General Laws of Massachusetts - Chapter 166 Telephone and Telegraph Companies, and Lines for the Transmission of Electricity
- Massachusetts General Laws - Telephone and telegraph companies; subscription and payment for stock; filing of statement - Chapter 166, Section 1
A telegraph or telephone company shall not commence the construction of its line until three fourths of its capital stock have been unconditionally subscribed for,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Debt limitation - Chapter 166, Section 2
Such company shall not at any time contract or owe debts to a larger amount than one half of its capital stock actually paid in.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Liability of president and treasurer for wilful neglect or omission - Chapter 166, Section 3
The president and treasurer of such company shall be jointly and severally liable for all its indebtedness, in case of wilful neglect or omission on...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Issue of stock, bonds, coupon notes and other evidences of indebtedness - Chapter 166, Section 4
Such company shall issue only such amount of stock and bonds, and of coupon notes and other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of more...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Enforcement of orders of department relating to stocks and bonds - Chapter 166, Section 5
The supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity, upon the application of the department, attorney general, any stockholder or interested party, to...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Improper issue; penalty - Chapter 166, Section 6
A director, treasurer or other officer or agent of any such company who knowingly votes to authorize the issue of, or knowingly signs, certifies or...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Increase of capital stock; shareholders’ rights to new shares - Chapter 166, Section 7
If any such company increases its capital stock, such new shares necessary to produce the amount of increased capital stock authorized shall, except as provided...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Shares authorized to be sold at auction; place of sale - Chapter 166, Section 8
If such increase does not exceed four per cent of the existing capital stock of the corporation, the directors, without first offering the same to...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Issue of stock or scrip before payment for shares at par - Chapter 166, Section 9
No such company established under the laws of this commonwealth shall declare any stock or scrip dividend or divide the proceeds of the sale of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Effect of issue of stock or scrip before payment for shares; liability of directors - Chapter 166, Section 10
All certificates of stock or scrip issued in violation of the preceding section shall be void; and the directors of the corporation which issues them...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Annual return - Chapter 166, Section 11
Every telephone or telegraph company doing business in the commonwealth shall annually, on or before March thirty-first or such subsequent date as the department of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Failure to make annual return; penalty - Chapter 166, Section 12
Any such company neglecting to make the annual return required by the preceding section shall, for the first fifteen days or portion thereof during which...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Condensed return of business and financial condition - Chapter 166, Section 12A
Every company subject to the requirements of section eleven shall file with the department, with its annual return required under said section, a condensed return...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Telephone companies; connections with exchanges; equal facilities for all companies; definition of “person” or “company” - Chapter 166, Section 13
A person owning, controlling or operating a telephone exchange or service in the commonwealth shall, upon application of a telegraph company, furnish such company with...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Connections with exchanges; equal facilities for applicants for telephone service; cost of extensions - Chapter 166, Section 14
A person owning, controlling or operating a telephone exchange or service in the commonwealth shall, on application and the tender of the charges or rental...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Enhanced 911 service - Chapter 166, Section 14A
(a) In order to establish statewide enhanced 911 service, upon the written request of the state 911 department, established by section 18B of chapter 6A,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Equal facilities for those connecting with exchange; enforcement - Chapter 166, Section 15
The supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce the two preceding sections.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Entitlement to hand sets as station equipment - Chapter 166, Section 15A
A telephone company, upon request therefor by a subscriber who has paid to such company, for a period of not less than thirty-six months, an...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Sales and transfers to similar corporations - Chapter 166, Section 15B
A corporation organized under the laws of the commonwealth for the transmission of intelligence by electricity or by telephone, whether by electricity or otherwise, hereinafter...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Emergency calls; refusal to yield party line; misrepresentation of emergency - Chapter 166, Section 15C
Any person who shall wilfully refuse to yield or surrender the use of a party telephone line to another person for the purpose of permitting...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Energized cables in excavations endangering telephone company employees; notice to electric company; precautionary cooperation - Chapter 166, Section 15D
No telephone company which has underground wires or cables in a joint trench or other underground location used jointly with an electric company shall require...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Definitions; required equipment and services for disabled subscribers; advisory committee on disabled persons’ accessibility to telephone service - Chapter 166, Section 15E
(a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— “Captioned telephone”, an amplified telecommunications device...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Receipt and transmission of despatches - Chapter 166, Section 16
A telegraph company shall receive despatches from and for other telegraph companies and associations, and from and for any person; and, upon payment of the...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Rates to other telegraph companies or by mail - Chapter 166, Section 17
A telegraph company shall receive, compute and transmit despatches received at its offices from another telegraph company or by mail, at the same rates of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Violations; penalties - Chapter 166, Section 18
