reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 58 - Supervision of Crossing Following Consent of Department

Section 58. In any case in which the consent or approval of the department required by law for any crossing at grade is given, it may, after notice to the parties interested and a hearing, impose conditions, limitations, restrictions and regulations relative to such crossing, its construction and use, and may change and modify them.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 60 - Eminent Domain

Section 60. If it is decided that the location of the railroad or of the way shall be changed, land or other property may be taken therefor by eminent domain on behalf of the railroad corporation, the commonwealth, the county or the city or town, as the case may be, under chapter seventy-nine, and damages may be recovered therefor under said chapter.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 61 - Party to Carry Award Into Effect and to Pay Charges

Section 61. A commission of three disinterested persons, appointed as provided in the following section, shall determine which party shall carry such decision into effect and which party shall pay the charges and expenses of making such alteration and the future charges for keeping such bridge or crossing and the approaches thereto in repair, as well as the costs of the application to the county commissioners, or the department, and of the hearing before said commission; and it may apportion all such charges, expenses and costs between the railroad corporation, the railway company having tracks on said way, and the counties, cities or towns where said crossing is situated and other cities and towns which may be specially benefited; and if the crossing and its approaches are in direct continuation or a part of a state highway, the commonwealth may be included in such apportionment and its share shall be paid from the annual appropriation for maintenance and repair of state highways; provided, that the parties in interest may waive the appointment of the commission and determine the foregoing by written agreement to be filed in the proceeding. If a railway company is authorized to lay and use tracks upon any bridge in a highway built, repaired or altered as above provided for, or the approaches to which are altered or improved as above provided for, the said commission shall determine what part of the charges and expenses of making such changes or improvements, or of keeping such bridge or crossing and approaches in good condition, shall be paid by said railway company.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 62 - Appointment of Commission; Hearing; Notice

Section 62. Unless the parties in interest agree as provided in section sixty-one, upon application of the county commissioners, the department, the department of highways, the board of aldermen, the selectmen or the directors of the railroad corporation or of the railway company for the appointment of such commission, the superior court shall cause notice thereof to be given to the other parties interested fourteen days at least before the time fixed for the hearing; and thereupon, after hearing, shall appoint such commission, one member of which shall be a member of and designated by the department. The commission shall meet as soon as may be after its appointment, and, after notice to and a hearing of the parties, shall make a written award and return it to said court.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 63 - Revision of Award; Jury

Section 63. A party aggrieved by said award may, within fourteen days after the return thereof, apply to the court for a jury to revise and determine any matter of fact found therein; and thereupon the court, after notice to all parties interested, shall order a trial by jury in the same manner as civil cases are tried by jury. The decree of the court upon said award or upon the verdict of a jury, or upon agreement of the parties filed in said court, shall be final and binding, and said court may in equity enforce compliance therewith, and also issue and enforce such interlocutory decrees and orders as justice may require.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 64 - Recovery After Alteration of Proportion of Expense

Section 64. The party designated for that duty, having carried into effect the decision made under section fifty-nine, may recover in contract from any other party the proportion awarded to be paid by such other party, with interest; and if the party so designated unreasonably fails to carry the decision into effect, any other party affected by such failure may proceed to do it, and may recover in contract from each or all of the others the proportion awarded to be paid by them, and from the party so failing all charges, expenses and costs occasioned thereby.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 65 - Proceedings to Abolish Grade Crossings

Section 65. The department of highways shall proceed to make an investigation of crossings where a public or private way and a railroad cross each other at grade, in sections sixty-five to eighty-two, inclusive, referred to as grade crossings. Said department shall annually on or before October first file with the department of telecommunications and energy lists of grade crossings the abolition of which it suggests for early consideration, to which lists additional grade crossings may from time to time be added by said department of highways. Such lists shall state the names of the grade crossings, the names of the corporations operating the railroads crossed and the counties, cities and towns in which such crossings are located. The department of highways shall receive all petitions for the abolition of grade crossings from the aldermen of the city, the selectmen of the town, or the county commissioners of the county, where such a crossing exists, or the board of directors of the railroad corporation operating the railroad crossed, and after a hearing, due notice of which shall have been given to said railroad corporation, city or town and county, may in its discretion place said crossing on one of said lists. The department of telecommunications and energy, after due notice to the department of highways, the counties and municipalities in which such crossings are located and the railroad corporations operating the railroads crossed, shall proceed to hold public hearings upon such lists and such additional grade crossings as the department of highways shall have notified it to include. Upon the completion of such hearings the department of telecommunications and energy by order shall designate a program of grade crossings the abolition of which shall be considered; provided, that such program order may be amended or revised from time to time by the department of telecommunications and energy on request of the department of highways. In establishing such program the department of telecommunications and energy shall take into consideration the relative security and convenience of the public likely to result from the abolition of each particular grade crossing included therein as compared with the abolition of other grade crossings. Such program order shall state with respect to each grade crossing the name of the crossing, the name of the railroad corporation operating the railroad crossed, and the names of the counties, cities and towns in which the crossing is located. A copy of such program order and amendments and revisions thereof shall be filed in the office of the department of telecommunications and energy and of the department of highways.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 72 - Crossing Abolished Upon State Highway; Clear View

