taking of the complainant's land or easement by the city of Boston, and whether the complainant claims any and what damages against the city of Boston for said taking, and against said city or any other corporation or persons by reason of any and what wrongful act or omission by their causing a diminution in the value of his land or easement at the time of said taking, and praying an assessment of damages against the city of Boston for said taking, and against such parties for said diminution. And upon the filing of such a bill said court shall cause notice of the pendency of said bill to be given to the parties named therein as defendants, according to the course of courts of equity; and also public notice thereof to all persons in whose behalf such bill shall be filed, to appear and become parties thereto if they shall see fit to do so. Said court shall prescribe how such public notice shall be given, and what length of time shall be allowed for appearing and becoming a party to such suit. Any party failing so to appear and to become a party within the time prescribed by the court, shall be forever barred from recovering any damages on account of such taking. Each person so appearing and becoming a party shall file a written description of the land in which he claims an estate, together with a plan thereof, so as clearly to distinguish the same from all other lands, and shall also declare what estate he claims therein. If he claims that the value of said land or easement at the time of taking the same was lessened by any unlawful act or omission of the city of Boston or any other corporation or person, so that the value of the land or easement in its condition when taken would not be a just compensation for all the estate and rights of the party in, and in reference to, the same, such party shall also state what such injury is, and how and by whom the same had been or is caused, and what right or title of the party is violated. SECT. 3. Upon the expiration of the time allowed for appearance Commissioners to the said bill, the said court shall appoint three commissioners, who may be appointed, to be shall receive such compensation as the said court shall fix, to be paid paid by the city. by the city of Boston. SECT. 4. It shall be the duty of the said commissioners, after due To hear the parnotice, to hear each of the said parties including the said city of Bos- ties and assess damages. ton, and other parties named as defendants, and to assess and award the value at the time of the taking of each parcel of the said land, and of any easement claimed by any party so appearing, which shall be taken by said city; and the amount in gross, if any, of damages done to such parcel of land, or such easement, by reason of any unlawful act or omission of the city of Boston or any other party defendant, affecting its value at the time of said taking. And the said commissioners shall make, or cause to be made, a survey of the lands of the complainant and other parties to such bill, and of all other lands adjacent, and owned by other parties whose rights may be affected in determining the lines of such complainants' lands; and said commissioners shall determine the boundary lines of all such lands within said district, and report to the court the boundaries established for each owner of such lands, with a plan of the several portions of land within said district, showing the lines established for each owner, which plan, after its approval shall, by order of the court, be recorded in the registry of deeds for the county of Suffolk. court within SECT. 5. Said commissioners, or the major part of them, shall, To report to within three months after said hearing, make report to the said court of three months. their doings, and, when requested by any party, of the evidence touching any exception intended to be taken by him. Party aggrieved may apply for jury. Damages to be assessed as in taking land for highways. When amount of damage is ascertained, execu tion to issue. Costs, when a jury trial is had. Liability of city for damages caused by SECT. 6. Any party aggrieved by any findings or doings of said commissioners, may apply for a jury to revise the same, by petition to the supreme judicial court at the same term thereof at which said commissioners shall make their report, and, thereupon, said court shall order a trial by jury to be had at the bar of the court in the same manner in which trials are held in the superior court to assess the damages for land taken for the laying out of highways in the county of Suffolk. And any party aggrieved by any ruling of law made by said commissioners or by said court may except to said ruling and have the exceptions heard and determined by the said court sitting in banc according to its course as a court of equity. The respective rights and remedies of persons having different or separate interests or estates in the same property, as to the disposition of the damages awarded or agreed to under this act, and the manner of assessing damages for the taking of such property, shall be, in all respects, the same as they now are in the case of property taken for laying out highways. SECT. 7. When it shall be finally determined what amount of damages any party is entitled to recover against the city of Boston, or any other party defendant, a separate decree shall be entered accordingly, and execution therefor shall be issued without regard to the pendency of the claims of any other party or parties. SECT. 8. If any party shall apply for and obtain a trial by jury, he shall recover his legal costs if the award of the commissioners shall be altered in his