A telegraph company which wilfully neglects or refuses to comply with any provision of the two preceding sections shall forfeit not more than one hundred...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Liability for negligent transmission; claim; exceptions - Chapter 166, Section 19
A telegraph company shall be liable for damages to the amount of one hundred dollars actually caused by its negligence, or that of its agents,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Indication of time filed and received on addressee’s copy - Chapter 166, Section 20
Every person engaged in the business of transmitting communications by telegraph in the commonwealth and charging tolls therefor, shall cause to appear plainly upon the...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Location of construction of electric transmission lines - Chapter 166, Section 21
A company incorporated for the transmission of intelligence by electricity or by telephone, whether by electricity or otherwise, or for the transmission of television signals,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Coming into close proximity to high voltage lines - Chapter 166, Section 21A
No person shall require or permit any employee to operate a crane, power shovel or other such types of construction equipment in close proximity to...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Protection of overhead high voltage lines - Chapter 166, Section 21B
The operation or erection of any tools, machinery or equipment, or any part thereof capable of vertical, lateral, or swinging motion; the handling or storage...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Warnings; operation of equipment near high voltage lines - Chapter 166, Section 21C
The owner, agent or employer responsible for the operation of equipment shall post and maintain in plain view of the operator on each crane, derrick,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Warning signs; size; posting - Chapter 166, Section 21D
Warning signs shall be placed: (1) Within the equipment readily visible to operator of cranes and other equipment when at the controls of such equipment;...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Notification of operation near high voltage lines - Chapter 166, Section 21E
Before any operations are to be performed within six feet of any overhead high voltage lines, the person or persons responsible for the work to...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Exemptions; definitions - Chapter 166, Section 21F
The provisions of sections twenty-one A to twenty-one E, inclusive, shall not apply to the construction, reconstruction, operation and maintenance of overhead electrical conductors and...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Violations; penalties; liability - Chapter 166, Section 21G
(a) Whoever violates any of the provisions of sections twenty-one A to twenty-one F, inclusive, shall be punished by a fine of not less than...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Consent of municipal officers to construct or alter lines - Chapter 166, Section 22
A company desiring to construct a line for such transmission upon, along, under or across a public way shall in writing petition the board of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Definitions - Chapter 166, Section 22A
As used in this section and in sections 22B to 22M, inclusive, the following words shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:—...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Program for prohibition or removal of overhead wires - Chapter 166, Section 22B
The planning board of any town, if any, or in a town having no such board, the board of selectmen and the city council of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Prohibition and removal of overhead wires; fines and penalties - Chapter 166, Section 22C
After such report has been filed, the municipality may adopt an ordinance or by-law which shall forbid a utility to install or construct except by...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Removal of overhead wires; sequence; replacement; fines and penalties - Chapter 166, Section 22D
After a report has been filed under section twenty-two B, the municipality may adopt an ordinance or by-law which shall require a utility to remove...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Cooperative agreements to remove overhead wires - Chapter 166, Section 22E
Any utility organized and existing under the laws of or doing business in this commonwealth and any municipality may enter into, and from time to...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Notice of hearing or ordinance to remove overhead wires - Chapter 166, Section 22F
The municipality shall comply with the following provisions with reference to notice: (a) When the planning board, board of selectmen, city council or committee of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Emergency erection of overhead wires - Chapter 166, Section 22G
The board of selectmen or city council of any municipality may grant special permission, for such period and on such terms as it may deem...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Underground construction; responsibility of utility - Chapter 166, Section 22H
If underground construction is necessary to provide replacement facilities for any poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures removed pursuant to any ordinance or...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Underground construction; customer service facilities - Chapter 166, Section 22I
All underground construction and conduits, conductors and associated equipment necessary to receive utility service between the utility’s service facilities referred to in section twenty-two H...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Removal of municipal equipment from poles - Chapter 166, Section 22J
When a municipality adopts an ordinance or by-law pursuant to section twenty-two D, it shall remove its police and fire alarm circuits or any similar...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Extension of time for removal - Chapter 166, Section 22K
If any act required by an ordinance or by-law adopted pursuant to section twenty-two D cannot be performed within the time provided on account of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Rate differential; adoption of removal ordinance - Chapter 166, Section 22L
If at any time one or more but less than all of the municipalities in which the customers of any one utility are located adopt...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Billing surcharge; adoption of removal ordinance - Chapter 166, Section 22M
In addition to all other rates, charges and fees it may otherwise be authorized to impose and collect any utility shall impose and collect as...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Effective date of adopting ordinance - Chapter 166, Section 22N
Any ordinance or by-law adopted under the provisions of section twenty-two C or section twenty-two D shall become effective on the first day of January...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Citizens establishing and maintaining lines - Chapter 166, Section 23
Selectmen may authorize citizens of the commonwealth to establish and maintain, in their town, poles, wires and other apparatus for telegraphic and telephonic communication, in...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Construction of lines for private use; privileges of town; protection of lines - Chapter 166, Section 24
The selectmen may, upon terms and conditions prescribed by them, and subject to the provisions of this chapter, so far as applicable, authorize a person...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Underground telegraph, telephone or television lines; regulations - Chapter 166, Section 25
The selectmen may, within their towns, permit telegraph, telephone or television lines to be laid under any public way or place, and may establish reasonable...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Attachments; regulation by department of public utilities - Chapter 166, Section 25A
The following terms as used in this section shall have the following meanings: “Utility”, means any person, firm, corporation or municipal lighting plant that owns...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Violation of regulations - Chapter 166, Section 26
The selectmen shall forthwith give written notice in detail to the owner, constructor or person using any line constructed or maintained in violation of such...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Approval by department of ordinances or regulations of municipality - Chapter 166, Section 27
No ordinance or regulation of a city or town, or regulation or restriction imposed in a grant of location, affecting the erection, maintenance or operation...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Approval by department of location; public hearing; place of hearing; determination; fees - Chapter 166, Section 28
Any company subject to this chapter, except a telegraph or telephone company, desiring to construct a line for the transmission of electricity which will of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Persons entitled to damages - Chapter 166, Section 29
An owner of land abutting upon a public way along which telegraph or telephone, television, electric light, heating or power lines are constructed, erected or...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Regulations concerning wires - Chapter 166, Section 30
A person or a corporation, private or municipal, owning or operating a line of wires over or under streets or buildings shall use only strong...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Fixtures supporting wires or cables; marking to show ownership - Chapter 166, Section 31
Such person or corporation shall plainly mark each pole, pier, abutment or other fixture supporting wires or cables containing wires over streets or buildings with...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Municipal inspector of wires; appointment; qualifications; powers and duties; liability for removal of wires - Chapter 166, Section 32
A city or town shall, by ordinance, vote or by-law, appoint an inspector of wires. Said inspector shall be a licensed electrician. Two or more...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Inspector of wires working as electrician; inspection by assistant inspector - Chapter 166, Section 32A
In a city, town or district which accepts this section, a licensed electrician who is appointed inspector of wires may practice for hire or engage...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Enforcement of Secs. 30 to 32 - Chapter 166, Section 33
The supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity upon petition of the inspector designated or appointed as aforesaid, to enforce the three...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Poles and other structures used to support lines; protection of employees and public - Chapter 166, Section 34
Poles and other structures used to support lines for the transmission of electricity shall be insulated in such manner as to protect employees and other...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Use of poles and other fixtures for communication without consent of owner - Chapter 166, Section 35
A corporation or person maintaining or operating telephone, telegraph, television or other electric wires or any other person who in any manner affixes or causes...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Marking name of corporation maintaining or operating on poles or other fixtures - Chapter 166, Section 36
A corporation or person maintaining or operating telephone, telegraph, television or other electric wires shall, at all places where such wires are affixed by any...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Prescriptive easements - Chapter 166, Section 37
No enjoyment, for the purposes specified in section twenty-one, for any length of time of the privilege of having or maintaining poles, wires or apparatus...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Intentional injury or destruction of property; penalty - Chapter 166, Section 38
Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures, molests or destroys any line, wire, pole, pier or abutment, or any of the materials or property of any street...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Temporary removal of wires; refusal of company to act - Chapter 166, Section 39
Whenever, in order to move a building or for any other necessary purpose, a person desires that the wires of any such company be cut,...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Removal of wires without notice; penalty - Chapter 166, Section 40
Whoever wilfully cuts, disconnects, removes or otherwise interrupts the use of the wires of any such company, without first giving notice as provided in the...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Removal of wires without notice; exception - Chapter 166, Section 41
The two preceding sections shall not apply to any wires attached to poles not erected in compliance with law.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Liability of telegraph company for injury caused by poles, wires or other apparatus - Chapter 166, Section 42
A telegraph company shall be liable in damages to a person injured in his person or property by the poles, wires or other apparatus of...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Telecommunication service; fraud; penalty - Chapter 166, Section 42A
Whoever, with intent to defraud, obtains, or attempts to obtain, or aids or abets another in obtaining, any telecommunications services valued less than five thousand...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Fraudulently avoiding charges for telecommunication service; use of equipment, etc.; penalties - Chapter 166, Section 42B
Whoever makes any instrument, apparatus, equipment or device which is designed, adapted or which is used to fraudulently obtain telecommunication service in the manner prohibited...
- Massachusetts General Laws - Owners and associations subject to chapter - Chapter 166, Section 43
Owners and associations engaged in the business specified in section twenty-one although not incorporated shall be subject to this chapter so far as applicable.
- Massachusetts General Laws - Service observing; interception - Chapter 166, Section 44
Service Observing, Interception.—Service observing of telephone lines conducted by telephone companies for the purpose of determining the quality of transmission or for any other purpose...
Last modified: September 11, 2015