any officers then to be chosen, or votes upon the question of granting licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquor. St. 1885, c. 351, § 2; St. 1887, c. 443, § 5; St. 1890, c. 423, § 129. Harris v. Whitcomb, 4 Gray, 433; Commonwealth v. Howe, 144 Mass. 144.

The method of transacting business in town meeting is not governed by any fixed provisions of statute, nor does the validity of the vote depend upon the observance or non-observance of parliamentary law. While it is prudent to follow well-established forms and rules of procedure, it is not necessary. Town meetings like all other deliberative bodies may adopt rules for the ordering of business, and these rules may be set aside, waived, or changed. The all-essential thing is to get at the will of the majority of the voters upon such subject-matters as are properly before the meeting. Bennett v. New Bedford, 110 Mass. 433; Holt v. Somerville, 127 Mass. 408; Cooley Const. Lim., *131.

A moderator or other presiding officer or teller who at a town meeting, before the poll is closed and without the consent of the voter, with a view to ascertain the candidate voted for by him, reads, examines, or permits to be read or examined, the names written on such voter's ballot, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding fifty dollars. St. 1890, c. 423, § 221.

CHAPTER III.

ELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF TOWN

OFFICERS.

A TOWN officer must be an inhabitant of the town, a citizen, twenty-one years of age or upwards, able to read the constitution in the English language, and write his name (unless physically disabled, or was a voter, or was sixty years or more of age, May 1, 1857, the time. of the ratification of article twenty of the amendments to the constitution) and with the exception of the school committee, overseers of the poor, and trustees of the free public library, must be of the male sex. Women otherwise qualified are eligible as members of the school committee, as overseers of the poor, and as trustees of the free public library. Opinion of the Justices, 7 Mass. 523; Ibid., 122 Mass. 594; Barre v. Greenwich, 1 Pick. 129; Robinson's Case, 131 Mass. 376; Cush. Parl. Law, 13, 24; Cool. Con. Lim. *29, *599; Pub. Sts., c. 44, § 21; St. 1886, c. 150; St. 1888, c. 304, § 2.

A person removing from the town in which he holds a town office thereby vacates such office. Pub. Sts., c. 27, § 89.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Every town shall, at its annual meeting, or at a meeting appointed and notified by the select-. men for the purpose and held in the same month in which the annual meeting occurs, choose by written ballots a school committee, which shall have the general charge and superintendence of all the public schools in the town. Said committee shall consist of any number of persons divisible by three which said town has decided to elect, one-third thereof to be elected annually, and to continue in office three years. No person shall be deemed to be ineligible to serve upon a school committee by reason of sex. If a town fails or neglects to choose such committee, an election at a subsequent meeting shall be valid. Pub. Sts., c. 44, § 21.

A town may, at its annual meeting, vote to increase or diminish the number of its school committee. Such increase shall be made by adding one or more to each class, to hold office according to the tenure of the class to which they are severally chosen. Such diminution shall be made by choosing, annually, such number as will in three years effect it, and a vote to diminish shall remain in force until the diminution under it is accomplished. Pub. Sts., c. 44, § 26.

SELECTMEN.

A town which, at an annual meeting, has accepted chapter 255 of the statutes of the year 1878, or this and the four following sections, and which has not revoked such acceptance, may, at such annual meeting or at any subsequent one, elect its selectmen for the period of three years in the following manner; namely, if the selectmen are three in number, it may elect one selectman for one year, one for two years, and one for three years; and thereafter at each annual meeting may elect one selectman to serve for three years. If the selectmen are five in number, it may elect one selectman for one year, two selectmen for two years, and two for three years; and at each annual meeting thereafter may elect one or two to serve for three years, as the term of office of one or two expires in that year. If the selectmen are seven in number, it may elect two selectmen for one year, two for two years, and three for three years; and at each annual meeting thereafter, it may elect two or three to serve for three years, as the term of office of two or three expires in that year. If the selectmen are nine in number, it may elect three selectmen for one year, three for two years, and three for three years; and at each annual meeting thereafter may elect three to serve for three years. Pub. Sts., c. 27, § 64.

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ASSESSORS.

A town which, at an annual meeting, has accepted the provisions, in regard to assessors, of chapter 255 of the acts of the year 1878, or the provisions of sections 65, 66, 67, and 68 of chapter 27 of the Public Statutes, and in which such acceptance has not been revoked, or which shall at an annual meeting accept the provisions of this and the three following sections, may elect at such annual meeting, or at any subsequent annual meeting, three, five, seven, or nine assessors, in the manner and for the terms respectively provided in the preceding section for electing a like number of selectmen; or it may elect four assessors, two for one year, and two for two years; and at each annual meeting thereafter it may elect two to serve for two years. Pub. Sts., c. 27, § 65, amended by St. 1883, c. 203, § 1.

A town which votes at an annual meeting to increase or diminish the number of its selectmen or assessors may elect or omit to elect such a number at that or at any annual meeting thereafter as will make the board of the required number, with terms of office expiring in the manner provided in the two preceding sections, but shall not so diminish the number as to prevent the election of one at least in every year. Pub. Sts., c. 27, § 66.