reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 153 - Liability of Employers to Employees for Injuries Not Resulting in Death › Section 6 - Notice of Injury to Employer

Section 6. No action for the recovery of damages for injury under section one of this chapter or for death under section two B or six C of chapter two hundred and twenty-nine shall be maintained unless notice of the time, place and cause of the injury is given to the employer within sixty days, and the action is commenced within two years, after the accident which causes the injury or death. Such notice shall be in writing, signed by the person injured or by a person in his behalf. If the person injured dies within the time required for giving the notice, his executor or administrator may give such notice within sixty days after his appointment; and in such case the action may be begun within one year after the appointment of such executor or administrator. If from physical or mental incapacity it is impossible for the person injured to give the notice within the time provided in this section, he may give it within ten days after such incapacity has been removed, and if he dies within said ten days his executor or administrator may give such notice within sixty days after his appointment. If the employer dies without such notice having been given and before the time for giving such notice has elapsed, the notice may be given to his executor or administrator, and the time within which the notice may be given as herein provided shall run from the appointment of the executor or administrator. A notice given under this section shall not be held invalid or insufficient solely by reason of an inaccuracy in stating the time, place or cause of the injury if it is shown that there was no intention to mislead, and that the employer was not in fact misled thereby. If the employer dies without such action having been brought and before the time for bringing the action has elapsed, the action may be begun against his executor or administrator not less than six months and not more than one year after the executor or administrator has given bond for the performance of his trust. Any form of written communication signed by the person so injured, or by some person in his behalf, or by his executor or administrator, or by some person in behalf of such executor or administrator, containing the information that the person was so injured, giving the time, place and cause of the injury or death, shall be considered a sufficient notice. Want of notice as required by this section shall not bar proceedings if it is shown that the employer, or any agent of the employer exercising superintendence, had knowledge of the injury, or if it is found as a fact that the employer was not prejudiced by such want of notice.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 153 - Liability of Employers to Employees for Injuries Not Resulting in Death › Section 7 - Employees of Independent Contractors and Subcontractors; Defects Causing Injuries

Section 7. If an employer enters into a contract, written or verbal, with an independent contractor to do a part of such employer's work, or if such contractor enters into a contract with a sub-contractor to do all or any part of the work comprised in such contractor's work with the employer, such contract or sub-contract shall not bar the liability of the employer for injuries to the employees of such contractor or sub-contractor caused by any defect in the condition of the ways, works, machinery or plant, if they are the property of the employer or are furnished by him and if such defect arose, or had not been discovered or remedied, through the negligence of the employer or of some person intrusted by him with the duty of seeing that they were in proper condition.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 153 - Liability of Employers to Employees for Injuries Not Resulting in Death › Section 8 - Amounts Received From Insurance Funds and Relief Societies; Mitigation of Damages

Section 8. An employer who has contributed to an insurance fund created and maintained for the mutual purpose of indemnifying an employee for personal injuries for which compensation may be recovered under section one or to any relief society formed under sections eighty-six, eighty-seven and eighty-eight of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, or the corresponding provisions of earlier laws may prove in mitigation of the damages recoverable by an employee under said section one, such proportion of the pecuniary benefit received by such employee from any such fund or society on account of such contribution of said employer as the contribution of such employer to such fund or society bears to the whole contribution thereto.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 153 - Liability of Employers to Employees for Injuries Not Resulting in Death › Section 9 - Examination of Condition Causing Injury; Court Order

Section 9. A justice of the superior court may, upon petition setting forth in ordinary language that the servant or employee of a certain person, has been injured in the course of his employment, through some defect in the ways, works or machinery owned or used by the employer, and that it is necessary in order to protect the interests of the injured person that an examination should be made of the ways, works or machinery through whose defect the injury occurred, and after such notice to the employer as any justice of said court may direct or approve, and a hearing, grant an order directing the employer or person in control of such ways, works or machinery to permit the person named in said order to make such examination, under conditions to be set forth in the order.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 154 - Assignment of Wages › Section 2 - Security for Loans; Acceptance by Employer; Recordation; Consent of Wife; Period of Assignment

