where the estate lies, to the person who is either the owner or in possession thereof on the first day of May. Mortgagors of real estate shall, for the purposes of taxation, except as provided in the three following sections, be deemed owners until the mortgagee takes possession, after which the mortgagee shall, except as provided in said sections, be deemed the owner.

SEC. 14.

When any person has an interest in [taxable] [real estate not exempt from taxation under the provisions of section five of this chapter, see 1882, ch. 175, sect. 3, ] as holder of a duly recorded mortgage given to secure the payment of money, the amount of which is fixed and certain, the amount of his interest as mortgagee shall be assesssd as real estate in the place where the land lies; and the mortgagor shall be assessed only for the value of said real estate after deducting the assessed value of all such mortgagee's interests therein. When such property is situated in two or more places, the amount of the mortgagee's interest to be assessed in each place shall be proportioned to the assessed value in the respective places of the mortgaged real estate. deducting therefrom the taxable amount of prior mortgages if any thereon.

SEC. 15. If any holder of such a mortgage fails to file in the assessors' office a statement under oath of all his estate, liable to taxation under the preceding section, including a statement of the full amount remaining unpaid upon such mortgage and of his interest therein, the amount stated in the mortgage shall be conclusive as to the extent of such interest; but the mortgagees' interests in such real estate shall not be assessed at a greater sum than the fair cash valuation of the land and the structures thereon or affixed thereto; and the amount of a mortgage interest in an estate that has been divided after the creation of such mortgage shall not be required to be apportioned upon the several parts of such estate, except as provided in sections eighty-one to eightythree inclusive.

SEC. 16. Mortgagors and mortgagees referred to in the two preceding sections shall, for the purposes of taxation, be deemed joint owners until the mortgagee takes possession; and until such possession is taken by a first mortgagee, the assessors or the collector of taxes, upon application to any one of them, shall give to any such mortgagee or mortgagor a tax bill, showing the whole tax on the mortgaged estate, and the amount included in the valuation thereof as the interest of each mortgagee and of the mortgagor respectively. If the first mortgagee is in possession, he shall be deemed sole owner; and any other mortgagee in possession shall be deemed joint owner with prior mortgagees.

The four preceding sections are somewhat modified by the Acts of 1882, ch. 175, § 1, as follows:

[Any mortgagor or mortgagee of real estate may bring in to the assessors of the town or city where such real estate lies, within such time as shall be specified for bringing in the lists as provided in section thirty-eight of chapter eleven of the Public

Statutes, a statement, under oath, of the amount due on each separate lot or parcel of such real estate, and the name and residence of every holder of an interest therein as a mortgagee or mortgagor. When such property is situated in two or more places, or when a recorded mortgage includes for one sum two or more estates or parts of an estate, an estimate of the amount of the mortgagee's interest in each estate or part of an estate shall be given in such statement. The assessors shall, from such statements or otherwise, ascertain the proportionate parts of such estates that are the interests of mortgagees and mortgagors respectively, and shall assess the same. Whenever, in any case of mortgaged real estate, a statement is not brought in as herein provided, no tax for the then current year on such real estate shall be invalidated, for the reason that a mortgagee's interest therein has not been assessed to him.]

SEC. 20. Provides that all personal estate, within or without the Commonwealth, shall be assessed to the owner in the city or town where he is an inhabitant on the first day of May, except as otherwise provided and in the following clauses of this Section:

First, All goods, wares, merchandise, and other stock in trade (except ships or vessels owned by a co-partnership), including stock employed in the business of manufacturing or of the mechanic arts, in the cities or towns within the Commonwealth, other than where the owners reside, whether such owners reside within or without the Commonwealth, shall be taxed in those places where the owners hire or occupy manufactories, stores, shops or wharves, whether such property is within said places or elsewhere on the first day of May of the year when the tax is made.

