reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 161 § 69a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 69a - Merger of Association or Trust Owning Capital of Company Into Company

Section 69A. An association or trust which owns all of the capital stock of a company may be merged into such company. Such company and such association or trust shall enter into an agreement in writing which shall prescribe the terms of the merger. Such agreement shall be approved by unanimous vote of each class of stock of said company at a meeting called for the purpose and for which notice of meeting is waived. Such agreement shall be approved by affirmative vote by such association or trust in the manner provided in the written instrument or declaration of trust under which such association or trust was formed or is regulated. Within thirty days after the meeting at which such merger has been voted, articles of amendment setting forth (1) said vote, (2) a copy of the agreement for said merger, and (3) a certificate that all of the stock of the company is owned by the association or trust certified by the president, treasurer and a majority of the directors of the company and by the persons authorized to execute said agreement for the association or trust shall be submitted to the department for approval. Within thirty days after such approval, the documents filed with the department, together with a certified copy of the order of the department approving the proposed merger shall be filed with the state secretary accompanied by a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provisions of section three B of chapter seven. The state secretary shall examine such articles of amendment and, if he finds that they conform to the provisions of the law relative to the merger of companies and associations or trusts, he shall so certify and endorse his approval thereon. No merger shall take effect until the articles of amendment have been filed as aforesaid. Upon the filing of such articles, all of the property, real, personal and mixed of the merged association or trust shall vest in and be held and owned by the company as the same were before held and owned by the merged association or trust.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 70 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 70 - Extension of Location; Proceedings

Section 70. The board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town, on petition of fifty legal voters, or on petition executed in accordance with the by-laws or a vote of the directors of a company whose tracks are located in said city or town, after public notice and a hearing as provided in section seven, may grant a location for the extension of the tracks of such company, and prescribe how said tracks shall be laid and the kind of rails, poles, wires and other appliances to be used; but they shall impose no terms or conditions to such grant in addition to those imposed by general laws on such companies in force on October first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, or such as may have been imposed in the grant of original location to such company in such city or town subsequent to said date. No such extension of a location shall be valid, until the department, after public notice and a hearing, shall certify that such extension is consistent with the public interest. If the department requires an alteration in such extension before so certifying, it shall notify the board of aldermen or selectmen, granting such extension, of such alteration; and thereafter said board of aldermen or selectmen may amend such extension in accordance with such alteration; provided, that, if such alteration involves a change in the route of the railway, public notice and a hearing shall be given as provided in the case of the original application for an extension; and thereafter the department may, as a part of the original proceedings before it, certify that such extension so amended is consistent with the public interest. An extension, so certified, shall be a valid location, if, within sixty days after the issue of notice of said certification to the company, it files a written acceptance of such extension, executed in accordance with its by-laws or a vote of its directors, with the board of aldermen or selectmen. An extension granted by a board of aldermen or selectmen, but refused certification hereunder by the department, or not accepted as hereinbefore provided, shall be void.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 71 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 71 - Alteration of Location; Proceedings

Section 71. The board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town, on petition executed in accordance with the by-laws or a vote of the directors of a company whose tracks are located in said city or town, or on petition of any interested party, after public notice and a hearing as provided in section seven, may alter the location of the tracks in the manner prescribed in, and subject to, the preceding section. Such alteration shall be made by such company within such time, and the expense thereof shall be borne by such parties and in such proportions, as the board of aldermen or selectmen may determine. No such alteration of a location shall be valid, until the department, after public notice and a hearing, shall certify that such alteration is consistent with the public interest. If the department requires an amendment to such alteration before so certifying, it shall notify the board of aldermen or selectmen of such amendment; and thereafter the board of aldermen or selectmen may amend such alteration in accordance with the said amendment; provided, that, if the amendment involves a change in the route of the railway, public notice and a hearing shall be given as provided in the case of the original application for an alteration; and thereafter the department may, as a part of the original proceedings before it, certify that such alteration so amended is consistent with the public interest. An alteration, so certified, shall be a valid location, if, within sixty days after the issue of notice of said certification to the company, it files a written acceptance of such alteration, executed in accordance with its by-laws or a vote of its directors, with the board of aldermen or selectmen.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 72 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 72 - Authorization to Grant in Public Way or Upon Private Land

Section 72. The several boards, departments and commissions authorized by law to grant locations to companies may, to enable any such company to avoid interruption of its service, on petition of such company or of any interested party, grant temporary locations for the tracks of the company in any public place or way, or may approve temporary locations upon private land without notice and hearing. The body granting or approving such temporary locations may place a limit of time upon their use, and if unlimited as to time such use shall terminate after such reasonable time as, in the opinion of such body, will permit, without interruption, the restoration of service upon the locations of the company. The department may approve such temporary locations without notice and hearing.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 73 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 73 - Authorization to Grant While Bridge Closed

Section 73. If a bridge upon which a company is authorized to lay and use tracks is being or is to be altered, rebuilt, improved or repaired, the board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town on petition of the president or a majority of the directors of such company may grant a temporary location for the extension of the tracks of such company in any public way in such city or town so as to provide such connection between the existing tracks of such company upon either side of such bridge as will prevent any interruption of proper transportation facilities by reason of such alteration, improvement, rebuilding or repair, and may prescribe how said tracks shall be laid and the kind of rails, poles, wires and other appliances to be used. Such location shall not be valid unless the board of aldermen or selectmen file with the clerk of the city or town concerned a certificate that the granting of the location is consistent with the public interest. In no case shall a location be valid unless, within thirty days after the filing of the said certificate or after the entering of a decree by the department, a majority of the directors of the company shall file with the body granting the location a written acceptance thereof.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 74 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 74 - Application to Department

Section 74. A company whose petition for such temporary location has been refused in whole or in part, or has been neither granted nor refused, within fourteen days after the filing thereof, may apply to the department for such temporary location. If the department deems public necessity and convenience require such temporary location, it may enter a decree granting the same, and may prescribe the use of such appliances and impose such conditions and obligations as it deems proper.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 75 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 75 - Termination of Location

Section 75. A company which is granted such temporary location for the extension of its tracks shall not maintain them nor operate cars over them beyond the period during which the operation of its cars over such bridge is interrupted by reason of such alteration, improvement, rebuilding or repair, and at the end of such period shall remove its tracks from the public ways upon and over which such temporary location has been granted.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 76 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 76 - Cost of Temporary Tracks Constructed Due to Alteration of Grade Crossing

Section 76. If such bridge is altered, rebuilt, improved or repaired under sections fifty-nine to sixty-four, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, the cost of construction of the tracks upon and over such temporary location shall be reckoned as a part of the charges and expenses of the alteration, improvement or repair of the crossing, to be apportioned by the special commission as provided thereunder.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 77 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 77 - Proceedings

Section 77. The board of aldermen or selectmen, after the expiration of one year from the opening for use of a street railway in their city or town, and after public notice and a hearing as provided in section seven, if public necessity and convenience in the use of the public ways so require, may, for good and sufficient reasons to be stated in the order therefor, revoke the location of a street railway in any public way therein; but unless, within thirty days after such order of revocation, the company consents thereto in writing, such order shall not be valid until approved by the department after public notice and a hearing. If such order of revocation is approved, the company shall become obligated to remove the railway included in the location thus revoked at such time or times as the municipal or state authorities having control of the public way or ways occupied thereby shall propose to resurface any part or parts of such way or ways or to remove the same forthwith upon order of the board of aldermen or selectmen, but it shall be under no obligation to pay for any part of the resurfacing thereof. Upon receiving written notice from such municipal or state authorities at any time after the approval of such revocation that it is proposed to resurface any part or parts of such way or ways, the company shall thereupon remove at its own expense the railway from such part or parts included in the location so revoked coincidentally with the resurfacing of such way or ways. If the company shall fail to remove its railway as above provided, such municipal or state authorities may cause the work to be done at the expense of the company, and such expense may be recovered in tort.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 78 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 78 - Expense of Widening; Way Not Presently Containing Track

Section 78. If application is made for a location in a public way where no street railway tracks are located, and such way is widened under chapter eighty or eighty-two by an order declaring the widening to be necessary for public convenience for the purpose of granting such location of street railway tracks therein, a proportionate share of the expense of such widening may be assessed upon a company accepting a location in the way so widened; but the amount of such assessment, in addition to the amounts assessed on real estate, shall not exceed one half of the total cost of such widening.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 79 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 79 - Expense of Altering or Changing Grade; Way Containing Track

Section 79. If a public way where the tracks of a company have been located for a period of five years is altered, or if the grade thereof is changed under chapter eighty or eighty-two, the company shall pay such proportionate share of the expense thereof, including therein the necessary cost of changing its railway to conform to such alteration or change of grade, as may be assessed upon it, provided that, if betterments are assessed, no such assessment on the company shall exceed the aggregate amount of all the betterments assessed upon real estate, and that in no case shall such assessment exceed one quarter of the total cost of such alteration or change of grade.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 80 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 80 - Method as Assessing

Section 80. The provisions of chapter eighty relative to the assessment of betterments on real estate, so far as applicable, shall apply to assessments made under the two preceding sections.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 81 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 81 - Application to Have Way Designated as Highway; Determination; Payment for Damages

Section 81. If the board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town and a company having a location in a way which said board of aldermen or said selectmen or the county commissioners of the county where said city or town lies have in writing requested the commonwealth to take charge of, make application to the department of highways, and with the application submit satisfactory plans, profiles and cross sections of said way, said department shall indicate on such plans, profiles and cross sections a location and grade for the tracks of said company. If said department considers said way suitable for a state highway, and said department and the company by vote of its directors agree as to the proportionate part of the cost of construction which shall be paid by the commonwealth and by the company, said department may pay, out of the appropriations for the construction and repair of state highways, said proportionate part of the damages sustained by a person whose property may be injured by the construction of such state highway, and of the cost of grading it to the lines established by said department. A way graded under this section shall remain a town way or a highway, subject to all laws relative thereto, until said way is taken charge of as a state highway by the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 82 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 82 - Power of Department of Highways