Section 2. No assignment of or order for wages or salary to be earned in the future to secure a loan of less than three thousand dollars shall be valid against an employer of the person making such assignment or order until the assignment or order is accepted in writing by the employer, nor until the assignment or order and the acceptance of the same have been filed and recorded with the clerk of the city or town where the person making the assignment or order resides if he is a resident of the commonwealth, or in which he is employed if he is not a resident thereof; nor shall it be valid unless said assignment is substantially in the form prescribed in section five. No such assignment or order shall be recorded by the clerk of a city or town unless it states on its face that the sum of ten dollars per week, as earned, of the wages or salary so assigned is exempt from such assignment or order. No such assignment or order shall be valid when made by a married man unless the written consent of his wife to the making thereof is attached thereto. No such assignment or order shall be valid for a period exceeding one year from the making thereof. The fee for the filing and recording of such assignment shall be as provided by clause (2) of section thirty-four of chapter two hundred and sixty-two.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 154 - Assignment of Wages › Section 3 - Conditions for Validity

Section 3. No assignment of or order for future wages other than one subject to the preceding section shall be valid for a period exceeding two years from the making thereof, nor unless made to secure a debt contracted prior to or simultaneously with the execution of said assignment or order, nor unless executed in writing in the standard form set forth in section five and signed by the assignor in person and not by attorney, nor unless such assignment or order states the date of its execution, the money or the money value of goods actually furnished by the assignee and the rate of interest, if any, to be paid thereon. Three fourths of the weekly earnings or wages of the assignor shall at all times be exempt from such assignment or order, and no assignment or order shall be valid which does not so state on its face. No such assignment or order shall be valid unless the written acceptance of the employer of the assignor, and, if the assignor is a married man, the written consent of his wife to the making thereof, are endorsed thereon or attached thereto.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 154 - Assignment of Wages › Section 4 - Delivery of Copies of Assignment; Delivery of Written Account

Section 4. No assignment under section three shall be valid unless a copy thereof is delivered to the assignor by the assignee at the date of the execution of such assignment. No such assignment shall be binding on the employer of the assignor until a copy of the assignment and a written account, which shall conform to the requirements hereinafter stated, have been delivered to said employer. The account shall contain a statement of the balance due and of the sums of money received by the assignee, together with the date of every such payment and a statement as to whether such payment is interest, a payment on the principal, or, in case of a loan, a payment on the charge for making and securing it.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 154 - Assignment of Wages › Section 5 - Standard Form

Section 5. The standard form of assignment shall be as follows:
Know All Men by these Presents.
That I, of in the county of , for a valuable consideration, to me paid by , of , the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, do hereby assign and transfer to said all claims and demands, not exempt by law (which I now have, and all) which within a period of from the date hereof I may and shall have against my present employer, and against any person whose employ I shall hereafter enter, (for all sums of money due and) for all sums of money and demands which, at any time within said period may and shall become due to me, for services as . To have and to hold the same to the said , his executors, administrators and assigns, to secure a debt
(1) Of dollars (with interest thereon from , at the rate of per cent per annum), for money (or goods) actually furnished by the assignee amounting to dollars.
(2) Contracted prior to the execution of this assignment (or contracted simultaneously with the execution of this assignment).
(3) Three fourths of the weekly earnings or wages, which are dollars, are exempt from this assignment.
(4)Ten dollars per week, as earned, is exempt from this assignment.
In Witness Whereof, I have set my hand this day of .
Signed and delivered, in presence of h. m. M. Received and entered in records of assignment of wages in clerk's office of the of , book , page .
, Clerk.
1
Clause (4) to be used in place of clause (3) only for assignment under section 2.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 154 - Assignment of Wages › Section 6 - Trustee Process; Effect of Assignment

Section 6. No assignment of future earnings shall be valid against a trustee process, unless before service of the writ upon the alleged trustee the assignment has been recorded in the office of the clerk of the town where the assignor resides at the time of such record.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXI - Labor and Industries › Chapter 154 - Assignment of Wages › Section 8 - Deductions From Salary

