PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1856."

THE City Charter was revised in the year 1854, and the various modifications and changes made by that revision rendered a new revision of the city ordinances necessary. No ordinary exigency would have required a new or revised edition of the municipal laws to be issued thus early after so complete and perfect a revision had been made, as was made and published in 1850, by the learned and efficient city solicitor of that year, whose long experience in that office, and general familiarity with the municipal concerns and interests of Boston, peculiarly fitted him for such an undertaking. But the alterations in the fundamental law the charter of. the city-made corresponding alterations in the municipal laws indispensable.

The revised city charter was adopted at the No vember election in 1854, and very soon after its adoption it was found that the convenience of the citizens and the city officers required a new edition of the city ordinances to be published. The city council promptly made the necessary arrangements to provide for this want, and this volume has accordingly been prepared.

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Prepared by A. K. P. Joy, F. L. Washburn, and Charles May, Esquires

It was not the design of this compilation to revise anew all the statutes relating to the city, since that labor was so well accomplished in the last edition. The object of this being simply to collate the laws of the state relating to the city, passed since the publication of the last edition in 1850, and all the municipal laws in force at this time, so modified as to conform to the provisions of the revised city charter.

In the preparation of this volume, it was not judged expedient or necessary to depart from the general plan of the last edition, although some of the titles contained in that have been extinguished by subsequent legislation, and new ones created, which are inserted in this. The general features of that edition therefore have been preserved in this, and the plan continued by incorporating the acts of the legislature relating to the city, and in some cases those of a more general nature, passed since 1850, and also all the ordinances in force at this time, whether passed before or since that date, in the same form as in the previous edition.

The revised city charter, in effect, modified or repealed many statutes relating to the city which had been passed previous to that revision, but notwithstanding this, where the statutes are cited at length, the language of the statutes has generally been preserved, and such notes and marginal references made as were necessary to call attention to the change.

Boston, January, 1856.

PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.

THE revision and consolidation of the General Statutes, published in 1860, so changed in many instances the phraseology of the Revised Statutes and of the legislative acts passed subsequently to the Revised Statutes, and in some cases so altered the substance of the laws, as to make a new edition of the "Laws and Ordinances a necessity. An additional reason for a new volume was found in the fact that since the revision of 1856 the city council had enacted numerous new ordinances, and made such amendments and alterations in existing ones, that without a codification there would constantly be a difficulty in ascertaining the state of the law upon any point.

In the preparation of this volume, the general plan of the editions of 1850 and 1856 has been followed, it being excellent in itself, and one to which all have become accustomed. Subsequent legislation and the action of the city government have rendered advisable the addition of some titles and the omission of others. The new matter increased so much the bulk of the volume, that the committee on ordinances, under whose supervision the volume has been prepared, decided to omit the matter which was included in the Appendix to. the former volumes, and to propose the publication of "a supplementary volume to embrace the rules and regulations of the different institutions and departments; *** various orders of a permanent character,

and some of the city contracts, which being periodically renewed it is convenient to have accessible to those who are responsible for their faithful performance. Several acts and resolves of the legislature, for temporary objects, will also be given. The volume will contain, in addition, an explanatory list of the special laws passed for the benefit of the city, as also of the cases decided in the Supreme Court upon points of municipal interest." The references in this volume to a Supplement are to that proposed volume.

The same committee also recommend "that hereafter some settled policy be adopted whereby new ordinances shall be published apart from the Registers, the annual collections be bound each year together into volumes for the use of the City Government and of the public, with indexes extending back to the last preceding revision, and the pages numbered continuously for ease of reference. Thus will be preserved a complete series of our municipal laws of inestimable value to the City Council, in their subsequent deliberations. The revisions should be made after regular intervals, and judging of the future by the past, periods of ten years will not prove more frequent, than our constant experiments in legislation and the new provisions needed for the varying requirements of the City will render indispensable. It is only by the adoption of such a plan rigidly adhered to, that those who administer our by-laws, or who are to be governed by them, can ascertain without difficulty what is the established rule for their guidance."1