Second, All machinery employed in any branch or manufactures shall be assessed where such machinery is situated or employed; and, in assessing the stockholders for their shares in any manufacturing corporation, there shali first be deducted from the value thereof, the value of the machinery and real estate belonging to such corporation.

Third, Horses, mules, neat cattle, sheep and swine, kept throughout the year in places other than those where the owners reside, whether such owners reside within or without the Commonwealth, and horses employed in stages or other vehicles for the transportation of passengers for hire, shall be assessed to the owners in the places where they are kept.

Fourth, Personal property belonging to persons under guardianship, shall be assessed to the guardian in the place where the ward is an inhabitant, unless the ward resides and has his home without the Commonwealth, in which case it shall be taxed to the guardian in the place where he is an inhabitant.

Fifth, Personal property held in trust by an executor, administrator, or trustee, the income of which is payable to another person, shall be assessed to the executor, administrator or trustee, in the place where such other person resides, if within the Com

monwealth, and if he resides out of the Commonwealth, it shall be assessed in the place where the executor, administrator or trustee resides, and, if there are two or more executors, administrators, or trustees residing in different places, the property shall be assessed to them in equal portions in such places, and the tax thereon shall be paid out of said income. If the executor, administrator, or trustee is not an inhabitant of the commonwealth, it shall be assessed to the person to whom the income is payable, in the place where he resides.

SEC. 22. Property held by a religious society as a ministerial fund shall be assessed to the Treasurer of the society. If such property consists of real estate, it shall be taxed in the town where it lies; if it consists of personal property, it shall be taxed in the town where such society usually holds its meetings.

SEC. 23. Personal property mortgaged or pledged, shall, for the purposes of taxation, be deemed the property of the party who has the possession.

SEC. 24. Partners in mercantile or other business, whether residing in the same or in different places, may be jointly taxed under their partnership name, in the place where their business is carried on, for all the personal property employed in such business, except ships or vessels, and except property taxed under the provisions of Chapter 13. If partners have places of business in two or more towns, they shall be taxed in each of such places for the proportion of property employed therein. When so jointly taxed, each partner shall be liable for the whole tax.

EVASION OF TAXATION.

SEC. 26. Whoever in any way directly or indirectly proposes or agrees to an assessment on any specific or limited amount less than he is liable by law to be taxed for, with a view or as an inducement to make any particular place his residence for the purpose of taxation, shall be punished by fine of one thousand (1,000) dollars; and any assessor guilty of making or assenting to any such proposal shall be subject to a like penalty.

SEC. 27. Any inhabitant of the Commonwealth, who escapes taxation by wilfully and designedly changing or concealing his residence, or by any other act, with the intent so to escape, shall be punished by fine of twice the amount of the last tax paid by him; or, if he has paid no tax in the Commonwealth, by a fine of not less than one hundred (100) nor more than five thousand (5,000) dollars. Any person offending against the provisions of this Section may be indicted and tried in any county where any of the acts or things made criminal by this Section are done, or in any county where such person is liable to taxation.

SEC. 28. Any shareholder, who, with intent to avoid taxation, fraudulently transfers a share of corporate stock, or fraudulently causes or procures a certificate of a share to be issued to any person other than himself, or in any name other than his own; or refuses to inform, or wilfully misinforms, the corporation respect

ing his name or residence; or, having changed his residence to another city or town in the Commonwealth, wilfully omits to give notice thereof to any corporation in the Commonwealth in which he is a shareholder, shall forfeit one-half of the par value of the shares so transferred, issued, or owned by him in the stock of such corporation, to be recovered by an action of tort to the use of the city or town in which he resides.

SEC. 29. Whoever, with intent to defeat or evade the provisions of law in relation to the assessment or payment of taxes, delivers or discloses to an assessor or assistant assessor, a false or fraudulent list, return or schedule of property as and for a true list of his estates not exempted from taxation, shall be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand (1,000) dollars, or by imprisonment in jail not exceeding one year.