Section 8. None of the foregoing sections of this chapter, nor section one hundred and forty-eight of chapter one hundred and forty-nine, shall be applicable to or control or prohibit the deduction of labor or trade union or craft dues or obligations, or making deposits in, purchasing shares of, or for the repayment of any loan from any credit union established under the laws of the commonwealth or of the United States, or deposits in any savings bank, trust company, national banking association or co-operative bank, or subscriptions to a non-profit hospital service corporation established under chapter one hundred and seventy-six A, or to a medical service corporation established under chapter one hundred and seventy-six B, or to a charitable corporation, or payments or contributions of or toward the cost of or the premiums on any insurance policy or annuity contract or purchase of government bonds, or purchase of stock pursuant to an employee stock purchase plan, from wages of an employee by an employer in accordance with a written request made by the individual employee; provided, that no such written request, whether recorded or not, except in the case of labor or trade union or craft dues, shall be regarded as an assignment valid against a trustee process.
Whoever fails to send the labor, trade union or craft dues deducted from an employee's wages to the union within fourteen days of the date when the dues have been deducted or are due under the collective bargaining contract, whichever comes later, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. The employee whose dues have been so deducted or an officer of the union to which the dues have been assigned shall have the right to swear out a complaint for any such violation. No such penalty shall be imposed if the employer has filed a petition in a court of civil jurisdiction for the purpose of determining to whom said union dues are payable. Any other money deducted from an employee's wages shall be paid over forthwith, but in no event more than seven business days from the date when the deduction has been made or was due to the employee, to the person, credit union, bank, insurance company or corporation named by the employee pursuant to the provisions of this section, unless there is a prior written agreement between the employer and the recipient named by the employee that provides that payment may be made at some other time or times.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 1 - Application of Chapter; Secretary Defined

Section 1. This chapter, unless expressly limited in its application, shall apply to all corporations created by or organized under the laws of the commonwealth, except incorporated domestic insurance companies, and except corporations subject to chapter 156A or corporations subject to chapter 156B or chapter 156D or chapter 164 or sections 1 through 11D of chapter 165 or chapter 180 except that section 2B of this chapter shall apply to all corporations subject to any of said chapters and except insofar as such provisions are inconsistent with other provisions of law relative to particular corporations or classes of corporations, and the provisions shall apply to all corporations created by or organized under laws other than those of the commonwealth so far as they are made applicable to them by reference in this or any other chapter. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, ''secretary'' or ''state secretary'' means the secretary of the commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 2 - Examination of Certificates and Reports by State Secretary; Records; Reports

Section 2. The secretary shall examine the certificates and reports relative to corporations submitted to him under the provisions of law, and make suitable endorsements upon such as conform to the requirements of law. He shall keep a record of the names of corporations which submit certificates to his inspection, of the date of inspection and of his certificates when given, and of the results in brief of his inspection. He shall report to the attorney general instances of neglect or omission on the part of corporations to comply with the provisions of law for the enforcement of the penalties therefor. The secretary shall on each business day furnish to the commissioner of revenue a list of all applications for incorporation, changes in corporate structure or powers, and proposals for the merger, dissolution, or revival of corporations filed on the next preceding business day, and shall also furnish to said commissioner, without cost, copies of such other documents relative to corporations as said commissioner may request.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 2b - Clinics, Hospitals, Rest Homes, etc., Approval of Articles of Organization and Amendments

Section 2B. Upon approving articles of organization in connection with the proposed incorporation of a clinic, hospital, convalescent or nursing home, infirmary, rest home, or like entity requiring a license from the department of public health, or upon approving an amendment to the articles of organization of an existing corporation to give it the power to operate such an entity, the state secretary shall transmit a copy of such articles of organization or articles of amendment to the department of public health.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 3 - Acts of Incorporation and Corporate Organizations Subject to Legislative Action

Section 3. Every act of incorporation passed since March eleventh, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the general court. All corporations organized under general laws shall be subject to such laws as may be hereafter passed affecting or altering their corporate rights or duties or dissolving them. Corporations shall, notwithstanding such repeal or dissolution, be subject to sections fifty-one and fifty-two. Such laws of amendment, alteration or repeal or such dissolution shall not take away or impair any remedy which may exist by law consistently with said sections against the corporation, its members or officers, for a liability previously incurred.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 3a - Public Service Corporations; Deposit of Funds

Section 3A. After December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, all deposits of funds of public service corporations, except common carriers under the supervision of the interstate commerce commission, shall be made by the officers of the corporations in national banks, duly chartered trust companies, savings banks, co-operative banks or federal savings and loan associations; but the foregoing provision shall not apply to any deposit for a period of not more than sixty days made for the purpose of meeting obligations maturing within said period or to any deposit for a similar period of time resulting from the sale of obligations or securities.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 4 - Public Service Corporations; Misleading Use of Names or Titles

Section 4. No person owning, holding or controlling shares of stock of any public service corporation shall hereafter use any name or title or other words that, in the opinion of the department of public utilities or the department of telecommunications and cable, might lead the public to believe that such person is a public service corporation or that its business is that of a public service corporation.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 5 - Violations of Sec. 4; Investigation; Penalties; Injunction

Section 5. The department of public utilities or the department of telecommunications and cable may investigate and determine whether any person is violating the preceding section; and any person violating any provision thereof shall forfeit to the commonwealth one hundred dollars a day for every day or part thereof during which such violation continues after the determination aforesaid. Any such violation shall forthwith be reported by the department to the attorney general, after said determination and notice thereof to such person. The said forfeiture may be recovered by an information or other appropriate proceeding brought in the supreme judicial or superior court in the name of the attorney general. Upon such information or other proceeding the court may issue an injunction restraining such person from further prosecution of his business within the commonwealth during the pendency of such proceeding or for all time, and may make such other order or decree as equity and justice may require.
This and the preceding section shall not apply to the continued use by any person of any name or title adopted prior to April seventeenth, nineteen hundred and thirteen.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 5a - Allowances for Depreciation Ordered Set Aside by Department of Utilities or Department of Telecommunications and Cable

Section 5A. If, when the department of public utilities or the department of telecommunications and cable, as required by law, approves an issue of stock, bonds, coupon notes or other evidences of indebtedness of a company under its supervision, or passes upon the price, rates, charges or service of such company, it determines that the provision made by such company for the depreciation of its property has been inadequate, the department shall order such company to set aside out of earnings such allowances for depreciation and for such period or periods as the department may from time to time prescribe. All moneys required by such order to be so set aside shall be kept as a separate fund and shall not, without the further order of the department, be used for any other purpose than for renewals other than ordinary repairs, or for extensions, reconstruction and enlargements of and additions to plant, and the department shall prescribe in its order such requirements relative to the creation and maintenance of such fund and its devotion to such aforesaid authorized uses as it may deem advisable. All orders and decisions of the department under the provisions of this section shall be enforced as provided in section sixteen of chapter one hundred and sixty-four.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 6 - General Powers

Section 6. A corporation may, in its corporate name, sue and be sued, appear, prosecute and defend to final judgment or decree and execution; have a corporate seal, which it may alter at pleasure; elect in such manner as it may determine all necessary officers, fix their compensation and define their duties and obligations; and make by-laws and regulations consistent with law for its own government, the due and orderly conduct of its affairs and the management of its property. The clerk, or recording officer with the powers of clerk, shall be a resident of the commonwealth and shall be sworn.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 7 - Content of By-Laws

Section 7. Every corporation, except those governed by chapter one hundred and fifty-six, may by its by-laws, except as otherwise expressly provided, determine the manner of calling and conducting its meetings; the number of members which shall constitute a quorum; the number of shares which shall entitle the members to one or more votes; the mode of voting by proxy; the mode of selling shares for the payment of assessments; and the tenure of office of the several officers; and may annex suitable penalties to such by-laws, not exceeding twenty dollars for one offence; but no by-law inconsistent with law shall be made by a corporation.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 8 - Conveyance of Land

Section 8. A corporation may convey land to which it has a legal title. Any recordable instrument purporting to affect an interest in real estate, executed in the name of a corporation by the president or a vice president and the treasurer or an assistant treasurer, who may be one and the same person, shall be binding on the corporation in favor of a purchaser or other person relying in good faith on such instrument notwithstanding inconsistent provisions of the articles of organization, certificate of incorporation, charter, special act of incorporation, constitution, by-laws, resolutions or votes of the corporation. This section shall apply to foreign corporations, as defined in subsection (a) of section 1.40 of subdivision D of Part 1 of chapter 156D, as well as to corporations included within section 1.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 9a - Reservation of Corporate Name

Section 9A. Any person intending to organize a corporation under the General Laws, or any corporation organized under the General Laws intending to change its name, or any foreign corporation, as defined in subsection (a) of section 1.40 of subdivision D of Part 1 of chapter 156D, intending to make application for a certificate of authority to transact business in the commonwealth, or any foreign corporation, as so defined, authorized to transact business in the commonwealth and intending to change its name, or any person intending to organize and incorporate a foreign corporation, as so defined, and intending to have the corporation make application for a certificate of authority to transact business in the commonwealth may reserve the exclusive right to the use of a corporate name.
The reservation shall be made by filing with the secretary of the commonwealth an application to reserve a specific corporate name, signed by the applicant, accompanied by a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven. If the name is available for corporate use, in compliance with the provisions of sections nine and ten, the secretary of the commonwealth shall reserve the name for the exclusive use of the applicant for a period of thirty days, and shall so notify the applicant in writing.
The secretary of the commonwealth may extend the reservation for an additional thirty days upon written request of the applicant accompanied by a fee to be determined also under the aforementioned chapter seven provision.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 10 - Change of Name

Section 10. A corporation, except one subject to chapter one hundred and fifty-six or chapters one hundred and sixty to one hundred and sixty-three, inclusive, may at a meeting duly called for the purpose, by vote of two thirds of each class of stock outstanding and entitled to vote, or, in case such corporation has no capital stock, by vote of two thirds of the persons legally qualified to vote in meetings of the corporation, or, if such corporation without capital stock is a mutual insurance corporation, by two thirds of the votes of its policyholders cast at such a meeting, or by a larger vote if its agreement of association or by-laws shall so require, change its name; provided, that no corporation subject to section twenty-six of chapter one hundred and eighty shall change its name until after approval of such change by the secretary. Articles of amendment signed and sworn to by the president, treasurer and a majority of the directors or other officers having the powers of directors, shall, within thirty days after such meeting, be prepared, setting forth such amendment and the due adoption thereof. Such articles shall be submitted to the secretary who shall examine them, and if he finds that they conform to the requirements of law, he shall, subject to section thirty of chapter sixty-nine if applicable to such articles, so certify and endorse his approval thereon. Thereupon the secretary shall direct the officers of the corporation to publish in such form as he may see fit, in a newspaper published in the county where the corporation has its principal office or place of business, notice of such change of name. When the secretary is satisfied that such notice has been published as required by him, he shall, upon payment of a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven by a corporation subject to the provisions of either chapter one hundred and sixty-four or chapter one hundred and seventy-five and by all other corporations subject to the provisions of this section, grant a certificate of the name which the corporation shall bear, which name shall thereafter be its legal name, and he shall cause the articles of amendment to be filed in his office. In the case of corporations subject to chapter one hundred and seventy-five or one hundred and seventy-six, the approval of the commissioner of insurance shall be required before the state secretary approves the articles of amendment. No articles of amendment changing the name of any corporation shall take effect until they have been filed in the office of the secretary as aforesaid.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 11 - Unauthorized Business; Restraint by Injunction

Section 11. Upon an information in equity by the attorney general at the relation of the commissioner, the supreme judicial court may restrain by injunction any corporation from assuming or exercising any franchise or privilege or transacting any kind of business not authorized by its charter and the laws of the commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 12 - Free Hospital Beds for Employees of Corporation; Appropriation

Section 12. Every corporation may, by a vote of a majority of each class of stock outstanding and entitled to vote, appropriate not more than five thousand dollars or an annual sum of not more than five hundred dollars for the support of free beds in one or more hospitals in the commonwealth, for the use of its employees.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 12a - Contributions to Communities

Section 12A. Every corporation may, by vote of its directors, or of its officers having the powers of directors, contribute such sum or sums of money as said directors or officers may determine to be reasonable to any fund being raised by a relief committee or agency approved by the commissioner of public welfare, as evidenced by a writing filed in his office, and formed for the purpose of raising money to be used for the betterment of social and economic conditions in any community in which such corporation is doing business. Nothing in this section shall be construed as directly or indirectly restricting or otherwise affecting, except as herein provided, the rights and powers of any corporation with reference to payments of the nature above specified.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 12b - Reciprocal Insurance Contracts; Exchanges

Section 12B. Any corporation organized or to be organized under the laws of the commonwealth shall have full power and authority to participate as a subscriber in the exchanging of insurance contract specified in section ninety-four B of chapter one hundred and seventy-five. The right to participate in the exchanging of such contracts shall be deemed to be incidental to the purposes for which such corporation was organized, and as much granted as the rights and powers expressly conferred.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 12c - Contributions for Charitable, Scientific or Educational Purposes

Section 12C. Every corporation may, by its articles of organization or by-laws or by a general or special vote of its stockholders or members, authorize its directors, or its officers having the powers of directors, to make contributions, in such amounts as said directors or officers may determine to be reasonable, to corporations, trusts, funds or foundations, organized and operated exclusively for charitable, scientific or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual; provided, that in the case of a corporation having capital stock, contributions in any fiscal year shall not in the aggregate exceed one half of one per cent of its capital and surplus as of the end of the preceding fiscal year, unless contributions in excess of one half of one per cent of such capital and surplus shall be authorized by the stockholders of the corporation at a regular or special meeting, and, in the case of a corporation not having capital stock, contributions in any fiscal year shall not in the aggregate exceed one half of one per cent of the surplus of such corporation as of the end of the preceding fiscal year, unless contributions in excess of one half of one per cent of such surplus shall be authorized by the members of the corporation at a regular or special meeting. Nothing in this section shall be construed as directly or indirectly restricting or otherwise affecting, except as herein provided, the rights and powers of any corporation with reference to payments of the nature above specified.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 13 - Chartered Corporations; Time for Organization; Commencement of Corporate Existence

Section 13. A corporation created by special charter shall, if no time is limited therein, be organized within two years after the passage of its act of incorporation. Within thirty days after the final adjournment of the meeting for organization of any such corporation, the recording officer thereof shall make, sign, swear to and file in the office of the state secretary a certificate stating the date on which the meeting for organization was held, the names of the officers elected at such meeting and the amount of capital stock, if any, fixed under its charter. The existence of every corporation organized under general laws, the articles of organization of which are required to be filed with the state secretary, shall begin upon the filing of such articles as aforesaid.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 14 - First Meeting; Holders of Privileges Prior to Organization

Section 14. The first meeting of such corporation, unless otherwise provided in its act of incorporation, shall be called by a notice, signed by the person or by a majority of the persons named in such act, setting forth the time, place and purposes of the meeting, and delivered seven days at least before the meeting to each member or published in a newspaper of the county where the corporation is established. If all the persons so named shall, in writing, upon the charter or a certified copy thereof, waive such notice and fix the time and place of the meeting, no notice shall be required. The persons so named and their associate subscribers to stock before the date of the act shall hold the franchise or privileges granted until the corporation is organized.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 15 - Failure, Refusal or Neglect to Call Meeting; Alternative Method

Section 15. If, by reason of the death or absence of the officers of a corporation, or other cause, there is no person duly authorized to call or preside at a legal meeting, or if the clerk or other officer refuses or neglects to call it, a justice of the peace may, upon written application of three or more of the members or stockholders, or, in case of a corporation organized under chapter one hundred and fifty-six, upon written application of any number of stockholders who are entitled to vote and who hold at least one tenth part in interest of the capital stock entitled to vote at the meeting, issue a warrant to any one of them, directing him to call a meeting by giving such notice as is required by law, and may in the same warrant direct him to preside at the meeting until a clerk is duly chosen and qualified if no officer is present legally authorized to preside.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 16 - Par Value of Common and Preferred Shares

Section 16. The par value of the common or preferred shares of all corporations shall be one hundred dollars. Any corporation which may be organized with shares of a par value other than one hundred dollars may at a meeting of stockholders called for the purpose change the par value of its shares to that amount if a certificate of such change shall, within ten days thereafter, be made, signed and sworn to by its president, treasurer and a majority of its directors, or other officers having the powers of directors, and, having been approved as to its form by the commissioner, be filed in the office of the state secretary.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 18 - Preferred Stock; Amount; Preferences and Voting Powers; Exceptions

Section 18. Every corporation may issue preferred stock of one or more classes to an amount not exceeding at any time the amount of the common stock then outstanding and all cash premiums paid to the company thereon and applied to the purposes of the corporation with such preferences and voting powers or restrictions or qualifications thereof as shall be fixed and determined in the agreement of association at the organization of the corporation; or after organization, as to any such preferred stock or additional class thereof, by a two thirds vote of all the stock entitled to vote thereon or by a by-law adopted by a two thirds vote of all the stock entitled to vote thereon, at a meeting duly called for the purpose. This section shall not apply to corporations organized under chapter one hundred and fifty-six or to railroad corporations or street railway companies.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 19 - Preferred Stock; Content of Certificate

Section 19. Such stock shall be issued subject to all general laws governing the issue of capital stock; and each certificate subsequently issued of stock in the corporation shall have fully and plainly printed thereon the preferences and voting powers or restrictions or qualifications thereof as fixed and determined in respect of each class of preferred stock pursuant to the provisions of section eighteen.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 20 - Increase of Capital Stock; Notice of Vote; Disposition of New Shares

Section 20. If a corporation, not subject to chapter one hundred and fifty-six, increases its capital stock and no other provision therefor is made by law, its directors shall forthwith give written notice thereof to each stockholder who was such at the date of the vote to increase, stating the amount of the increase, the number of shares or fractions of shares of the new stock which such stockholder is entitled to take, and the time, not less than thirty days after the date of such vote, within which such new stock shall be taken; and, within said time, each stockholder may take at par his proportion of such new shares, according to the number of his shares at the date of such vote to increase. If, at the expiration of said time, any shares remain untaken, the directors shall sell them by public auction for the benefit of the corporation at not less than the par value thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 21 - Voting Rights, Etc. of Persons in Representative or Fiduciary Capacity

Section 21. An executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, trustee or person in any other representative or fiduciary capacity shall represent the shares of his trust at all meetings of a corporation, and may vote as a stockholder.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 23 - Shareholders List; Filing; Failure to File

Section 23. A corporation not subject to chapter one hundred and fifty-six shall within fifteen days after a written request by a stockholder thereof, made not less than thirty nor more than sixty days prior to the time fixed for the annual meeting of stockholders, cause a complete list of the stockholders as of the sixtieth day prior to the time so fixed, with the residence of and the number of shares belonging to each stockholder, to be made and filed in the office of the state secretary. The list shall be in such form as the secretary shall require or approve, and shall be signed and sworn to by the treasurer of the corporation or by some other officer cognizant of the facts specially appointed by the corporation to make the same. If a corporation and its treasurer or other officer so specially appointed omits or neglects to cause a list of stockholders to be so made and filed, they shall each forfeit not more than one thousand dollars to be recovered in the manner provided in section forty-two of chapter one hundred and fifty-eight.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 46 - New Certificates Upon Transfer or Pledge

Section 46. A pledgee of stock transferred as collateral security shall be entitled to a new certificate if the instrument of transfer substantially describes the debt or duty which is intended to be secured thereby. Such new certificate shall express on its face that it is held as collateral security, and the name of the pledgor shall be stated thereon, who alone shall be liable as a stockholder, and entitled to vote thereon.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 47 - Publication of Unclaimed Dividend List

Section 47. Every corporation shall, once in every five years, publish three times successively in a newspaper in Boston, and also in a newspaper in the county where the corporation is established, a list of all dividends which have remained unclaimed for two years or more and the names of the persons to whose credit such dividends stand.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 48 - False Statements; Penalty

Section 48. Whoever knowingly makes, executes, files or publishes any report or statement required by law to be made, executed, filed or published by a corporation in this commonwealth, whether such corporation is organized under the laws of this commonwealth or elsewhere, or whoever causes the same to be done, which report or statement is false in any material representation, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three years, or both.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 49 - Statement Required by Foreign Law; Penalty for Falsifying

Section 49. Whoever knowingly makes, executes or publishes any report or statement required by the law of another state or country to be made, executed, or published by a corporation, or whoever causes the same to be done, within this commonwealth, which report or statement is false in any material representation, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three years, or both.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 155 - General Provisions Relative to Corporations › Section 50 - Voluntary Dissolution

Section 50. A corporation which desires to close its affairs may, unless otherwise provided in the agreement of association, by the vote of a majority of its members if it has no capital stock, otherwise by a vote of a majority of all its stock, or, if two or more classes of stock have been issued, of a majority of each class outstanding and entitled to vote, authorize a petition for its dissolution to be filed in the supreme judicial or superior court setting forth in substance the grounds of the application, or such a petition may be so filed by the holder or holders of not less than forty per cent of the capital stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote of a corporation subject to chapter one hundred and fifty-six, if the votes of its board of directors and of its stockholders are equally divided on a question affecting the general management of the affairs of the corporation, or if the votes of its stockholders are equally divided in the election of directors, and there appears to be no way of reaching an agreement and breaking such deadlock; and the court, after notice to parties interested and a hearing, may decree a dissolution of the corporation. A corporation so dissolved shall be held to be extinct in all respects as if its corporate existence had expired by the limitation of its charter.