Section 72. Whenever a grade crossing is abolished upon a state highway, county way, or way which has been petitioned for as a state highway, the said highway or way shall be so constructed that there shall be a clear view in each direction for at least one hundred and fifty feet from the center of said highway or other way where the same passes over or under the railroad, except in any particular case, when compliance with said requirement is deemed by the department of highways to be unnecessary and unreasonable under all the circumstances.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 73 - Financing Cost of Abolishing Crossing by Street Railway Company

Section 73. The amount of any expenditure under section eighty by a street railway company toward the cost of abolishing a grade crossing shall be deemed and taken in all proceedings thereafter as a part of the value of its property for street railway purposes; and such company may issue stocks or bonds to such amount as the department of telecommunications and energy shall, subject to the laws relating to the issue of stocks and bonds by street railway companies, approve as reasonably necessary to provide for the payment of such expenditure.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 75 - Damages

Section 75. All damages sustained by any person in his property by the taking of land for or by the alterations of the grade of a public way, or by an abutter thereon by the discontinuance of such public way, to the same extent as damages are recoverable by abutters on ways discontinued by towns, or by the taking of an easement in land adjoining a public way, shall primarily be paid by the city or town, or, in case such public way is a state highway, by the commonwealth; and all damages caused by the taking of land for the railroad or by the change or discontinuance of a private way, or by the taking of an easement in land adjoining a private way or a railroad location shall primarily be paid by the railroad corporation. Any amount paid by way of damages by the commonwealth or the city or town or the railroad corporation primarily liable therefor shall be subject to investigation by the department of highways, unless such settlements are assented to in writing by all parties in the proceeding. If the parties interested cannot agree upon said damages, any party may have the damages determined under chapter seventy-nine. All expense resulting from the necessary relocating or changing of streams and watercourses forming the natural drainage channels of the territory where alterations of grades are authorized, and of sewers, drains and pipes therein owned and operated by a city or town, shall be primarily paid by said city or town, and shall be a part of the actual cost of the alterations specified in section seventy.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 76 - Settlement of Claims; Failure to File Petition

Section 76. In any case arising under the preceding section, where any person sustaining damage to his property in the manner therein specified fails to bring a petition within the time limited by chapter seventy-nine, the attorney general may join with the other parties interested in a settlement of the claim of such person; and the proportion of the amount agreed upon in settlement thereof which would be chargeable to the commonwealth under section seventy shall be paid by the commonwealth as if it were a part of the actual cost of the work required to be done under said section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 77 - Expenses of Maintenance and Repair

Section 77. After the completion of the work, the expense of maintenance and repair shall be paid as follows: if the public way crosses the railroad by an overhead bridge, the superstructure and subflooring of the bridge and its abutments or other supports shall be maintained and kept in repair by the railroad corporation, but the approaches of the bridge and the pavement or wearing surface over the subflooring shall be maintained and kept in repair by the city or town where situated, or, in case such public way is a state highway, by the commonwealth; if the public way passes under the railroad, the bridge and its abutments or supports shall be maintained and kept in repair by the railroad corporation, and the public way and its approaches shall be maintained and kept in repair by the city or town where situated, or, in case such public way is a state highway, by the commonwealth; if several railroads cross a public way at or near a given point, the department of highways shall apportion and award in what manner and proportion each of said railroad corporations shall maintain and keep in repair the superstructure and subflooring of the bridge and its abutments or supports if the public way crosses the railroad by an overhead bridge, and the bridge and its abutments or supports if the public way passes under said railroads.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 78 - Audit of Expenses; Investigations; Orders of Payment of Apportioned Share

