Register of deeds.

Care and custody of city property.

R.O. c. 32.

fix their compensation, and may choose a register of deeds whenever the city shall be one county.

SECT. 39. The city council shall have the care and superintendence of the public buildings, and the care, custody, and management of all the property of the city, with power to lease or sell the same, except the Common and Faneuil Hall. And the said city council shall have power to purchase property, real or personal, in the name chase property. and for the use of the city, whenever its interests or convenience may in their judgment require it.

Power to pur

Board of

health.

P.S. 80.

12 Pick. 184.

98 Mass. 431.

R.O. c. 22.

SECT. 40. All the power and authority now by law vested in the city council, or in the board of mayor and aldermen, relative to the public health, and the quarantine of vessels, shall continue to be 116 Mass. 254. vested in the city council, to be carried into execution by the appointment of one or more health commissioners; or in such other manner as the health, cleanliness, comfort, and order of the city may, in their judgment, require, subject to such alterations as the legislature may from time to time adopt. The powers and duties above named may be exercised and carried into effect by the city council in any manner which they may prescribe, or through the agency of any persons to whom they may delegate the same, notwithstanding a personal exercise of the same, collectively or individually, is prescribed by previous legislation; and the city council may constitute either branch, or any committee of their number, whether joint or separate, the board of health for all or for particular purposes.

Surveyors of highways.

135 Mass. 197.

City treasurer. 1875, 176.

P.S. 23, § 3.

Members of city council ineligible to other offices. 1884, 115.

Representa

tives to general court.

Compensation

of the mayor. 98 Mass., 39.

108 Mass. 208. 112 Mass. 512.

SECT. 41. The board of aldermen shall be surveyors of highways for said city.

1

[SECT. 42. The city council shall, in the month of May, meet together in convention, and elect a suitable person to be the treasurer of said city, who shall also be county treasurer, and who shall hold his office until his successor is chosen and qualified in his stead.]

SECT. 43. No person shall be eligible to any office, the salary of which is payable out of the city treasury, who, at the time of his appointment, shall be a member of either the board of aldermen or the common council; and neither the mayor, nor any alderman, or member of the common council, shall, at the same time, hold any office of emolument under the city government.

[SECT. 44. In the month of October in each year the city government shall meet in convention, and determine the number of representatives which it may be expedient for the corporation to send to the general court in the ensuing year, within its constitutional limits, and to publish such determination, which shall be conclusive; and the number thus determined shall be specified in the warrant calling a meeting for the election of representatives.]

SECT. 45. The mayor of the city, chosen and qualified as hereinbefore provided, shall be taken and deemed to be the chief executive officer of said corporation; and he shall be compensated for his services by a salary, to be fixed by the board of aldermen and common council in convention assembled, payable at stated periods, which salary shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars annually; and he shall receive no other compensation or emoluments whatever; and no regulations enlarging or diminishing such compensation shall be made, to take effect until the expiration of the year

1 St. 1875, c. 176, provides that the treasurer shall be elected annually in the month of May or June by concurrent vote of both branches of the city council. It also provides (§ 2) for the election of a collector, and defines his powers.

"In the county of Suffolk the treasurer of the city of Boston shall be the county treasurer." P.S. 23, § 3.

2 St. 1884, c. 115, provides that no member of the city council shall be eligible to any such office during the term for which he was chosen.

3 See amendments of constitution, Art. XXI.

Salary fixed at $5,000 in convention, Nov. 21, 1864.

for which the mayor then in office shall have been elected; and said salary, when fixed, shall continue until changed by the city council, as aforesaid.

His powers and duties.

SECT. 46. It shall be the duty of the mayor to be vigilant and active, at all times, in causing the laws for the government of said 5 Gray 121. city to be duly executed and put in force; to inspect the conduct of 98 Mass. 39. all subordinate officers in the government thereof, and, as far as may be in his power, to cause all negligence, carelessness, and positive violation of duty to be duly prosecuted and punished. He shall have power, whenever in his judgment the good of said city may require it, to summon meetings of the board of aldermen and common council, or either of them, although the meeting of said boards may stand adjourned to a more distant day, and shall cause suitable notice in writing, of such meetings, to be given to the respective members of said boards. And he shall, from time to time, communicate to both branches of the city council all such information, and recommend all such measures, as may tend to the improvement of the finances, the police, health, security, cleanliness, comfort, and ornament of the said city.

of the mayor.

SECT. 47. Every ordinance, order, resolution, or vote, to which the Veto power concurrence of the board of aldermen and of the common council may be necessary (except on a question of convention of the two branches), and every order of either branch involving the expenditure of money, shall be presented to the mayor; if he approve thereof, he shall signify his approbation by signing the same; but, if not, he shall return the same, with his objections, to the branch in which it originated, who shall enter the objections of the mayor at large on their records, and proceed to reconsider said ordinance, order, resolution, or vote; and if, after such reconsideration, two-thirds' of the board of aldermen or common council, notwithstanding such objections, agree to pass the same, it shall, together with the objections, be sent to the other branch of the city council (if it originally required concurrent action), where it shall also be reconsidered, and, if approved by two-thirds of the members present, it shall be in force; but in all cases the vote shall be determined by yeas and nays, and if such ordinance, order, resolution, or vote, shall not be returned by the mayor within ten days after it shall have been presented the same shall be in force. But the veto power of the mayor shall not extend to the election of officers required by any law or ordinance to be chosen by the city council in convention or by concurrent action, unless expressly so provided therein.

1882, 164.

SECT. 48.2 In all cases where anything is or may be required or Same subject. authorized by any law or ordinance to be done by the mayor and aldermen, the board of aldermen shall first act thereon; and any order, resolution, or vote, of said board shall be presented to the mayor for his approval, and the same proceedings shall be had as are provided in the preceding section.

appoint officers

SECT. 49. In all cases wherein appointments to office are directed Mayor to to be made by the mayor and aldermen, they shall be made by the by consent of mayor, by and with the advice and consent of the aldermen; and such officers may be removed by the mayor.

aldermen. Power of removal. 1882, 164.

mayor.

SECT. 50. In the case of the decease, inability, absence, or res- Vacancy in ignation of the mayor, and whenever there is a vacancy in the office the office of from any cause, and the same being declared, and a vote passed by the aldermen and common council respectively, declaring such cause and the expediency of electing a mayor for the time being to supply

1 By P. S. c. 28, § 6, the affirmative action of two-thirds of the members in each branch present and voting is required to overcome the mayor's veto. See section thirty-three, ante, p. 6, note 3.

Accountability of all boards

public money. Annual financial statement. R.O. c. 14.

the vacancy thus occasioned, the board of aldermen shall issue their warrants in due form, for the election of a mayor, and the same proceedings shall be had as are hereinbefore provided for the choice of a mayor.

SECT. 51. All boards and officers acting under the authority of and officers for the said corporation, and intrusted with the expenditure of public money, shall be accountable therefor to the city council, in such manner as they may direct; and it shall be the duty of the city council to publish and distribute annually for the information of the citizens, a particular statement of the receipts and expenditures of all public moneys, and a particular statement of all city property.

Election of overseers of the poor. 1864, 128.

Their powers and duties.

The school committee. 1875, 241.

Same subject.

Organization of school com

mittee. 1875, 241.

Secretary and subordinate

officers. Powers and

duties of

school com-
mittee.
1875, 241.

Qualifications

of voters at

[SECT. 52. The qualified voters of each ward shall, at the annual meeting, be called upon to give in their votes for one able and discreet person, being an inhabitant of the ward, to be an overseer of the poor; and thereupon the same proceedings shall be had as are before directed in the election of members of the common council. And the persons thus chosen shall, together, constitute the board of overseers for said city, and shall continue to have all the powers, and be subject to all the duties, now by law appertaining to the overseers of the poor of the city of Boston, until the same shall be altered or qualified by the legislature.]

[SECT. 53. The school committee shall consist of the mayor of the city, the president of the common council, and the persons hereinafter mentioned. A majority of the persons duly elected shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; and at all meetings of the board, the mayor, if present, shall preside.]

[SECT. 54. At the annual election next after the passage of this act the qualified voters of each ward shall be called upon to give in their ballots for six inhabitants of the ward to be members of the school committee; and the two persons who receive the highest number of votes, or, in case more than two receive an equal number of votes, the two persons who are senior by age shall hold their office for three years from the second Monday in January next ensuing; and the next two persons who receive the highest number of votes, or who are senior by age in the contingency aforesaid, shall hold their office for two years from said date; and the two other persons shall hold their office for one year from said date; and at every subsequent annual election two persons shall be chosen in each ward to be members of the school committee for the term of three years.]

[SECT. 55. The persons so chosen as members of the school committee shall meet and organize on the second Monday in January, at such hour as the mayor may appoint. They may choose a secretary, and such subordinate officers as they may deem expedient, and shall define their duties, and fix their respective salaries.]

SECT. 56. The said committee shall have the care and management of the public schools, and may elect all such instructors as they may deem proper, and remove the same whenever they consider it expedient. And generally they shall have all the powers in relation to the care and management of the public schools, which the selectmen of towns or school committees are authorized by the laws of this Commonwealth to exercise.

SECT. 57. Every male citizen of twenty-one years of age and

By St. 1864, c. 128, overseers of the poor, twelve in number, are to be elected by the city council by concurrent vote, four being chosen each year.

By St. 1875, c. 241, the school committee is made to consist of twenty-four members, eight being elected each year by the qualified voters of the city.

3 See St. 1875, c. 241, reorganizing the school committee.

By the twentieth amendment of the constitution of the State (adopted May 1, 1857), no person shall have the right to vote" who shall not be able to read the constitution in the English language, and write his name: provided, however, that the provisions of this amendment shall not

elections,

etc.

upwards, excepting paupers and persons under guardianship, who municipal shall have resided within the commonwealth one year, and within the city six months next preceding any meeting of citizens, either in wards or in general meeting, for municipal purposes, and who shall have paid by himself, or his parent, master or guardian, any state or county tax, which, within two years next preceding such meeting, shall have been assessed upon him, in any town or district in this commonwealth, and also every citizen who shall be by law exempted from taxation, and who shall be, in all other respects, qualified as above mentioned, shall have a right to vote at such meeting, and no other person shall be entitled to vote at such meeting.

men to make

election.

[SECT. 58. It shall be the duty of the board of aldermen, prior to Board of alder. every election of city officers, or of any officer or officers under the lists of voters government of the United States or of this commonwealth, to make prior to every out lists of all the citizens of each ward qualified to vote in such 1874,60. election, in the manner in which selectmen and assessors of towns are required to make out similar lists of voters, and for that purpose they shall have free access to the assessors' books and lists, and shall be entitled to the aid and assistance of all assessors, assistant assessors, and other officers of said city. And it shall be the duty of said board of aldermen to deliver such list of the voters in each ward, so prepared and corrected, to the clerk of said ward, to be used by the warden and inspectors thereof, at such election; and no person shall be entitled to vote at such election whose name is not borne on such list. And to prevent all frauds and mistakes in such elections, it Inspectors shall be the duty of the inspectors in each ward to take care that no to vote whose person shall vote at such election whose name is not so borne on the name is not on list of voters, and to cause a mark to be placed against the name of each voter on such list, at the time of giving in his vote. And the city council shall have authority to establish such rules and regulations, as to making out, publishing, and using such lists of qualified voters, as they shall deem proper, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the commonwealth.]

to allow no one

the list.

national and

1881, 250, 299.

[SECT. 59. All elections for governor, lieutenant-governor, sen- Elections of ators, representatives, representatives to congress, and all other state officers. officers, who are to be chosen and voted for by the people, shall be 1878, 23. held at meetings of the citizens qualified to vote in such elections, in their respective wards, at the time fixed by law for those elections respectively. And at such meetings, all the votes given in being collected, sorted, counted and declared, by the inspectors of elections in each ward, it shall be the duty of the clerk of such ward to make a true record of the same, specifying therein the whole number of ballots given in, the name of each person voted for, and the number of votes for each, expressed in words at length. And a transcript of such record, certified by the warden, clerk, and a majority of the inspectors of elections in such ward, shall forthwith be transmitted or delivered by each ward clerk to the clerk of the city. And 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, in the journals of the proceedings of the board of aldermen, or in some other book kept for that purpose. And it shall be the duty of the Examination board of aldermen to meet together within two days after every such return of election and examine and compare all the said returns, and there

apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to any person who now has the right to vote, nor to any persons who shall be sixty years of age or upwards at the time this amendment shall take effect."

1 By St. 1874, c. 60, the duty of preparing the lists of voters was transferred to a board of registrars of voters.

2 The manner of conducting elections and returning votes is now governed by the provisions of Sts. 1878, c. 243; 1884, c. 250, 299.

votes.

Certificate.

of votes for governor, &c., to be transmitted to the secretary, or to sheriffs.

Votes for elec

tors of presi

dent, &c., how

and when to be

transmitted to the secretary.

upon to make out a certificate of the result of such election, to be signed by a majority of the aldermen, and also by the city clerk, which shall be transmitted, delivered or returned, in the same manner as similar returns are by law directed to be made by the selectmen of towns; and such certificates and returns shall have the same force and effect, in all respects, as like returns of similar elections made Separate lists by the selectmen of towns. At the election of governor, lieutenantgovernor, and senators it shall be the duty of the board of aldermen to make and seal up separate lists of persons voted for as governor, lieutenant-governor, and senators of the commonwealth, with the number of votes for each person, written in words at length against his name, and to transmit said lists to the secretary of the commonwealth, or to the sheriff of the county. The board of aldermen shall, within three days next after the day of any election of electors of president and vice-president of the United States, held by virtue of the laws of this commonwealth, or of the United States, deliver or cause to be delivered, the lists of votes therefor, sealed up, to the sheriff of the county, and the said sheriff shall, within four days after receiving said lists, transmit the same to the office of the secretary of the commonwealth; or the said aldermen may, and when the office of sheriff is vacant, they shall themselves, transmit the said lists to the said office within seven days after the election; and all votes not so transmitted shall be rejected. In all elections for Proceedings in representatives to the general court, in case the whole number proposed to be elected shall not be chosen according to law, by the votes legally returned, the board of aldermen shall forthwith issue their warrants for a new election, agreeably to the constitution and laws of this commonwealth, and the same proceedings shall be had, in all respects, as are hereinbefore directed; and in case of no choice Proceedings in being made of representatives to congress, in either district, of case of no elec- which the city of Boston composes a part, or in case of any vacancy happening in said districts, or either of them, the governor shall cause precepts for new elections to be directed to the board of aldermen of said city, as often as occasion shall require; and such new elections shall be held, and all proceeding thereon had, and returns made, in conformity with the foregoing provisions.]

case represent

atives are not chosen.

tion of repre

sentatives to

congress.

General meet-
ings of the
citizens.
1882, 204.

Warrants for meetings to be

board of aider

[SECT. 60. General meetings of the citizens qualified to vote in city affairs may from time to time be held, to consult upon the common good, to give instructions to their representatives, and to take all lawful measures to obtain a redress of any grievances, according to the right secured to the people by the constitution of this commonwealth. And such meetings shall and may be duly warned by the board of aldermen, upon the requisition of fifty qualified voters of said city. The mayor, if present, shall preside, and the city clerk shall act as the clerk of such meetings.]

SECT. 61. All warrants for the meetings of the citizens for muissued by the nicipal purposes, to be had either in general meetings or in wards, shall be issued by the board of aldermen, and in such form, and shall be served, executed, and returned, at such time and in such manner, as the city council may by any by-law or ordinance direct and appoint.

men.

R.O. c. 2.

Power of the

legislature to alter the charter.

SECT. 62. Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to restrain or prevent the legislature from amending or altering the same whenever they shall deem it expedient.

1 By St. 1882, c. 204, general meetings may be warned by the board of aldermen upon the requisition of twenty-five qualified voters of each ward. If the board of aldermen refuses or neglects to call any such meeting, any justice of the municipal court of said city may, upon a like requisition call such meeting at such time and in such manner as he may direct, and shall appoint some one to preside therein until the same shall be duly organized by choice of clerk and chairman.

Precincts, St. 1878, c. 243.