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port the constitution of the United States. And such oaths may be administered to the mayor elect, Oath of by any one of the justices of the supreme judicial court, or any judge of any court of record, commissioned to hold any such court, within the said city, or by any justice of the peace for the county of Suffolk. And such oaths shall be administered to the aldermen and members of the common council, by the mayor, being himself first sworn as aforesaid; or by either of the persons authorized to administer said oath to the mayor; and a certificate of such oaths having been taken shall be entered in the journal of the mayor and aldermen, and of the common council respectively, by their respective clerks.

mayor elect

1830, 7, § 2.

SECT. 28. In case of the unavoidable absence Absence of on account of sickness or otherwise, of the mayor elect, on the first Monday in January, the City Government shall organize itself in the mode hereinbefore provided in cases wherein no person shall have been elected mayor at the meeting last preceding the first Monday in January, and may proceed to business in the same manner as if the mayor was present.

to choose a

chairman.

SECT. 29. After the organization of the city Aldermen government and the qualification of a mayor, and permanent when a quorum of the board of aldermen shall be present, said board, the mayor presiding, shall proceed to choose a permanent chairman, who shall preside at all meetings of the Board and at conventions of the two branches, in the absence of the mayor; and in case of any vacancy in the office

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Vacancy in office of city clerk.

Absence of city clerk.

of mayor for any cause, he shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties of the office as long as such vacancy shall continue. But he shall continue to have a vote in the board and shall not have the veto power.

SECT. 30. The mayor, aldermen, and common council in convention, in the month of January, shall choose a clerk for the term of one year, and until another person is duly chosen and qualified in his stead, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, and shall be removable at the pleasure of the board of Aldermen -the mayor thereto consenting. He shall be denominated the city clerk, and it shall be his duty to keep a journal of the acts and proceedings of the board of aldermen, to sign all warrants issued by them, and to do such other acts in his said capacity, as may lawfully and reasonably be required of him; and to deliver over all journals, books, papers, and documents entrusted to him as such clerk, to this successor in office, immediately upon such successor being chosen and qualified as aforesaid, or whenever he may be thereunto required by the aldermen. The city clerk thus chosen and qualified shall continue to have all the powers and perform all the duties now by law belonging to him.

SECT. 31. In case of a vacancy in the office of city clerk, from any cause, the same shall be filled in the manner provided in the preceding

section.

SECT. 32. In case of the temporary absence of the city clerk, the mayor, by and with the advice

and consent of the board of aldermen, may appoint

a city clerk pro tempore.

duties of board of

1821, 110, §

1852, 266.

SECT. 33. The administration of police, togeth- Powers and er with the executive powers of the said corpora- aldermen. tion generally, and all the powers formerly vested 13. in the selectmen of the town of Boston, either by the general laws of this commonwealth, by particular laws relative to the powers and duties of said selectmen, or by the usages, votes or by-laws of said town, and all the powers subsequently vested in the mayor or aldermen of said city, as county R. S.24, § 54. commissioners or otherwise, shall be, and hereby are vested in the board of aldermen, as hereby constituted, as fully and amply as if the same were herein specially enumerated. A majority of the members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Their meetings shall be public, and the mayor, if present, 1821, 110, shall preside, but without a vote.

Ibid, 14, 29.

Common

separate

1821, 110, §

11.

SECT. 34. The persons so chosen and qualified Concila as members of the common council of the said body. city, shall sit and act together as a separate body, ii. distinct from that of the board of aldermen, except in those cases in which the two bodies are to meet in convention; and the said council shall have power, from time to time, to choose one of President. their own members to preside over their deliberations, and to preserve order therein, and also to Clerk. choose a clerk, who shall be under oath faithfully to discharge the duties of his office, who shall hold such office during the pleasure of said council, and whose duty it shall be to attend said coun

§

cil, when the same is in session, to keep a journal of its acts, votes, and proceedings, and to perform such other services, in said capacity, as said counSetting cil may require. All sittings of the common council shall be public; and twenty-five members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

be public.

Quorum.

Powers of

city council.

Stat. 1847, c. 262.

1851, c. 238.

SECT. 35. All other powers heretofore by law 1821, 110, § vested in the town of Boston, or in the inhabitants thereof, as a municipal corporation, or in the city council of the city of Boston, shall be and hereby are continued to be vested in the mayor, aldermen, and common council of the said city, to be exercised by concurrent vote, each board as hereby constituted, having a negative upon the proceedings of the other, and the mayor having a veto power as hereinafter provided. More especially they shall have power to make all such By-laws. needful and salutary by-laws, or ordinances, not

Assessment of taxes. 1821, 110, § 15. Stat. 1852, c. 301.

1822, 85.

Rev. Stat.

14, 34.

inconsistent with the laws of this commonwealth, as towns by the laws of this commonwealth have power to make and establish, and to annex penalties not exceeding fifty dollars, for the breach thereof, which by-laws and ordinances shall take effect and be in force from and after the time therein respectively limited, without the sanction or confirmation of any court, or other authority whatsoever.

SECT. 36. The city council shall also have power, from time to time, to lay and assess taxes for all purposes for which towns are by law required or authorized to assess and grant money, and also for all purposes for which county taxes

may be levied and assessed, so long as other towns in the county shall not be liable to taxation for county purposes. But in the assessment and apportionment of all such taxes upon the polls and estates of all persons liable to contribute thereto, the same rules and regulations shall be observed as are now established by the laws of this commonwealth, or may be hereafter enacted, relative to the assessment and apportionment of town

taxes.

of taxes.

15.

be chosen.

SECT. 37. The said city council shall also have Collection power to provide for the assessment and collection 1821, 110, § of such taxes, and to make appropriations of all public moneys, and provide for the disbursement thereof, and take suitable measures to ensure a just and prompt account thereof; and for these Assessors to purposes, may either elect such assessors and assistant assessors as may be needful, or provide for the appointment or election of the same or any of them, by the mayor and aldermen, or by the citizens, as in their judgment may be most conducive to the public good; and may also require of all persons entrusted with the collection, custody, or disbursement of public moneys, such bonds with such conditions and such sureties, as the case may required. in their judgment require.

Bonds, &c.,

may be

cil may pro

appoint

1821, 110, §

SECT. 38. The city council may provide for the City counappointment or election of all necessary officers, vide for the for the good government of said city, not other-officers. wise provided for, and may prescribe their duties 16. and fix their compensation; and may choose a register of deeds, whenever the city shall be one deeds. county.

Register of

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