reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 161 § 44 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 44 - Use of Motor Vehicles Not Running on Rails

Section 44. Any company, with the approval of the department, may acquire, own and operate, for the transportation of passengers or freight, motor vehicles not running upon rails or tracks, but in such operation shall be subject to chapters one hundred and fifty-nine A and one hundred and fifty-nine B, so far as applicable.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 45 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 45 - Manufacture, Use and Transmission of Electricity

Section 45. A company may, for all purposes necessary or reasonably incident to the construction, maintenance or operation of its railway, generate, manufacture, use and transmit electricity in any city or town where authorized to operate its railway, and may erect and maintain therefore, as a part of its railway, and subject to sections seven, seventy, seventy-one and seventy-seven, relative to the grant and revocation of authority therefor, poles and trolley, feed and stay wires, and other proper devices for, or used in connection with, the transmission of electricity, of materials and workmanship prescribed in the grant of authority therefor, in, over and under any ways and bridges in any such city or town; provided, that authority to erect and maintain the same is granted by the board of aldermen of the city or selectmen of the town, respectively; and may also erect and maintain such poles, wires and other devices upon and over any private land, with the consent of the owners thereof.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 46 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 46 - Use of Tracks by Another Railway

Section 46. A company may permit another street railway company to operate cars over its tracks to such extent and under such rules and regulations as the department deems consistent with the public safety.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 47 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 47 - Interchange of Traffic and Cars Between Companies

Section 47. The department may, on petition of a company or of any interested party, after notice and a public hearing, determine the reasonable conditions which shall govern the interchange of traffic and cars between companies, and may, wherever it is reasonable and consistent with the public interest, order such company to receive and convey over its tracks the cars of another such company at such times and over such routes and upon such terms, including reasonable compensation, as the department may prescribe; provided, that a company shall have control of and responsibility for the management and operation of all cars while upon its railway as fully as if it owned them. The department may also recommend such joint rates, fares and charges as are consistent with the provisions of any special charter of any company, specifying at the same time and in every instance the part of the joint rate, fare or charge to which each company affected thereby shall be entitled, and may make such other recommendations as seem appropriate to the circumstances of each particular case.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 48 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 48 - Use of Railroad Tracks

Section 48. A company, with the consent of a railroad corporation owning tracks, may, to such extent and subject to such terms and regulations as the department may approve or prescribe, operate cars upon and over such tracks of said railroad corporation as are equipped for operation by the electric system of motive power, and may connect its own tracks with the tracks of such railroad in such manner as may be agreed upon by the two companies and approved by the department.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 49 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 49 - Street Sprinkling Cars Upon Railway Tracks

Section 49. A company may allow street sprinkling cars or similar apparatus to be used upon its tracks, may furnish the motive power and use of tracks or other facilities, and may make contracts therefor; but this section shall be operative only to such extent and subject to such regulations and restrictions as the department, having regard to the necessities of public travel, may approve.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 50 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 50 - Municipal Street Maintenance Cars Upon Railway Tracks

Section 50. A company may, with the consent of the board of aldermen or the selectmen, convey in cars over its tracks snow, ice, stones, gravel, dirt, or street sweepings, taken from any street or way over or through which its tracks are located, in order to keep said street or way in proper condition for travel, or may convey to any point on its line, or deliver to any connecting line or any other such company, necessary material for use in constructing, grading, repairing or improving any street or way in any city or town, or any state highway, whether on the line of any such company or not, and may make contracts with cities, towns, the department of highways, and with other such companies for the transportation of such material.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 51 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 51 - Coal and Other Supplies

Section 51. A company may convey in cars over its tracks coal and other supplies for its own use.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 52 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 52 - Carriers of Mail

Section 52. A company may carry the United States mail.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 53 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 53 - Common Carriers of Newspapers, Baggage, Express Matter and Freight

Section 53. A company, on petition of any interested party, may become a common carrier of newspapers, baggage, express matter and freight, upon such parts of its railway and subject to such orders, rules or regulations as may from time to time be made, established or prescribed by the board of aldermen or the selectmen, in this section called the licensing authorities. Any such petitioner or any company, aggrieved by such orders, rules or regulations, or in case of failure of the licensing authorities of any city or town to act upon such petition within thirty days of its presentation, may appeal to the department, whose decision, after public notice and hearing, shall be made within thirty days of the said appeal and shall be final. All orders, rules or regulations made, established or prescribed as aforesaid shall be enforced in the manner provided in section forty of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine. Any company acting under the authority herein granted shall be subject to all laws relating to common carriers in so far as consistent herewith. The authority conferred upon any company by said licensing authorities by virtue of this section may be revoked at any time by said licensing authorities if, after public notice and hearing, they determine that the public interest so requires; provided, that any company or interested party, aggrieved at such revocation, may appeal to the department, whose decision, after public notice and hearing, shall be made within thirty days of the said appeal and shall be final and shall be enforceable as provided in section forty of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 54 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 54 - Operation Outside Limits of Public Way or Bridge