Section 78. All accounts of expense incurred by the railroad corporations or the city or town shall from time to time be submitted to the department of highways which shall audit the same, including any expense incurred by the commonwealth for or in connection with a state highway, and report thereon to the state comptroller. Said department shall upon request of any of the parties to the proceeding investigate the amounts presented for allowance by the commonwealth or any city or town or any railroad corporation as expended in the payment of damages for land taken or affected by reason of the proposed alteration, which have been paid by the party primarily liable therefor, as provided in section seventy-five, unless it appears that all the parties to the proceeding for the abolition of the grade crossing have assented in writing to the payment or settlement so made by the party primarily liable; and if said department determines that the amount so paid is in excess of what in its opinion should have been properly paid therefor, it shall allow only such portion of the amount so paid as it may deem to be just and reasonable. In case of any dispute as to the propriety or reasonableness of the whole or a part of any account of the expense, the department of telecommunications and energy, upon application of any party to the proceedings, shall determine the amount thereof, if any, to be allowed, and its determination shall be final. The department of highways shall, from time to time, issue its orders for payments on the part of each railroad corporation, not exceeding the amount apportioned to it by said department, and for the payment by the commonwealth of a sum not exceeding the amounts apportioned to it and to the county and city or town; and such county and city or town shall repay to the commonwealth the amount apportioned to it, with interest thereon at the rate of four per cent per annum in such instalments and at such times within ten years thereafter as said department, with the approval of the state comptroller, having regard to the financial condition of the county, city or town, shall determine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 79 - Enforcement; Review

Section 79. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce compliance with sections sixty-five to eighty-two, inclusive, and with the orders and agreements made thereunder. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in equity to review, modify, amend or annul any order of the department of highways or the department of telecommunications and energy made under authority of said sections, but only to the extent of the unlawfulness of such order.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 82 - Application

Section 82. Sections fifty-nine to sixty-four, inclusive, of this chapter and sections one hundred and eight, one hundred and eleven, one hundred and twelve, one hundred and thirteen and two hundred and fifty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty, so far as they relate to proceedings for the abolition of grade crossings, shall not apply to cases within the provisions of the preceding seventeen sections.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 83 - Examination by Railways; Report; Submission of Plans for Bridge

Section 83. Every railroad corporation and railway company shall, upon request of the department, and at least once in two years, cause an examination of its tracks and roadbed and of its tunnels and bridges and of the approaches thereto to be made by a competent engineer, who shall report the result of his examination, his conclusions and recommendations to the corporation or company, and it shall forthwith transmit a copy of the report to the department. Before a railway company builds a bridge, it shall first submit the plans thereof to the department for approval. Upon the completion of a new bridge, the railroad corporation or railway company shall forthwith cause such examination and report to be made and transmitted to the department. The report shall furnish such information, in such detail and with such drawings or prints, as may be requested in writing by the department. The department may make further examination of the bridge structure if necessary or expedient. This section shall not exempt a corporation from making other and more frequent examination of its bridges and the approaches thereto.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 84 - Maintenance and Repair; Hearing; Order

Section 84. If the county commissioners of a county, the board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town where a bridge at the crossing of a public way and a railroad, or a bridge upon which a railway company is authorized to lay and use tracks, is located in whole or in part, or the directors of a corporation owning or operating such railroad, or the directors of a company owning or operating such railway, are of the opinion that such bridge is in need of maintenance or repair, they may apply to the department, which shall, after public notice, hear all persons interested, and, if it decides that the work of maintenance or repair is necessary, shall prescribe the manner in and the limits within which it shall be done, and shall forthwith certify its decision to the parties.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 85 - Enforcement

Section 85. If railroad corporations, railway companies, counties, cities, towns, or any of them, jointly or severally, are charged with the duty of maintaining or repairing any such bridge under any provision of law, agreement, or decree of court, and if the parties so charged with such duty refuse or neglect to carry into effect such decision within a reasonable time, any other such party may apply to the superior court, which may in equity enforce such decision.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 86 - Formation of Relief Corporation

