Excerpt from General Library Legislation of Massachusetts: 1798-1913 In order to show the evolution of libraries in Massachusetts as it can be traced in the laws from time to time enacted, a collection of such general legislation as relates to the formation and management of social, law, school district and free public libraries has been arranged in chronological order. 1798 An Act to enable the proprietors of social libraries to manage The Same. Laws of 1798, chapter 45; repealed by the Act of March 8, 1806.] Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That any seven or more persons capable of contracting, in any towns or districts in this Commonwealth, who have or shall become Proprietors in common of any Library, may form themselves into a Society or Body Politic for the express purposes of holding, increasing, preserving, and using such Library and to that end any five or more of them, may apply in writing by them signed, to any Justice of the Peace, within the county wherein the same town or district may be, stating the purposes of their meeting, and requesting him to issue his warrant for calling a meeting of the said proprietors, which Justice may grant his warrant to some one of them, directing him to call a meeting of the said proprietors, at the time and place, and for the purposes in such warrant expressed; which proprietors shall notify such meeting by posting up the substance of said warrant in some public place in the said town or district where the said Library shall be kept, seven days at least before the time of said meeting. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.