*

*

SEC. 34. The assessors shall each year assess taxes to an amount not less than the aggregate of all sums appropriated, granted, or lawfully expended by their respective cities or towns since the last preceding annual assessment and not provided for therein; of all sums which are required by law to be raised by taxation by the said cities or towns during said year; and of all sums which are necessary to satisfy final judgments recovered against the said cities or towns; but such assessments shall not include sums for the payment of which cities or towns have lawfully voted to contract debts, and the assessors may deduct from the amount required to be assessed, the amount of all the estimated receipts of their respective cities or towns (except from loans or taxes) which are lawfully applicable to the payment of the expenditures of the year, but such deduction shall not exceed the amount of such receipts during the preceding year. * * *

SEC. 38. Before proceeding to make an assessment, the assessors shall give reasonable notice thereof to the inhabitants of their respective places, at any of their meetings, or by posting up in their city or town one or more notifications in some public place or places, or by some other sufficient manner. Such notices shall require the inhabitants to bring in to the assessors, within a time therein specified, true lists of all their polls and personal estates not exempted from taxation, and may or may not require them to include real estate in their lists of property subject to taxation. Unless such requirement is made in said notice, the omission of real estate from the list brought in to the assessors shall not deprive the owner of such real estate, of his right to an abatement of the tax thereon, if he files with his application to the assessors for abatement, a list of the real estate on which the same is claimed, with his estimate of the fair cash value of each parcel thereof, and makes oath that said lists and estimates are true according to his best knowledge and belief.

SEC. 39. The assessors shall, in all cases, require a person bringing in a list, to make oath that the same is true; which oath may be administered by one of the assessors, or by their secretary or head clerk, unless such person is absent from the

city or town in which the tax is to be laid during the whole period when it may be made, in which case the oath may be administered by a notary public, the jurat to be duly authenticated by his seal.

SEC. 40. They shall receive as true (except as to valuation), the list brought in by each individual, according to the provisions of Section 38, unless on being thereto required by the assessors, he refuses to answer on oath all necessary inquiries as to the nature and amount of his property.

SEC. 41. They shall ascertain as nearly as possible the particulars of the personal estate, and of the real estate in possession or occupation, as owner or otherwise, or any person who has not brought in a list as required by them, and shall make an estimate thereof at its just value, according to their best information and belief.

SEC. 42. Such estimate shall be entered in the valuation, and shall be conclusive upon all persons who have not seasonably brought in lists of their estates, unless they can show a reasonable excuse for the omission, and except as is otherwise provided.

SEC. 43. In making the estimate provided for in the two preceding sections, the assessors shall specify the total amount, as valued for assessment, or money at interest, and other debts due the persons assessed more than they are indebted or pay interest for, specifying how much of said amount is debts secured by mortgage, and how much unsecured debts. The amount of money on hand, including deposits, the total amount of public stocks and securities, and the total amount of stocks in corporations without the State, as valued for assessment.

*

*

*

SEC. 45. The assessors of each place shall, at the time appointed, make a fair cash valuation of all the estate, real and personal, subject to taxation therein.

The Statute also provides for the compulsory use by the Assessors of suitable blank books, with uniform headings, for a valuation list, and blank tables for aggregates, the Assessors being required to enter in the books furnished by the Secretary of the Commonwealth the valuation and assessment of the polls and estates of the inhabitants assessed in the following order:—

1. The names of the inhabitants or parties (persons) assessed for polls or estates (with the street and number of their residence.) The number of polls for which any person named is

2.

taxable.

3. The total amount of cash tax on polls.

4.

The amount of each person's whole stock in trade, including all goods, wares and merchandise, at home or abroad, of ratable estate, whether paid for or otherwise.

5. A description of all ratable cash assets, viz: Amount of money at interest more than the person assessed pays interest for, including public securities; the amount of money on hand, including deposits in any bank, or in any savings bank which is