His powers and duties.

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.

SECT. 46. It shall be the duty of the mayor to be 1821, 110, § 12. vigilant and active at all times, in causing the laws for the government of said city to be duly executed and put in force; to inspect the conduct of 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.

Veto power of the mayor.

SECT. 47. Every ordinance, order, resolution, or vote, to which the 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.

SECT. 48. In all cases where anything is or may be Same subject. required or 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, in the manner provided in the preceding section.

point officers by

men.

SECT. 49. In all cases wherein appointments to Mayor to ap office are directed to be made by the mayor and alder- consent of aldermen, they shall be made by the mayor by and with the 1821, 110, $ 21. advice and consent of the aldermen, and such officers Power of remay be removed by the mayor.

SECT. 50. In the case of the decease, inability, absence, or resignation of the mayor, and whenever there is a vacancy in the office 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 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.

moval.

Vacancy in the 1821, 110, $5.

office of mayor.

of all boards and

money.

SECT. 51. All boards and officers acting under the Accountability authority of the said corporation, and entrusted with officers for public the expenditure of public money, shall be accountable 121, 110, § 20. therefor to the City Council, in such manner as they may direct; and it shall be the duty of the City Coun

cil to publish and distribute, annually, for the informa

statement.

Annual financial tion 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. 1821, 110, 19

Their powers and duties.

The school committee. 1835, 128, 1.

Same subject.

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 of 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.

school com

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

subordinate

ties of school

1821, 110, 19.

voters at muni

&c.

SECT. 56. The said committee shall have the care Powers and duand management of the public schools, and may elect committee. 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 Qualifications of of age and upwards, excepting paupers and persons cipal elections, under guardianship, who shall have resided within the 1821, 110, § 8. 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

prior to every

1821, 110, $24.

SECT. 58. It shall be the duty of the Board of Mayor and alderAldermen, prior to every election of city officers, or of lists of voters any officer or officers under the government of the election. United States or of this Commonwealth, to make out lists of all the citizens of each ward qualified to vote in such 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, assia

tant 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 shall be the Inspectors to al- duty of the inspectors, in each ward, to take care that no person shall vote at such election whose name is not so borne on the 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.

low no one to vote whose name is not on the list.

Elections of national and state officers.

1821, 110, 23. R. S. 5, 1, 11.

SECT. 59. All elections for governor, lieutenant governor, senators, representatives, representatives to con51 gress, and all other officers who are to be chosen and voted for by the people, shall be 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