Section 54. Except as provided in this chapter or chapter one hundred and fifty-nine or one hundred and sixty, and except for the purpose of reaching its car barns or repair shops, and of reaching and providing convenient terminals in parks and pleasure resorts situated upon the line of its railway, and of reaching its freight yards and terminals, and of maintaining spurs and sidings, and for other purposes incident to performing the business authorized by the preceding section, a company shall not, unless authorized by special act of the general court, construct or operate any part of its railway outside the limits of a public way or bridge; but such a company which, prior to June fourteenth, nineteen hundred and one, without special legislative authority therefor constructed any part of its railway upon private land, with the consent of the owners thereof, or upon land leased or purchased by such company, or which prior to said date purchased or leased land for the purpose of constructing its railway thereon, or which prior to said date after public notice and a hearing obtained the approval of the board of aldermen of a city or of the selectmen of a town to the construction of a part of its railway upon private land within such city or town, and prior to said date actually with the consent of the owners of the land began, or obtained their consent to begin, such construction, may construct, maintain and operate its railway upon such private land, subject to the provisions of this chapter conferring upon the department control over street railways constructed upon private land.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 55 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 55 - Authorization to Operate on Private Land

Section 55. A company, organized, or in process of organization, under the laws of the commonwealth, having first obtained the approval of the board of aldermen of the city or of the selectmen of the town where private land is situated to the construction of its railway thereon, may, for the purpose of avoiding grades and curves in public ways, and for such other purposes incidental to the use of such ways, as the department may in the manner hereinafter provided approve, petition the department for authority to construct and maintain parts of its railway or extension thereof upon such private land outside the limits of such ways. The company in such petition shall set forth the purpose for which such authority is desired in each case, and shall file with the petition a plan, in such form and upon such scale as the department prescribes, of the railway or extension, and of the localities where it is desired to construct the same upon private land, and the department, after public notice and a hearing, if satisfied that public necessity and convenience demand that parts of the railway or extension should be built outside the limits of such ways, substantially on the private land selected, and that the approval of the board of aldermen or the selectmen of the city or town where the land is situated has been obtained as aforesaid, may authorize the petitioner to construct and operate its railway or extension upon and over private land, and for that purpose to purchase or lease private land or rights therein and thereover, in such cases and to such extent as the department deems public necessity and convenience in the construction and operation of the railway or extension require. The department in granting such authority may determine the kind of construction to be used, the grade and alignment of the tracks, and may order such special appliances to be furnished and such safeguards to be adopted in the construction and operation of the railway or extension upon private land as it deems public necessity, convenience and safety demand.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 56 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 56 - Certification Permitting Operation on Private Land; Regulation of Operation and Construction

Section 56. A street railway constructed upon private land shall not be opened for public use until the department, after examination, certifies that all laws relative to its construction and all requirements of the department have been complied with, and that it appears to be in a safe condition for operation. The department may, at any time after the opening of a street railway for public use, order such changes and improvements to be made in the construction and operation of any part thereof upon private land as it deems necessary for public safety in the use thereof; and such order shall be complied with by such company.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 57 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 57 - Laws Applicable to Railways Located on Private Land

Section 57. A company, whose railway is constructed in part outside the limits of public ways, shall, in respect of the equipment, use and operation of its railway and transportation thereon, be subject to the laws relative to street railway companies, as fully as if its railway were located wholly within the limits of public ways.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 58 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 58 - Eminent Domain

Section 58. A domestic company may apply to the board of aldermen of a city or to the selectmen of a town where it desires to take land, for an adjudication that public necessity and convenience require that certain land, or interests in land, as described in its petition, and for the specific purpose therein stated, be taken by such company, to enable it, in constructing its street railway, or extension thereof, to avoid dangerous curves or grades existing in the highways, or for other similar purposes incident to and not inconsistent with its corporate franchise of operating a railway to accommodate public travel in public ways. If the board to which such application is made finds in favor of the petitioner, after the notice and hearing required by law in the case of the grant of locations for street railways in public ways, the company may, upon complying with the provisions prescribed for railroad corporations by section eighteen of chapter one hundred and sixty, apply to the department for a certificate that public necessity and convenience require the construction of the railway between the termini and substantially upon the route fixed by the agreement of association in case of a company organized under the general laws and by the charter of a company created by special statute, or of the extension substantially on the locations already granted therefor, and for approval of the adjudication of the board of aldermen or of the selectmen as to the necessity and reasons for taking land or rights in land in every city or town where such adjudication has been made. If the department, after public notice and a hearing, at which all persons or corporations alleging that they would be injured by the construction of the railway shall be deemed to be interested parties and entitled to be heard, grants the certificate as prayed for, the petitioner may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine any land or rights in land the taking of which has so been approved by the department.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 60 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 60 - Eminent Domain; Crossing of Public Way

