Chapter 179

Section 1. Upon written application of five or more proprietors of lands, wharves or other real estate held in common to a justice of the peace, stating that they intend to organize themselves as a corporation, he shall issue his warrant to one of the applicants, directing him to…

Section 10. Each proprietor may vote according to the number of his shares or the amount of his interest, if known; and if not known, the proprietors shall vote equally. Absent proprietors may vote by written proxy.

Section 11. The proprietors may by vote adopt such measures and levy such assessments in proportion to their respective rights and interests in the property as they deem proper for managing, improving or dividing their common property and carrying on their business.

Section 12. If a proprietor fails to pay an assessment for six months after demand therefor by the collector or other proper officer, or after a notice of such assessment posted and published in the manner prescribed for the first meeting, the committee of the proprietors or othe…

Section 13. The proprietor of the share or part sold may, within one year after the sale, redeem it by paying to the purchaser or his assigns the purchase price with interest at the rate of twelve per cent a year from the time of the sale.

Section 14. If there are ten or more proprietors, they may, by vote of more than two thirds both in number and interest at a legal meeting, sell their estate and divide the proceeds thereof.

Section 15. After the final division of their common property, the proprietors may deposit their records with the clerk of the city or town where the land or any part of it lies; and the clerk may make and certify copies from the records as the clerk of the proprietors might have…

Section 16. A final division of the common property shall not dissolve the corporation until the expiration of ten years thereafter; but the proprietors at the time of the division and their heirs shall retain their corporate powers for the purpose of collecting all assessments, …

Section 17. The proprietors may, within ten years after such division, call and hold meetings and vote and raise money by assessments, as before provided, for the payment of their debts and all other charges and demands against them, and may do all other lawful acts necessary for…

Section 18. If several distinct lots or parcels of land are enclosed and fenced in one common field, or if all the proprietors of such lands agree so to enclose them, the proprietors, if not less than five, may, in the manner hereinafter provided, hold regular meetings for the pu…

Section 19. On application of two or more proprietors to a justice of the peace, he shall issue his warrant for a meeting, as provided in section one, which shall be called either in the manner prescribed in section two or by personal notice served on each proprietor fourteen day…

Section 2. The meeting shall be called by posting a notice containing the substance of the warrant, signed by the person to whom the warrant is directed, fourteen days at least before the meeting, in one or more public places in the town, and by publishing it in a newspaper, if a…

Section 20. The proprietors may from time to time choose a clerk, three or more assessors, a collector and such other officers as they find to be necessary; each of whom shall continue in office until removed by the proprietors or until his successor is qualified. The clerk and a…

Section 21. They may choose one or more field drivers, who shall have and exercise the same powers with respect to the general fields as field drivers chosen by a town.

Section 22. They may adopt such rules as to pasturing the land and as to other matters in which they have a common interest as they consider just and equitable and most for the general good; but in all other respects each proprietor may manage and cultivate his land as he thinks …

Section 23. At meetings of proprietors for adopting rules or regulations as to pasturing, land of a proprietor enclosed for his exclusive benefit shall not be valued or reckoned in determining his right to vote on questions relative to pasturing his land.

Section 24. If a proprietor puts horses, cattle or other beasts into the general field contrary to the regulations of the proprietors, either by putting in more than the number allowed him, or by putting them in before the day fixed therefor, or by keeping them therein longer tha…

Section 25. The proprietors may from time to time raise money for defraying their common charges and managing their affairs, which shall be assessed by the assessors upon the several proprietors in proportion to their respective interests; and a proprietor aggrieved by such asses…

Section 26. The clerk shall issue his warrant to the collector, requiring him to collect all amounts so assessed and to pay them over to the clerk or other proper officer according to the orders of the proprietors. The collector shall collect said amounts in the same manner as co…

Section 27. A proprietor injured in his lands by the beasts of a stranger shall have the same remedy therefor as if his land had been enclosed and used separately.