Section 82. If a public way in which a street railway location has been granted shall be thereafter laid out, taken charge of or constructed by or under the authority of said department of highways, it shall thereafter, relative to the location and maintenance of a street railway upon such state highway, have the authority conferred by sections seven, seventy, seventy-one, seventy-seven and eighty-nine upon boards of aldermen and selectmen, and shall exercise such authority in the same manner, and subject to the same rights and limitations, except that subject to the approval of the department of telecommunications and energy an order of said department of highways for the alteration of a location may be made without the written acceptance of alterations required by said section seventy-one. If the company fails to comply with such order so approved within the time specified therein, said department of highways may carry out the work at the expense of the company, and such expense shall be recovered in contract.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 83 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 83 - Certificate of Compliance

Section 83. No street railway or portion or extension thereof shall be opened for public use until the department, after an examination, certifies that all laws relative to its construction have been complied with, and that it appears to be in a safe condition for operation; but this section shall not compel the department to grant such certificate until the entire road included in the location of such railway, portion or extension has been completed.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 84 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 84 - Rate of Speed; Use of Tracks; Number and Routes of Cars

Section 84. The board of aldermen or the selectmen may, subject to the approval, revision or alteration of the department, establish such regulations as to the rate of speed, the manner and extent of use of tracks, and the number and routes of cars which run over such tracks, within their city or town, as public interest and convenience require; and a street railway company whose servants or agents wilfully or negligently violate any such regulations shall forfeit not more than five hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 85 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 85 - Clearance of Snow From Tracks; Regulations of Department of Highways

Section 85. The department of highways, in respect to state highways, and the superintendent of streets of cities or officers exercising like authority therein and the selectmen in towns in respect to all other public ways, shall establish regulations for the clearance of snow from its tracks by any street railway company operating therein, and for the removal of such snow by said company from the public ways in which such tracks are located; provided, that no such company shall be compelled to remove from the public ways in which its tracks are located an amount of snow greater than it has cleared from between its rails and between its tracks and from a space eighteen inches wide on either side of its tracks.  Annually on or before September first the said department of highways and the local authorities above named shall transmit to the president or other officer of each company operating its cars in the public ways subject to regulations established by said department of highways or local authorities, and to the department of telecommunications and energy, a copy of such regulations. Within fourteen days after the receipt by any company of such regulations, such company may, by its president or a majority of its board of directors, petition the department of telecommunications and energy for such amendments thereof as said president or said board of directors deem reasonable. The department of telecommunications and energy shall, after notice and hearing, within sixty days of the receipt of said petition, file with the said department of highways or the said local authorities and with the president of such company its findings upon said petition, including such amendments of said regulations, if any, as the department of telecommunications and energy deems reasonable, and thereafter such regulations as amended shall be and remain in force until September first following and until other regulations are established as herein provided.
MA Gen L ch 161 § 86 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 161 - Street Railways|Section 86 - Voluntary Discontinuance of Use of Tracks; Removal of Track

Section 86. If a company voluntarily discontinues the use of any part of its tracks for a period of six months, it shall become obligated to remove such track at such time or times as the municipal or state authorities having control of the public way or ways occupied thereby shall propose to resurface any part or parts of such way or ways or to remove the same forthwith upon order of the board of aldermen or selectmen. Upon receiving written notice from such municipal or state authorities at any time after such discontinuance for a period of six months that it is proposed to resurface any part or parts of any such way or ways, the company shall thereupon remove at its own expense such discontinued tracks coincidentally with the resurfacing of the part or parts of such way or ways which are being resurfaced or upon receipt of written notice of such order by the board of aldermen or selectmen, shall likewise remove the same forthwith, but it shall be under no obligation to pay any part of the expense of resurfacing. If the company shall fail to remove its tracks as above provided, such municipal or state authorities may cause the work to be done at the expense of the company, and such expense may be recovered in tort. If a company without right or lawful excuse discontinues the use of any track and when requested by the board of aldermen of the city or by the selectmen of the town where such track is located refuses to operate the same, the mayor of such city, if duly authorized by vote of the city council or the selectmen of such town if duly authorized by vote of the town, may petition the supreme judicial court to compel said company to resume the use of such track and to perform all its corporate duties relating thereto. Such petition shall set forth the facts upon which the petitioner relies and the relief sought, but shall not be defeated for informality, and may be amended at any stage; and said court shall have jurisdiction in equity to determine the cause and enforce its decrees and orders relative thereto. Upon the filing of any such petition said court shall order due notice to be served upon the company and shall advance the cause to a speedy hearing and final decision. In case the track, the use of which has been discontinued, is located in two or more cities or towns, any or all of such cities or towns, acting by the officials above named and authorized as hereinbefore provided, may join in such petition. This section shall not be deemed a legislative construction of any existing law or an impairment of any existing right of a company to discontinue the use of tracks.