Section 86. Seven or more persons, a majority of whom are residents of the commonwealth, being employees of any railroad, railway or steamboat corporation, organized under the laws of the commonwealth, may form a corporation under chapter one hundred and eighty for the purpose of receiving, managing and applying such property and funds as it may receive by contribution, assessment or otherwise for the improvement and benefit of its members, and for their relief and the relief of their families in case of sickness, injury, inability to labor, or other cases of need.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 87 - By-Laws; Statements of Membership and Financial Condition

Section 87. The by-laws of such corporation shall be approved by the department, and shall prescribe the manner in which, and the officers and agents by whom, the purpose of its incorporation may be carried out, and also the manner in which its property may be invested. Such corporation shall annually, and as often as may be required by the department, render to it such statements of its membership and financial transactions and such other information relative thereto as the department may consider necessary for a proper exhibit of its business and standing. The department may verify such statement by an examination of the books and papers of the corporation; and whoever, having charge or custody of such books and papers, neglects to comply with this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 88 - Association of Railroad Corporation With Relief Corporations

Section 88. A railroad corporation operating a railroad or portion thereof in the commonwealth, or a railway company, may, by vote of its directors, associate itself with seven or more of its employees in forming a corporation under section eighty-six, or may, upon the invitation of any such corporation, become a member thereof, and may from time to time aid such corporation by contributions to its funds or otherwise. The by-laws of such corporation shall provide for the manner in which the railroad corporation or railway company shall vote and be represented in said corporation. The funds of such corporation shall not be liable to attachment by trustee process, or be liable to be taken on execution or on any other process, legal or equitable, to satisfy any debt or liability of the railroad corporation or railway company or of any member of the corporation.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 92 - Badges

Section 92. Special police officers appointed by the colonel of state police under the provisions of section fifty-one of chapter twenty-two C shall, when on duty except as detectives, wear in plain sight a metallic badge, inscribed with the words, ''Railroad Special Police'', ''Street Railway Special Police'', ''Railway Express Special Police'' or ''Steamboat Special Police'', as the case may be, and the name or initials of the corporation or company for which they are appointed; and the presence of any such officer on the cars, vehicles, steamboats or premises of the corporation or company upon whose petition he was appointed, wearing such badge, shall be prima facie evidence that he is lawfully upon duty.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 93 - Powers

Section 93. Railroad, railway, railway express or steamboat police officers may preserve order on the premises, cars, vehicles, vessels and boats of the corporation or company upon whose petition they are appointed and at the wharves and landing places owned or used by such carrier by water; may, without a warrant, arrest an idle, noisy, or disorderly person upon such premises, cars, vehicles, vessels or boats; or a passenger upon such cars, vehicles, vessels or boats who refuses to pay his fare, and remove him to the baggage or other suitable car or place; may, without a warrant, arrest any person committing any of the offences specified in section one hundred and four; and railway police officers may, without a warrant, arrest any person committing any of the offences specified in section ninety-four of chapter one hundred and sixty-one. In addition to the aforementioned powers, said railroad, railway, railway express or steamboat police officers shall possess and exercise such other powers to arrest without a warrant on the premises, cars, vehicles, vessels and boats of such corporation or company and at the wharves and landing places owned or used by such carrier by water, as are conferred on police officers of the cities and towns of the commonwealth, or may arrest without a warrant off such premises when in fresh and continued pursuit for a violation for which such officers are empowered to arrest without a warrant on such premises. Railroad police officers shall have authority to issue citations for violations of section two hundred and eighteen of chapter one hundred and sixty. Said citations shall have the same force and effect as citations issued pursuant to sections two, three, five, seven, nine and ten of chapter ninety.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 94 - Arrest of Offenders

Section 94. The person so arrested by railroad, railway or railway express police officers shall be taken to the police station or other place of lawful detention in the city or town where the arrest is made, or in the city or town where the car, vehicle, boat or vessel next stops, or in any city or town of the same or adjoining county through which the car or vehicle passes after the arrest; he may be placed in charge of a police officer or constable in either of such cities or towns, to be taken to a lawful place of detention within twenty-four hours after the time of such arrest, Sunday excepted. Complaint shall be made against the person arrested by the officer taking him to the place of detention, for the offence for which he was arrested, to a district court, and such court shall have jurisdiction of the case.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 95 - Compensation of Police; Liability for Misconduct of Police

Section 95. Railroad, railway, railway express and steamboat police officers shall be paid by the corporation or company upon whose petition they are appointed. Such corporation or company shall be liable for any official misconduct of such officers to the same extent as for torts of agents or servants in their employ.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 96 - Action for Debt Due for Constructing a Railroad

Section 96. A person to whom a debt is due for labor performed or for materials furnished and actually used in constructing a railroad or railway under a contract with a person other than the railroad corporation or railway company, who has authority from or is rightfully acting for such corporation or company in furnishing such labor or materials, shall have a right of action against such corporation or company to recover such debt with costs, except as provided in the four following sections.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 98 - Notice of Intention by Materialman; Filing; Fee

Section 98. A person shall not have such right of action for materials furnished, unless, before beginning to furnish them, he files in the office of the clerk of the city or town where any of the materials are to be furnished a written notice of his intention to claim such right, in the manner provided for filing the statement named in the following section, and pays to said clerk the fee provided by clause (59) of section thirty-four of chapter two hundred and sixty-two.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 99 - Statement of Amount Due for Labor Performed; Filing; Fee

Section 99. A person shall not have such right of action for labor performed, unless, within thirty days after ceasing to perform it, he files in the office of the clerk of a city or town where any of said labor was performed a written statement, on oath, of the amount of the debt so due him and of the name of the persons for whom and by whose employment the labor was performed and pays to said clerk the fee provided by clause (60) of section thirty-four of chapter two hundred and sixty-two. Such right of action shall not be lost by a mistake in stating the amount due; but the claimant shall not recover as damages a larger amount than is named in said statement as due to him, with interest thereon.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 102 - Designation of Torpedoes or Other Explosives

Section 102. No railroad corporation or railway company or any officer or employee thereof shall use or deposit a torpedo or other explosive upon or near the tracks of any railroad or railway for the purpose of signaling or otherwise, unless there is plainly and conspicuously stamped or otherwise permanently marked thereon in a manner approved by the department a word or words indicating that such torpedo or other explosive is dangerous.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 103 - Injury to Signals, Tracks, Cars, Etc.

Section 103. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures, molests or destroys any signal of a railroad corporation or railway company, or any line, wire, post or other structure or mechanism used in connection with such signal, or prevents or in any way interferes with the proper working of such signal, or whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures, molests, meddles or tampers with or destroys a track, car, motor bus or trackless trolley vehicle or any part, appliance or appurtenance thereof, of a railroad corporation or railway company, or the mechanism or apparatus used in the operation of any such car, motor bus or trackless trolley vehicle, or whoever without right operates any such car, motor bus or trackless trolley vehicle or any mechanism or appliance thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 104 - Throwing or Shooting Missiles

Section 104. Whoever wilfully throws or shoots a missile at a locomotive engine, or railroad or railway car or train, or at a motor bus or trackless trolley vehicle, or at a school bus, or at a person on such engine, car, train, motor bus or trackless trolley vehicle, or school bus, or in any way assaults or interferes with a conductor, engineer, brakeman, motorman or operator while in the performance of his duty on or near such engine, car, train, motor bus or trackless trolley vehicle, or school bus, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. A person so offending may be arrested without a warrant by an officer authorized to serve criminal process, or by any railroad, railway or railway express police officer, and kept in custody in jail or other convenient place not more than twenty-four hours, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, at or before the expiration of which time he shall be taken before a proper court or magistrate and proceeded against according to law. If such person commits such offense in the presence of such officer and refuses to state his name and address at the request of such officer, he may be arrested by him without a warrant.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 105 - Application

Section 105. The jurisdiction, powers, authority and discretion delegated to the department by sections ten to twenty-six, inclusive, of this chapter and section one hundred and eighty-five of chapter one hundred and sixty shall not be limited by other provisions of law contained in chapters one hundred and fifty-nine to one hundred and sixty-three, inclusive, or in chapter one hundred and sixty-six, nor shall such provisions prevent the department from exercising to the fullest extent such jurisdiction, powers, authority and discretion.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 2 - Licenses; Specification of Routes; Form; Detours

Section 2. Every such license shall specify the route or routes over which the motor vehicles used thereunder may be operated, and shall be on a form approved by the department of telecommunications and energy; provided, that a variance from a form so approved shall not affect the validity of the license if the form used is in substantial conformity with the approved form. A licensee shall not operate motor vehicles for the purposes specified in section one otherwise than upon routes specified in the license or licenses issued to him; provided, that in the event of the closing of the whole or a portion of such a route by public authority or of interference with operation thereon by street repairs, fire, accident, unusual and severe traffic congestion or other emergency, a licensee may temporarily operate such vehicles by a reasonably direct and convenient detour.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 3 - Failure of Municipalities Between Terminals to Grant License; Authority of Department of Public Utilities

Section 3. If a person desiring to operate any motor vehicle for the purposes and in the manner aforesaid over a route covering at least twenty miles holds a license therefor in the terminal municipalities and also a license in all but one of the intervening municipalities, or, in case seven or more municipalities intervene, in all but one or two thereof, the department of public utilities, hereinafter in this chapter called the department, on petition of such person, shall act as the licensing authority in the one or two municipalities, as the case may be, in which such person's application for such an original license has not been favorably acted upon within three months after the filing thereof. The department, before issuing such a license, shall give a public hearing thereon after notice to the licensing authority of such a municipality, and if the department finds that public convenience and necessity require that the applicant be allowed to operate motor vehicles through such a municipality and over a route as aforesaid, it may issue a license therefor and shall specify therein the route or routes over which such motor vehicles shall be operated therein, but operation under such a license shall be limited to through traffic without stopping in such municipality for taking on or discharging passengers, except in case of a railroad or railway company operating a bus line as a part of its system.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 4 - Voiding Licenses, Continuing Licenses; Revocation of Licenses

Section 4. A license issued under this chapter on or after November first, nineteen hundred and forty-five, for operations as to which no certificate of public convenience and necessity under section seven is obtained within three years after the date when such license is issued by the licensing authority, which in a city shall mean the date of its approval by the mayor, shall become null and void upon the expiration of said three years. Such a license issued before said November first under the provisions of law applicable thereto or under this chapter, and remaining in force on said date, for operations as to which such a certificate is not obtained before the expiration of five years after said November first, shall become null and void upon the expiration of said five years. Each license so issued after July eighteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, for operations as to which such a certificate has been obtained prior to said November first, or is obtained within three years thereafter in the case of a license issued on or after said November first, or within five years thereafter in the case of a license issued before said date, shall remain in force and effect as to the routes and for the number of vehicles specified in such license or operated thereunder, notwithstanding any limitation contained therein as to the time it shall remain in effect, until revoked as hereinafter provided. After public notice and hearing, the licensing authority may, for good and sufficient reasons to be stated in the order of revocation, revoke in whole or in part such a license issued by such authority, but unless within thirty days after any such order of revocation, except an order made by the department or by the metropolitan district commission acting as such licensing authority, the licensee consents thereto in writing, such order shall not be valid until approved by the department after public notice and hearing.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 5 - Temporary Licenses

Section 5. The department may, in order to provide for unusual, sudden or unforeseen transportation needs, or to avoid interruption of existing transportation facilities, issue such temporary licenses as it deems that public convenience and necessity may require over such route or routes as it shall specify. An applicant for such temporary license shall serve a copy of the application on all affected cities and towns. Applications filed with the department shall be accompanied by a certification that such service has been completed. All temporary licenses issued under the provisions of this section shall be limited to such period as the department shall specify, not exceeding one hundred and twenty days. No such license shall be renewed, nor shall more than one such license for substantially the same route be granted to the same person because of the same emergency.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 6 - Bond; Actions; Cancellation of Bond

Section 6. No motor vehicle shall be operated under any license issued under this chapter until the licensee, in addition to complying with all orders, rules and regulations of the licensing authority, shall have deposited with the state treasurer a bond, running to him in such sum as the department may reasonably require, with a surety or sureties or other security approved by the state treasurer and by the department, conditioned to pay any final judgment obtained against the principal named in the bond for any injury to person or property or for damages for causing the death of any person by reason of any negligent or unlawful act, on the part of said principal, his or its agents, employees or drivers, in the use or operation of any such motor vehicle. Any person so injured or damaged, or his executor or administrator, or the executor or administrator of any person whose death was so caused, may enforce payment of such judgment by suit on said bond in the name of the state treasurer, and in such suit the court may make any appropriate order for the application of any security deposited as aforesaid. If any liability insurance policy filed as security for any such bond, or any such bond with a surety company as surety, shall be cancelled or a renewal policy or bond is not filed prior to the expiration thereof, or if the state treasurer or the department at any time after notice and hearing shall determine that the sureties on any such bond or the security therefor is not sufficient, or if the department shall in its discretion determine and notify the licensee that a larger bond is required, no such motor vehicle shall thereafter be operated until the licensee has furnished other or additional security approved by the state treasurer and by the department. No security other than as herein provided shall be required of any such licensee.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 7 - Certificate of Public Convenience or Necessity; Transfer of Certificate or Charter License

Section 7. No person shall operate a motor vehicle under a license issued as aforesaid unless he has also obtained from the department a certificate declaring that public convenience and necessity require such operation. The department may, after public hearing, issue or refuse to issue such a certificate, or may issue the same for the partial exercise only of the privilege sought. Such certificate shall specify the route or routes over which the motor vehicles to be used thereunder may operate, and may prescribe the period during which the rights granted therein or in such license may be exercised, and may attach to the exercise of said rights such terms and conditions as the department shall deem that public convenience and necessity may require. The department, after notice and hearing, may revoke any such certificate for cause, and may, in like manner, revise any provisions thereof and any of the terms and conditions of such certificate or license. Upon such revocation, or upon the termination of the period covered by such certificate, the right of any person to operate thereunder shall immediately terminate. The department may adopt rules prescribing the manner and form in which applications for certificates or for any modification of outstanding certificates shall be made.
In the event of the decease, incompetency, insolvency, bankruptcy or corporate reorganization, under the bankruptcy law of the United States, of a holder of a certificate of public convenience and necessity, or charter license issued under section eleven A, the department, upon application of the assignee, trustee or personal representative, shall conditionally transfer such certificate or charter license to him pending decision by the department as to the fitness, willingness and ability of said transferee to conduct the operations or business authorized by said certificate or charter license. In the event of the decease, incompetency, insolvency or bankruptcy of a member of a partnership holding such certificate, the department, upon application of the surviving or remaining partners, or assignee, trustee, receiver or personal representative of the deceased, incompetent, insolvent or bankrupt partner, may make a like conditional transfer to the surviving or remaining partners.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 8 - Permit Required; Interstate Carriers Excepted; Compliance With Department Rules and Regulations

Section 8. No motor vehicle shall be operated under a license issued under the provisions of this chapter without a permit from the department, except that a motor vehicle of an interstate carrier being used simultaneously in both interstate operations and intrastate operations under the operating authority of a certified intrastate carrier may be operated without such permit, provided that such motor vehicle is equipped to comply with the rules and regulations promulgated by the department governing the operation of such vehicle. Such permit shall not be issued until an inspector of the department finds that such motor vehicle, in respect to type, construction, equipment and operating condition, conforms to the rules and regulations promulgated by the department under the provisions of this chapter. The department shall charge fees for the issuance of an original permit and for the renewal thereof, the amount of which shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven for the filing thereof. Such permit may be revoked or suspended by the department at any time when it appears to the department that the motor vehicle covered by such permit does not conform to said rules and regulations. No other permit, license or registration shall be required for any such motor vehicle, except as provided in chapter ninety.
The intrastate carrier, under whose certificate the interstate carrier is operating, shall be responsible and shall annually certify to the department that every motor vehicle of the interstate carrier operated under this section complies in all respects to the rules and regulations promulgated by the department.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159a - Common Carriers of Passengers by Motor Vehicle › Section 9 - Drivers Licenses; Qualifications; Fees; Revocation

Section 9. No person shall drive any motor vehicle under authority of this chapter unless he shall, in addition to being duly licensed by the registrar of motor vehicles to operate such motor vehicles, be licensed by the department. No such license shall be issued by the department to any person who has not attained age eighteen or who has not qualified in accordance with the department's requirements or to any person who has attained age seventy unless such person, within ninety days of his seventieth birthday, and twice in each year thereafter at intervals not less than three nor more than six months apart, passes a physical examination in accordance with requirements established by the department. The department shall charge fees for the examination, issuance, and renewal of such license, the amount of which shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven for the filing thereof, and said department may revoke or suspend such a license at any time for such cause as may seem to it sufficient. No other license or permit than as specified or referred to in this section shall be required for any such driver.