Section 60. A company authorized to construct its railway at grade across a public way in any place where such crossing is not a part of the crossing of such way by another public way, and incident to the construction of the street railway longitudinally within the limits of such other public way, shall, in any proceedings for the abolition of such grade crossing, be considered as a railroad corporation under sections sixty-five to eighty-two, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine if such company has taken any land or other property under authority of the two preceding sections; and it may bring a petition, or be made a respondent to any petition brought by any of the other parties named in said sections, in the same way and be subject to the same liabilities as if it were a railroad corporation.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 61 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 61 - Eminent Domain; Construction of Secs. 58 to 60

Section 61. The three preceding sections shall not enlarge the extent or purposes for which a street railway may be constructed or operated outside the limits of public ways as defined and limited in sections fifty-four and fifty-five.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 62 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 62 - Limitations

Section 62. A company shall not lease or contract for the operation of its railway for a period of more than ninety-nine years without the consent of the general court, nor, except as provided in the three following sections and in section one hundred and twenty-three, shall it sell its railway unless authorized so to do by its charter or by special act of the general court.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 64 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 64 - Financing Sale or Consolidation

Section 64. The purchasing or consolidated company may, subject to section twenty-eight, increase its capital stock and issue bonds to an amount necessary for the purposes authorized in the preceding section, and may exchange its securities for those of the selling or merged company, if the aggregate amount of the capital stock and debt of the two contracting companies shall not by reason of such purchase and sale or consolidation be increased.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 65 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 65 - Powers and Duties of Combined Companies

Section 65. Such purchasing or consolidated company shall have the powers and privileges, and be subject to the duties, liabilities and restrictions, of the company selling or merged, but, except as provided in this chapter or chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, no right to conduct an express business or to be a common carrier of merchandise shall, by reason of any such sale or consolidation, be allowed over any location where it had not been granted prior to April tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 66 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 66 - Use of Facilities of One Railway by Another

Section 66. Two domestic companies, whose railways connect with or intersect each other or together form a continuous line, may contract that either company shall perform all the transportation upon and over the whole or any part of the railway of the other; or any such company may lease its franchise, property and railway to any other such company; but the facilities for travel on either of the railways of said companies shall not be thereby diminished or the rates of fare increased. Such contract or lease shall not be valid or binding until its terms have been agreed to by a majority of the directors, and have been approved, at meetings called therefor, by a vote of a majority in interest of the stockholders of each of said companies, and by the department as required by section fifty-four of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine. The income arising from such contracts or leases shall be subject to the provisions of law relative to the reduction of fares in the same manner as that arising from the use of the railways. Such railways shall be considered as connecting with or intersecting each other, or forming a continuous line, if one of them connects with or intersects or forms a continuous line with a railway leased to or operated by the other under a contract authorized by this section.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 67 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 67 - Powers of Railway Contracting for Operation of Railway or Taking Lease of Railway

Section 67. A company which contracts for the operation, or takes a lease, of another railway shall, subject to the terms of such contract or lease, have and enjoy the powers and privileges, and be subject to the duties, liabilities and restrictions of the company owning it; but no right to carry on an express business or to be a common carrier of merchandise shall be allowed, except as provided in this chapter or chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, over any location where it had not been granted prior to March twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 68 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 68 - Sale of Portion of Railway; Payment of Dividends From Money Received

Section 68. A company shall not appropriate for the payment of dividends any money received from the sale of any portion of its railway, unless it first reduces its capital stock issued, by an amount which, at its par value, is equal to the amount which such portion of its railway cost said company.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 69 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 69 - Purchase of Connecting or Intersecting Line of Company Organized in Another State

Section 69. A domestic company may purchase from a street railway company incorporated under the laws of another state so much of the railway, franchise and property of such other company as is located or used and exercised within this commonwealth when the railway of such other company connects with, intersects, or forms a continuous line with that of the purchasing company; provided, that the facilities for travel on the railway of each of said companies within this commonwealth shall not thereby be diminished, or the rates of fare increased; and provided, that no such purchase shall be valid or binding until the terms thereof have been approved by the department as required by section fifty-four of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine.