repairs. Those persons and not the surveyor may recover pay of the town for their labor. 9 Met. 522.

43. If any town shall neglect to vote a sufficient sum of money, for the purpose of repairing the highways and townways, or shall not otherwise effectually provide therefor, each of its surveyors, first having obtained the consent of the selectmen for that purpose, in writing, may employ any persons to repair the said highways and townways, in their respective districts, so that the same shall be safe and convenient for travelers, at all seasons of the year, and the persons so employed shall be paid therefor by said town. Ib. § 14.

44. A surveyor of highways has no authority to repair a way at his own expense, and then to call upon the town for an indemnity; and where a surveyor, before his limits were assigned, without consulting the other surveyors, repaired a way, which upon the assignment did not come within his limits, it was held he was without remedy. 4 Pick. 149.

45. Every town may authorize their surveyors or any other person, to enter into contracts for making or repairing the highways or town ways within the same. S. c. 25, § 15.

R.

46. Every town may also empower their surveyors to collect all such taxes, as shall not be paid in labor or otherwise, within the time limited by law, or at such periods as may be agreed upon by the town; and for that purpose, the assessors shall deliver to them warrants of distress, which shall be in substance like the warrants prescribed by law for collecting other town taxes; or they may deliver a warrant for collecting the deficiency in any highway tax to the collector, who shall then proceed to collect the same, in like manner as other taxes are by law to be collected, and shall pay over the same to the respective surveyors, who shall be held to account with the selectmen for the expenditure thereof. Ib. § 16.

47. Every surveyor, who shall receive his tax bill, shall exhibit the same to the selectmen, on the first Monday of July annually, and also at the expiration of the term for which he shall be appointed; and at those times, respectively, shall render an account of all moneys that have been expended by him on the highways and town ways; and if he shall, in any such case, be guilty of any neglect, he shall for each offence forfeit a sum not exceeding fifty dollars, to be recovered by the said treasurer, to the use of the town. Ib. § 19.

48. If any money shall remain unexpended in the hands of the surveyors, after the expiration of their office, they shall pay the same to the town treasurer. Ib. § 17.

49. If any surveyor shall neglect to pay over such sums to the said treasurer, upon demand, the treasurer may recover the same in an action for money had and received, with twenty per cent. in addition thereto, to the use of the town. Ib. § 18.

TOWN CLERK.

I. GENERAL DUTIES.

1. How chosen and qualified. 2. Town clerk pro tempore when chosen.

3. Clerk to keep records.

4. Records of proprietors of townships and of common lands not otherwise disposed of to be deposited with clerk of city or town.

5. Copies of old records to be certifled by the clerk.

6. Where copies are taken from the records of another town they are to be certified to by the town clerk.

7. Penalty for non compliance. 8. In case of death, &c., selectmen may appoint a clerk.

9. The clerk pro tempore to make a record of his own election.

10. To record all votes

11. May make record of his own election.

12. When he received record.

13. To notify town officers of their election.

14. Persons elected to any town office in which oath is not required to be summoned to appear before town clerk and declare acceptance. Penalty for neglect.

15. To administer oaths of office and make record of their administration.

16. Town clerks may administer oaths to appraisers, &c.

17. To preside in the choice of a moderator.

18. To file copies of physicians' and surgeons' licenses.

19. To record mortgages of personal property.

2). Mortgages &c, of vessels need not be recorded.

21. Forclosure of mortgage, notice of to be filed in clerk's office.

22. Mortgages, where recorded. 23. Clerk shall record mortgages. 24. To enter notices of stray beasts and lost goods.

25. Persons taking up stray beasts to cause notice to be entered with clerk.

26. When beasts are taken up within two miles of agricultural Hall, Brighton. 27. Clerks may issue warrant to appraise the same.

28. Duties of town clerks in relation to elections and the selecting of jurors. 29. Town clerks to record lists of persons liable to be enrolled in the militia.

30. To make annual returns of the same to adjutant general.

31. To record doings of proprietors of meeting houses.

32. Fees for recording deeds &c., and for copies.

33. Penalty for extortion.

34. Fees in cases not specified.
35. Fees in specified cases.

1. The town clerk, as he records the votes of the meeting at which he is chosen, is usually elected immediately after the choice of moderator. He is chosen by ballot and immediately sworn to the faithful discharge of the duties of office by the moderator or by a justice of the peace. R. S. c. 15, § 33.

2. Whenever at any town meeting there shall be a vacancy in the office of town clerk, or the said clerk shall not be present, the selectmen shall call upon the qualified voters present to elect a town clerk pro tempore, in like manner as town clerks are by law chosen; and the selectmen shall sort and count the votes, and declare the election of such clerk, who shall be under oath to discharge all the duties of said office at such meeting; and he shall be subject to the like penalties for not discharging them, as town clerks are in the like cases. Ib. § 49.

3. It shall be the duty of each clerk or register of any county, city or town, in this Commonwealth, to keep all records and written documents in his sole custody, and in no case, except upon summons, in due form of law, to have them, or cause or permit them, to be removed or taken away, under a penalty for each offence not exceeding ten dollars. Stat. 1851, c. 161, § 3.

4. The legal custody of the books of record and other documents of the ancient proprietors of townships, or of common lands within the cities or towns of this Commonwealth, in case such proprietors shall have ceased to be a body corporate, shall, when not otherwise legally disposed of or provided for by such proprietary body before its dissolution, be vested and held to be in the clerk, for the

time being, of the city or town in which such lands lie, if the same lie wholly in any one city or town, otherwise in the clerk, for the time being, of the city or town wherein is situated a larger portion of such land than in any other city or town, and the said clerk may make and certify any copies of such records, in the same manner as the clerk of the proprietors may have done; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of any city or town, to claim such proprietary records and papers, and any person unlawfully holding the same, who shall refuse, upon such demand, to surrender them, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. Stat. 1851, c. 161, § 5.

5. In cases where from any cause, the records have or may become worn, mutilated or illegible, it shall be the duty of the selectmen to have a fair copy of such records seasonably taken, by competent and skillful transcribers, at the expense of the town or city, to be preserved in like manner as the originals, the same to be certified to be true copies from the originals, by the clerk of such city or town. Stat. 1851, c. 161, § 2.

6. The selectmen of any town are authorized, when the interests of such town shall so require, to have copies taken for the use of said town by a skillful and competent hand at the expense of said town, of any original records or parts of the same, or of any papers or documents in the legal custody of any other town, which copies shall be certified to be true copies by the clerk of the town from which they are taken. Stat. 1851, c. 161, § 6.

7. Any town clerk neglecting or refusing to fulfil the requirements of this act or any of them shall forfeit and pay for each offence the sum of ten dollars. Ib. § 7.

8. Whenever any other duties, than those mentioned in the preceding section, shall be required to be performed. by the town clerk, and, by reason of death, removal, sickness, or other cause, there shall be a vacancy in such office,

or such clerk shall be prevented from performing the duties thereof, the selectmen may appoint, in writing under their hands, a clerk for the performance of such duties, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of the same. Ib. § 50.

9. Every clerk, so elected or appointed pro tempore, shall immediately after entering upon the duties of his office, make a record of such election or appointment upon the town records. b. § 51.

10. The town clerks shall record all votes, passed at the meeting at which he shall have been elected, and at the other meetings held during his continuance in office. Ib. § 44.

11. It is competent to one chosen town clerk to make a record of his own election and qualification. 13 Pick. 305. 12. A town clerk may amend a record during his continuance in office.

He may also amend after elections have intervened, if at the time he amends, he be in office and amend only what was done by him when in the same office before. 11 Mass. 477.

But one who is no longer in office cannot amend a record made by him when town clerk. 13 Pick. 229.

13. After the election or appointment of any town officers, who are required to take an oath of office, the town clerk shall forthwith make out a list, containing the names of all such officers, as shall not have been sworn by the moderator, and a designation of the offices to which they are chosen, and deliver the same, with his warrant, to a constable, requiring him, within three days, to summon each of the officers, so chosen, to appear and take the oath of office, before the town clerk, within seven days after such notice; and the constable shall, within seven days, make return of the warrant to the town clerk. R. S. c. 15, § 39.