ATTORNEY-GENERAL- Continued.
all the special legislation affecting the Boston &
Albany Railroad," such order not being a ques-
tion of law within the meaning of Pub. Sts., c.
17, § 7.

567

5.

534

lations Occupations and Use-
Proper Military Purposes
See MILITIA. 6.

The House of Representatives has no author-
ity to require that the Attorney-General forth-
with appear before some justice of the Supreme
Judicial Court for the purpose of obtaining
from the court an order restraining the stock-
holders of a gas company from taking action to
increase its capital stock, or to require him to
institute specific proceedings of any character.

6. - Information in Equity-Penal Stat-
ute- - Right to take Fish from the
Sea

631
The Attorney-General will not sign an in-
formation in equity for the enforcement of a
penal statute.

Nor will he sign one asking for an injunction
restraining the owners of a steam fishing vessel
from using seines and nets in taking fish in the
vicinity of Nantucket; for, if the right to take
fish from the sea is common to all, it is without
restriction as to the amount of fish taken and
the methods employed.

230

7.

50

632

- Quo Warranto-Public Officer-
Police Commissioner of Boston
When a public official, the legality of whose
appointment is questioned, has served more
than four-fifths of the term for which he was
appointed, the Attorney-General will not grant
the use of his name to an information in the
nature of a quo warranto against him. if no
public rights are affected by the official's con-
tinuance in office de facto.

AUSTRALIAN BALLOT LAW-Continued.
mitted to the Secretary, or that no such call
was in fact ever issued.

646

5.

649

225

A convention cannot divest itself of its duty
to nominate candidates by delegating that duty
to any person or committee, unless the action
of such delegated person is ratified by the con-
vention itself.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth cannot,
therefore, place upon the official ballot the
name of a candidate upon whom the conven-
tion has not itself acted in some form.

Joint Caucuses-Towns - Accept-
ance of Statute

473
In towns using official ballots, which at the
State election, held on Nov. 3, 1903, voted to
accept the provisions of St. 1903, c. 454, an act
providing for joint caucuses of all political
parties, as required by section 18, no further
action is necessary to render such statute fully
operative; the provision in section 2 that cau-
cuses as established by the statute shall be held
in towns using official ballots, "which towns at
an annual meeting vote that primaries shall be
held therein," being applicable only to cases
where for any reason the statute was not ac-
cepted at the State election specified, in which
event the question of acceptance may hereafter
be passed upon at an annual town meeting.

- Precedence of Two Political Par-
ties
605
A communication from the chairman of a
State committee of a political party, stating
that, at a meeting of the executive committee
of such State committee, it was voted to hold
caucuses of such party upon a specified date
throughout the Commonwealth, does not com-
ply with the requirements of R. L. c. 11, § 88,
providing that no two political parties shall
hold caucuses upon the same day, and that the
first filing with the Secretary of the Common-
wealth of a copy of the call, as provided for in
section 87, shall be entitled to precedence on
the day named, if it appears that no record was
made of any vote to issue a call for caucuses,
and that no copy of any such call was trans-

- Certiorari-Quo
Attorney-General.

642

It does not appear to be the intent of the
laws regulating the Australian ballot that the
nomination of candidates shall be delegated by
the convention to a committee who are em-
powered to select candidates and to present
their names to the Ballot Commissioners as the
nominees of the convention; and if an applica-
tion for a writ of certiorari to declare illegal
the nominations so made should be presented
by a member of the convention or by any con-
siderable number of the voters of the party, it
would be the duty of the Attorney-General to
permit the use of his name, in order that the
question of the legality of such nominations
might be determined by the court.

But where the only protest is made by a can-
didate of another party whose name appears
upon the official ballot, and the delay inci-
dental to the determination of the question by
the court will endanger the legality of the
whole election, the Attorney-General will, in
the exercise of the discretion entrusted to him,
refuse to sign an information, if it appears that
neither the candidate seeking that proceeding
nor the voters suffer substantial injury thereby.

7.

Election - Precinct- Election Of-
ficers Misconduct — Quo War-
ranto- Attorney-General
649
Where, at an election in a town divided into
precincts for voting purposes, the election offi-
cers in two precincts, before any vote was cast,
unlawfully entertained and declared carried
motions to adjourn the meetings, and without
regarding the protests of qualified voters, pres-
ent and desiring to vote, adjourned the meet-
ing and carried away the ballot boxes, but the
remaining precincts proceeded with the elec-
tion and filled the offices named in the warrant,
the misconduct of the election officers in the
precincts where meetings were adjourned does
not invalidate the election legally held in the
remaining precincts of the town; and if there
was a regular and proper expression of the
public choice in the precincts, where voting
took place, the candidates so chosen and the
questions so decided must be accepted.

The Attorney-General will not sign an infor-
mation against certain respondents alleged to
have been illegally elected to office at a town
election, where there are no other claimants to
the offices held by such respondents, and it
appears that, notwithstanding the illegality

senting Cost of Construction.

155
A bill to amend the charter of the Boston,
Cape Cod & New York Canal Company, in-
stead of providing for the authorization of stock
and bonds from time to time, as the needs of
construction require, and for the expenditure of
the proceeds only in such construction, requires
the joint board provided for in the charter to
ascertain in advance the entire cost of the
canal, and to authorize the issuance of the
whole amount of stock and bonds needed to
cover the cost so ascertained. If the actual
cost of construction should be less than such
estimate by the joint board, the balance of
stock not required for purposes of construction
would become the property of the corporation,
and, in so far as it did not stand for nor
represent capital actually invested, would be
"watered stock."

By St. 1897, c. 500, § 10, providing in part
that during a period of twenty-five years from
the date of the passage thereof no taxes or ex-
cises, not then actually imposed upon street
railways, should be assessed upon the Boston
Elevated Railway Company except as defined
in such statute, a contract was created between
the Boston Elevated Railway Company and
the Commonwealth; and St. 1900, c. 413, § 2,
authorizing the Board of Metropolitan Park
Commissioners to grant to street railways loca-
tions over roadways, boulevards, parks and
reservations subject to its control, "upon such
terms, conditions and obligations and for such
compensation as the public interests and a due
regard for the rights of the Commonwealth
may require," in so far as it relates to compen-
sation for grants of location, is not applicable
to such company.

The ultimate disposition of money received
for taxes from the Boston Elevated Railway
Company under the provisions of St. 1897, e.
500, $10, forms no part of the contract created
thereby, and may be changed or modified in
such manner as the Legislature may deem
proper. Such proportion of the taxes received
from the Boston Elevated Railway Company
as is based upon the mileage owned or con-
trolled by such corporation within such metro-
politan park reservations may therefore be
credited, under the provisions of St. 1900, c. 413,
§ 5, to the sinking fund created to meet the ex-
penses of establishing and maintaining such
reservations.