section shall not apply to negligence occurring in a telegraph office which is established for the convenience and safety of a railroad corporation in the running of its trains, and transacting a public telegraph business only as incidental thereto, nor to negligence in the delivery of messages received at such office. TELEPHONE COMPANIES. telegraph crimination. See St. 1906, SECTION 12. A person or corporation owning, controlling Service to or operating a telephone exchange or service in this common- companies wealth shall, upon application of a telegraph company, furnish without dissuch company with the use of a telephone or telephones and 1885, 267, § 1. telephone service, and connection with their respective ex- 433, above. changes, with the subscribers thereto, and with their telephone service, without discrimination between telegraph companies as to such connection, service or use of instruments furnished or charges therefor for the same class of service. service 1885, 267, § 2. SECTION 13. A person or corporation owning, controlling or Telephone operating a telephone exchange or service in this commonwealth without disshall, upon application of an individual or corporation and the crimination. tender of the charges or rental usual or customary for the class of service required, without discrimination for the same class of service rendered, furnish such individual or corporation with the use of a telephone and telephone service and connection with their respective exchanges and the subscribers thereto, if the applicant secures the rights necessary to make the connections applied for and pays to the telephone company in advance an amount sufficient to cover the actual cost of the extension, if said extension is more than one mile from any main exchange circuit of the said telephone company. SECTION 14. The supreme judicial court or the superior Provisions court shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce the provisions forced in of the two preceding sections. may be en equity. DAMAGES. property. 1859, 260. P. S. 109, SECTION 15. A telegraph company shall be liable in dam- Injury to ages to a person injured in his person or property by the poles, person or wires or other apparatus of such company. If they are erected 1851, 247, § 2. upon a public way, the city or town shall not, by reason of G. S. 64, § 11. anything contained in this chapter or done thereunder, be § 12. discharged from its liability, but all damages and costs re- 97 Mass. 555. covered against it on account of such injury shall be reim- 161 Mass. 558. bursed by the company which owns the poles, wires or other 118 Mass. 265. apparatus. PROTECTION AND MARKING OF WIRES. 9 Gray, 386. 136 Mass. 75. 184 Mass. 150. concerning SECTION 16. A person or a corporation, private or munic- Regulations ipal, owning or operating a line of wires over or under streets wires in or buildings in a city or town shall use only strong and proper towns. wires safely attached to strong and sufficient supports and 1890, 404, § 1. cities and 1899, 337, § 1. 178 Mass. 503 161 Mass. 583. 185 Mass. 214. 218. Names of 1890, 404, § 2. Amended by Inspector of wires; duties. 1890, 404, §§ 3, 4. 1899, 337, 88 3,4. insulated at all points of attachment; shall remove all wires the use of which is abandoned; shall properly insulate every wire where it enters a building, and, if such wire is other than a wire designed to carry an electric light, heat or power current, shall attach to it at a proper point in the circuit, near the place of entering the building, and so situated as to avoid danger from fire, an appliance adapted at all times to prevent a current of electricity of such intensity or volume as to be capable of injuring electrical instruments or of causing fire from entering the building by means of such wire beyond the point at which such appliance is attached; and shall properly insulate every wire within a building which is designed to carry an electric light, heat or power current. SECTION 17. Such person or corporation shall plainly mark each pole, pier, abutment, or other fixture supporting wires or cables containing wires over streets or buildings with the name or initials of the owner of such pole, pier, abutment or other fixture. Wherever cross arms or other appliances for the support of wires or cables belonging to different owners are attached to the same pole, pier, abutment or other fixture, every such cross arm or other appliance shall plainly be tagged or marked with the name or initials of the owner thereof. Wherever wires or cables belonging to different owners are attached to the same cross arm or other appliances for the support of wires or cables, every wire or cable shall be tagged or marked with the name or initials of the owner at or near its point of attachment to such cross arm or other appliance. No such tag or mark shall be required for the wires, poles, piers, abutments and other fixtures of a street railway or electric railroad company, except for its feed wires supported by poles carrying wires or cables belonging to another owner, and for its poles supporting wires or cables belonging to another owner, and for poles belonging jointly to the street railway company and another owner. OFFICERS TO SUPERVISE WIRES. SECTION 18. A city shall, by ordinance, designate or provide for the appointment of an inspector of wires, and any town may, at an annual town meeting, instruct its selectmen to appoint such an inspector. Such inspector shall supervise every wire over or under streets or buildings in such city or town and every wire within a building which is designed to carry an electric light, heat or power current, shall notify the person or corporation owning or operating any such wire whenever its attachments, insulation, supports or appliances are improper or unsafe, or whenever the tags or marks thereof are insufficient or illegible, shall, at the expense of the city or town, remove every wire the use of which has been abondoned and every wire which is not tagged or marked as hereinbefore required, and shall see that all laws and regulations relative to wires are strictly enforced. A city or town may recover in an action of contract of the person or corporation owning any wire so removed the expense which it has incurred for the removal thereof. may be equity. SECTION 19. The supreme judicial court or the superior Provisions court shall have jurisdiction in equity upon petition of the enforced in officer or inspector designated or appointed as aforesaid, to 1890, 404, § 5. enforce the provisions of the three preceding sections and to See 1911, 364. restrain the use or maintenance, or to cause the removal, of any wire, pole or other support which is erected, maintained or used in violation of the provisions of said sections. 371. POLES TO BE INSULATED. of poles. 1895, 228, Amended by 1911, chap. §§ 1, 2. 509, § 4. SECTION 20. Poles and other structures which are used to Insulation support lines for the transmission of electricity shall be insulated in such manner as to protect employees and other persons from accidents. If such poles and other structures are of any material except wood, and support lines which are operated at a voltage in excess of two thousand volts, they shall be plainly and conspicuously marked "Dangerous. Keep away. The officer and inspector of wires appointed under the authority of section eighteen of said chapter one hundred and twenty-two, or the commissioner of wires of the city of Boston, shall enforce the provisions of this section, and he shall be the sole judge of what constitutes a proper insulation and marking. 1895, 228, § 3. SECTION 21. A person or corporation owning poles which Penalty. are used for the transmission of electricity who fails to comply with the provisions of the preceding section shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars for every pole left uninsulated for an unreasonable time after a request for a proper insulation by the officer, inspector or commissioner acting under the provisions of the preceding section. WIRES, ETC., NOT TO BE AFFIXED WITHOUT PERMISSION. ΤΟ BE MARKED. phone wires, erty without 1884, 302, § 1. SECTION 22. A corporation or person maintaining or operat- Affixing teleing telephone, telegraph or other electric wires or any other etc., to propperson who in any manner affixes or causes to be affixed to permission. the property of another any pole, structure, fixture, wire or 201 Mass. 279. other apparatus for telephonic, telegraphic or other electrical communication, or who enters upon the property of another for the purpose of affixing the same, without first obtaining the consent of the owner or lawful agent of the owner of such property, shall, on complaint of such owner or his tenant, be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. poration on structure. SECTION 23. A corporation or person maintaining or operat- Name of coring telephone, telegraph or other electric wires shall, at all places pole or where such wires are affixed by any pole, structure or fixture to 1884, 302, § 2. the property of another, mark such pole, structure, or fixture in Amended by a clear, durable and legible manner with the name or initials of 509, § 5. 1911, chap. the corporation or person maintaining or operating such wires, and any corporation or person failing to comply with the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. Annual returns, etc. GENERAL PROVISIONS. SECTION 24. Every telegraph company shall annually, on or before the fifteenth day of October, make returns to the secretary of the commonwealth, according to forms to be furP. S. 109. § 13. nished on application to him, specifying therein the location 1851, 247, § 5. 