Section 28. The whole fence enclosing such general field shall, so far as found convenient, be apportioned among the proprietors according to the number of acres held and cultivated or otherwise used by each; and the part to be maintained by each proprietor shall be apportioned t…

Section 29. A proprietor shall not, so long as he declines to cultivate his land or use it for pasturing, for the growth of wood or otherwise, be required to maintain any part of the fence or to pay any assessment on account of his land.

Section 3. At such meeting, by vote of a majority in number and interest of all of the proprietors, they may organize themselves as a corporation under this chapter; and they may thereupon choose a clerk, treasurer, collector and such committees and other officers as they deem ne…

Section 30. The expense of apportioning the fence and also of making and maintaining such part thereof as cannot be conveniently and justly apportioned to any one proprietor shall be borne by all the proprietors liable to be assessed in proportion to their respective interests; a…

Section 31. If the part of the fence apportioned to a proprietor becomes deficient and he does not repair it within three days after notice of such deficiency has been given to him by a fence viewer of the town, it may be repaired by any other proprietor. Two or more fence viewer…

Section 32. The person making such repairs may demand of the proprietor bound to make them, or of the tenant holding under him, double the cost of the repairs and of the fees of the fence viewers so ascertained; and if they are not paid within one month after notice and demand, h…

Section 33. If a part of the fence is suddenly blown down or carried away by a flood or tempest at a time when the crops of grain or grass in the field are thereby exposed to immediate destruction or injury, the proprietor to whom such part of the fence was assigned shall repair …

Section 34. A proprietor may enclose his land at his own expense; and, so long as he keeps it enclosed with a sufficient fence, may cultivate and use it as he thinks fit; and during such period, so far as such enclosed land is concerned, he shall neither be assessed for any expen…

Section 35. Every proprietor of land lying unfenced in a general field shall once in every two years, if requested by the owner of the adjoining land, run lines with such owner between their lots and make and keep up the boundaries between them by sufficient bound stones, at thei…

Section 36. If it is for the interest of the proprietors of five or more parcels of land to enclose them in one common field, the superior court for the county where the land or any part of it lies may, upon the application of a majority in interest of the proprietors, after noti…

Section 37. After a common or general field is so established by an order of the court, the further proceedings in relation thereto shall be the same as are provided when a field is so enclosed by the consent of the proprietors; and the proprietors shall be entitled to the privil…

Section 38. Three or more proprietors of lots in a general field lying within one general fence or enclosure may, by a written petition to the proprietors of such field at a meeting of said proprietors legally warned for the purpose, request to have their lots, either alone or jo…

Section 39. The committee shall, as soon as may be after their appointment, make return of their doings under their hands to the court; and after its acceptance by the court, the fields so divided shall be deemed separate general fields and the proprietors of the field set off, a…

Section 4. The clerk shall be sworn, and shall record all votes, orders and proceedings of the proprietors in books which he shall keep for that purpose until they are delivered to the town clerk as hereinafter provided.

Section 40. A majority in interest of the proprietors of a common field, whether established by consent or by order of court, may discontinue it at a legal meeting warned for the purpose; but the discontinuance shall not take effect until the expiration of six months after such v…

Section 5. The treasurer shall demand and receive all money due or belonging to the proprietors, shall sue for and recover in his own name to their use all fines and penalties incurred under sections seven and eight, shall pay out all money in his hands according to the order of …

Section 6. Such proprietors may sue and be sued as a body corporate; and an action brought by the corporation for trespass on the common property may be pleaded in abatement or answered in bar of an action for the same trespass brought by any of the proprietors in his individual …

Section 7. They may make by-laws consistent with law for the orderly conducting of their business, with penalties for the breach thereof not exceeding three dollars for each offence; but by-laws with penalties annexed shall be approved by the county commissioners for the county w…

Section 8. The moderator of a meeting of the proprietors shall have the same power as the moderator of a town meeting, except the power of confining a person or causing him to be removed from the meeting. Whoever resists or disobeys his orders shall be subject to the pecuniary pe…

Section 9. The proprietors may, at a legal meeting, exercise any of the powers granted to them in this chapter; but no business shall be acted on unless set forth in the notice for the meeting.