favor; otherwise he shall be liable for the legal costs of the other party or parties. SECT. 9. Nothing in this act shall be construed as exempting the city of Boston from any obligation, it would otherwise be under, to raising territory. make compensation to the owners of lands abutting on or near to the territory described in the first section of this act, for any injury it may do to such lands in any acts of raising, filling or draining, said territory or any part thereof. Court may make all neces SECT. 10. Said court may make all orders and decrees necessary sary orders and to carry into effect the intent of this act, and may, at its discretion, at any stage of the proceedings, order a party to give security for the payment of damages or costs. decrees. Costs to be paid as court shall order. City may lay railway tracks through streets. Lands to be taken within two years. Sewers and drains to be discharged elsewhere. SECT. 11. All legal costs which shall accrue in the proceedings under this act, not otherwise provided for, shall be paid as the said court shall order. SECT. 12. The city of Boston is hereby authorized to lay railway tracks through any street or streets of said city and across tide-water, and to maintain them, so long as it may be necessary, to enable them to transport earth and other materials to fill up the district aforesaid, under the provisions of this act. SECT. 13. All lands or easements taken under this act, otherwise than by purchase, shall be taken within two years, and all filling and grading done under this act shall be done within three years, from the passage thereof. SECT. 14. On and after the completion of the work to be performed under this act, the sewers or drains now discharging into said canal within the limits of that portion thereof authorized to be filled, shall be discharged elsewhere, and shall not thereafter be discharged into any part of said canal. SECT. 15. This act shall take effect upon its passage. May 11, 1877. AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE OLD SOUTH ASSOCIATION IN BOSTON, AND HOUSE. Be it enacted, etc.: pose. duties. SECTION 1. The governor of the commonwealth, the mayor of the Corporators. city of Boston, the president of Harvard college, the president of the Massachusetts historical society, the president of the American antiquarian society, and the president of the New England historic-genealogical society, ex officiis, and William Gaston, John Lowell, Samuel E. Sewall, Edmund Quincy, Samuel A. Green, Henry Lee, Martin Brimmer, and John D. Long, and their associates and successors, are hereby made a body corporate by the name of the Old South Association in Name and purBoston, for the purpose of acquiring and holding the Old South Meeting-house in Boston and the land under and adjacent to the same, upon the corner of Milk street and Washington street in said city, for public, historical, memorial, educational, charitable, and religious, uses and none other, with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the Powers and duties, liabilities, and restrictions, set forth in chapter sixty-eight of the general statutes, and acts in addition thereto. Said corporation shall have the power to take and appropriate to the uses of said corporation, said meeting-house and land or any interest therein: pro- To file in regis vided, that in case it shall exercise said power, it shall, within sixty doften of description days from the time of said taking and appropriation, file in the regis- the land taken. try of deeds for the county of Suffolk a description of the premises. so taken, as certain as is required in a common deed of conveyance of land; and any party aggrieved thereby shall have the right to apply for a jury to assess the damages sustained by him, in the manner and with the effect provided in the seventy-ninth section of chapter fortythree of the general statutes, and upon the payment of all damages so assessed to the parties entitled thereto, or upon the failure to apply for a jury during the time limited by law, the title to said meeting-house and land shall vest in said corporation. And said corporation shall also have power, until the foregoing powers are exercised, to take a lease of said meeting-house and land, or the interest so taken, and hold the same thereunder for the purposes aforesaid. managers. SECT. 2. The officers of said corporation shall consist of a board Board of of managers, the number of which shall be fixed by the by-laws, and of which the six first named in this act shall be members ex officiis, and two shall be elected annually by the city council of the city of Boston, and the rest shall be elected by the members of the corporation; and said managers shall elect one of their number president, and shall also elect a secretary and a treasurer. All officers shall hold over until others are chosen in their stead. New members may be admitted Admission of in such manner as the by-laws shall provide. members. used for certain purposes. SECT. 3. Said corporation may make contracts with the common- Building may be wealth for the use of said meeting-house for the annual election sermon, and with the commonwealth or the city of Boston for its use for any public purposes not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. from taxation. SECT. 4. Said meeting-house and land shall be exempt from taxa- To be exempt tion while said meeting-house shall be used for any of the purposes aforesaid, and shall be exempt from any tax for the year eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. SECT. 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage. May 11, 1877. |