1857, 40, § 1. 1858, 46, G. S. 64, See St. 1906, 433, §§ 8, 9, above. Unincorpo- 1. 12. 1851, 247, § 2. G. S. 64, § 13. No easement obtained by poles, etc. 1851, 247, § 1. and line of its telegraph, its name, capital actually paid in, manner of investment of capital, annual receipts and expenditures, real estate and its value, cash on hand, credits on book account and the amount of its indebtedness. Such return shall be signed and sworn to by the president, clerk and treasurer of the company. SECTION 25. Owners and associations engaged in the business specified in section one of this chapter, although not incorporated, shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter, so far as they are applicable. SECTION 26. No enjoyment, for the purposes specified in section one of this chapter, by a person or corporation for any G. S. 64. 14. length of time of the privilege of having or maintaining poles, wires or apparatus in, upon, over or attached to any building or land of other persons shall give a legal right to the continued enjoyment of such easement or raise any presumption of a grant thereof. Injury to lines, wires, etc. 1849, 93, § 7. P. S. 109, § 16. SECTION 27. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures, molests or destroys any line, wire, pole, pier or abutment, or G. S. 64. 15. any of the materials or property, of any street railway company, of any electric railroad company, or of any city or town engaged in the manufacture and sale of electricity for light, heat or power or of any company, owner or association described in sections one and twenty-five 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 imprisonment; and whoever shall do any of the acts prohibited by this section between the hours of four o'clock in the afternoon and seven o'clock in the morning shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than four years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Wires may be P. S. 109, § 17. SECTION 28. Whenever, in order to move a building or for any other necessary purpose, a person desires that the wires of any such company be cut, disconnected or removed, the company shall forthwith cut, disconnect or remove the same, if the person desiring this to be done has first left a written statement, signed by him, of the time when, and the place, described by reference to the crossings of streets or highways, where he wishes to remove said wires, at the office of the company in the town in which such place is situated, twenty-four hours before the time so stated, or, if there is no such office, if he has deposited such statement in the post office, properly prepaid, and directed to the company at its office nearest to said place, three days before the time mentioned in said statement. If the company neglects or refuses to cut, disconnect or remove wires as hereinbefore provided, the inspector of wires, or the selectmen of a town where there is no inspector of wires, may cause the same to be cut, disconnected or removed, and the city or town may recover of the company in an action of contract the expense of so doing. cutting wires notice. SECTION 29. Whoever wilfully cuts, disconnects, removes Penalty for or otherwise interrupts the use of the wires of any such com- without pany, without first giving notice as provided in the preceding 1869, 141. § 2. section, shall be punished as provided in section twenty-seven. P. S. 109, § 18. SECTION 30. The provisions of the two preceding sections Limitation shall not apply to any wires attached to poles which have not sections. been erected in compliance with the provisions of law. [For full text of 1911, 509, see pp. 194-198.] Acts of 1909, Chapter 490, Part III, § 52. TAXATION OF TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. of preceding 1869, 141, § 3. P. S. 109, tax of foreign P. S. 13, § 42. 19. SECTION 52. Every corporation or association chartered or organized Returns and without the commonwealth which owns, controls or uses a line of tele- telegraph comgraph within the commonwealth, shall make the returns required in panies, 1864, 208, § 9. section forty to be made by telegraph companies within the common- 1865, 283, 7. wealth, except the list of its shareholders; and shall annually pay a tax R. L. 14, § 48. at the rate determined in the manner provided in section forty-three; 128 s. 30. and all telegraph lines within the commonwealth controlled and used by 141 U. S. 40. such corporation or association, shall, for the purposes of this part, be 163 U. S. 1. deemed to be a part of its own lines. [For Acts of 1909, Chapter 439, relative to the taxation of poles for wires, and for other provisions as to taxation of wires, conduits, etc. see Part III, pp. 234-236.] 139 Mass. 564. |