Injury to signal.

1876, 63.

1884, 5. 1899, 252.

R. L. 111, § 262.

railroad corporation except as provided in section eighteen of chapter one hundred and eight of the Revised Laws, nor from a train except at a regular passenger station.

INJURY TO SIGNALS.

SECTION 65. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally inP.S. 112, § 207. jures, molests or destroys any signal of a railroad corporation or street railway company, or any line, wire, post or other structure or mechanism used in connection with such signal, or prevents or in any way interferes with the proper working of such signal, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or by both such fine and imprison

Throwing

missiles,

assaulting

ment.

THROWING MISSILES, ETC.

SECTION 66. Whoever wilfully throws or shoots a missile at a locomotive engine, or railroad or street railway P. S. 112, § 206. car or train, or at a person on such engine or car or train,

engineer, etc.

1880, 110.

R. L. 111, § 260. 145 Mass. 403.

or in any way assaults or interferes with a conductor, engineer, brakeman, or motorman, while in the performance of his duty on or near such engine, or car or train, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. A person so offending may be arrested without a warrant by an officer authorized to serve criminal process, and kept in custody in jail or other convenient place not more than twenty-four hours, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, at or before the expiration of which time he shall be taken before a proper court or magistrate, and proceeded against according to law.

OF RAILROAD CORPORATIONS.

MATTERS OF CONSTRUCTION.

SECTION 1. In this and the following chapter, unless Definitions. the context otherwise requires:

1874, 372, § 2. P. S. 112, § 1. 1892, 110.

“Railroads and railways" means all railroads and rail- 1898, 578, § 1. ways except tramways in mines and marine railways.

"Railroad" means a railroad or railway of the class usually operated by steam power.

"Railroad corporation means the corporation which lays out, constructs, maintains or operates a railroad of the class usually operated by steam power.

1901, 503.
R. L. 111, § 1.

Application to

certain matters

1874, 372, § 5. 1881, 91, § 1. P. S. 112, § 2. 1885, 194, § 2. R. L. 111, § 2.

"Board of aldermen or "selectmen" includes the board or other authority exercising the powers of a board of aldermen or of selectmen; but nothing herein shall be construed as affecting the veto power of a mayor of any city.

"Public way

authority.

SECTION 2. The duties imposed by the provisions of arising in Bos- this chapter upon county commissioners as a tribunal of original jurisdiction relative to the fixing of routes or to the location, construction, maintenance and operation of railroads shall, in the city of Boston, unless it is otherwise expressly provided, devolve upon the board of aldermen of said city. When, in cases arising in said city, a jury is required, application therefor shall be made to the superior court in the manner prescribed in section ninety of chapter forty-eight of the Revised Laws, and duties imposed upon the county commissioners by reference or appeal from the board of aldermen of other cities shall devolve upon the board of railroad commissioners.

Corporations subject to this chapter.

R. S. 39, § 45. G. S. 63, § 1. 1874, 372, § 4. P. S. 112, § 3. R. L. 111, § 3. 174 Mass. 379.

CORPORATIONS

SUBJECT ΤΟ THE PROVISIONS OF THE
CHAPTER.

SECTION 3. Railroad corporations which have been heretofore established in this commonwealth shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter; which, so far as inconsistent with charters granted since the eleventh day of March in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-one, shall be an alteration and amendment thereof; but the provisions of this section shall not impair the validity of any special power heretofore conferred by charter or other special act upon a particular railroad corporation which had exercised such power before the first day of February in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, or prevent the continued exercise thereof conformably, so far as may be, to the provisions of this chapter.

chartered by legislation.

1874, 372, § 169.

SECTION 4. A railroad corporation chartered by the Corporations concurrent legislation of this and other states shall, as concurrent regards any portion of its railroad lying within this commonwealth, be entitled to all the benefits and be subject to all the liabilities of the railroad corporations of this commonwealth.

P. S. 112, § 4.
R. L. 111, § 4.

-or trustees operating rail

roads of other

corporations. 1874, 372, § 3.

R. L. 111, § 5.

127 Mass. 574.

174 Mass. 379.

SECTION 5. If a railroad which has been laid out and constructed by one corporation is lawfully maintained and operated by another corporation, the latter corporation P. S. 112, § 5. shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter respecting or arising from the maintenance and operation of such railroad, as if such railroad had been laid out and constructed by it. If a railroad is lawfully maintained and operated by trustees, they shall in like manner be subject to the provisions of law respecting or arising from the maintenance and operation of such railroad which apply to the corporation for whose stockholders or creditors they are trustees.

RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE COMMONWEALTH.

served by commonwealth.

1872, 53, § 18. 1874, 372, §§ 178,

G. S. 63, § 138.

180.

P. S. 112, §§ 6, 7.

R. L. 111, § 6.

SECTION 6. The provisions of this chapter shall not Rights reimpair the rights of the commonwealth as asserted or reserved in previous statutes, and the commonwealth may, at any time during the continuance of the charter of a railroad corporation after the expiration of twenty years from the opening of its railroad for use, purchase of the corporation its railroad and all its franchise, property, rights and privileges by paying therefor such amount as will reimburse to it the amount of capital paid in, with a net profit thereon of ten per cent a year from the time of the payment thereof by the stockholders to the time of the purchase.

wealth may

1870, 325, § 2.

SECTION 7. The commonwealth may, at any time after Commonone year's notice in writing to a railroad corporation, take take railroad. and possess its railroad, franchise and other property; and 1874, 372, 181. shall pay therefor such compensation as may be awarded R. L. 111, § 7.

P. S. 112, § 8.

Petition for charter to be accompanied

by report of

etc.

1833, 176.

R. S. 39, § 46. 1848, 327, § 1. 1849, 131, § 2. G. S. 63, § 13. P. S. 112, § 29. R. L. 111, § 30.

by three commissioners, who shall be appointed by the supreme judicial court, who shall be sworn to appraise the same justly and fairly, and who shall estimate and determine all damages sustained by it by such taking. A corporation which is aggrieved by their determination may have its damages assessed by a jury in the superior court for the county of Suffolk, in the manner provided in section ninety of chapter forty-eight of the Revised Laws.

SPECIAL CHARTERS.

SECTION 8. A petition to the general court for a charter for a railroad corporation shall not be acted upon, engineer, map, unless it is accompanied by a map of the route on an appropriate scale, with a profile thereof on a vertical scale of ten to one as compared with the horizontal scale, and by the report of a competent engineer, based on actual examination and survey, showing the kind and amount of excavation, filling, bridging and masonry required, the grades, the number of highways and of other railroads, and of navigable streams and tide waters, to be crossed, and the manner of crossing the same, the general profile of the surface of the country through which the railroad is to pass, the feasibility of the route, the manner of constructing the railroad, and a detailed estimate of the cost of construction.

Plans, etc., to
be deposited
in state
library.
1848, 140.

SECTION 9. Plans and profiles which may be presented to a committee of the general court in the hearing of a petition for such a charter shall be deposited by it in R. L. 111, § 31. the state library.

G. S. 63, § 14.

P. S. 112, § 30.

Petition not to

be acted upon until notice,

etc.

1833, 176.

R. S. 39, § 47.

SECTION 10. Such petition shall not be acted upon, until notice thereof has been published according to law, designating the route with such certainty as to give reasonable P. S. 112, § 31. notice to all persons interested therein that their rights may be affected by the granting of the petition, and that they may have an opportunity to appear and object thereto.

G. S. 63, § 15.

R. L. 111, § 32.

Railroad to be within limits

specified.

SECTION 11. Every charter shall confine the railroad within the limits indicated by the notice required in the