Duties of the judge of the court municipal to be performed 1843, 7, 1. Name, jurisdic- Times and How adjourned of the judge. Ibid, § 3. MUNICIPAL COURT. 1. By the statute of 1843, chapter 7,1 all the duties, then required by law to be performed by the judge of the municipal court of the city of Boston, shall be performed within and for the county of Suffolk by the justices of the court of common pleas, or by some one of them; provided, however, that no one of said justices shall hold more than three monthly terms of said municipal court in succession. 2. The name, style, and caption of the said municipal court, and its powers, duties and jurisdiction, shall continue the same as prescribed by law. 3. The said court shall be held in the city of Boston, on the first Monday of every month, and may be adjourned from time to time, as occasion shall require. 4. If the judge shall be absent, at a time appointed for in the absence holding a court, whether at the beginning of a term, or at an adjournment thereof, the clerk shall adjourn the court, either without day, or to such time and place, as the public convenience may in his judgment require, and notice of such adjournment shall be given by proclamation, to be made in the court house by the sheriff or his deputy, and in such other manner as the court may by any general rule direct. 5. The said court shall have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the supreme judicial court, of all crimes, Jurisdiction of 1 In the case of Brien v. Commonwealth, (5 Metc. 508,) it was held, that this statute is not repugnant to the constitution of the commonwealth. Held, also, that the office of judge of the municipal court was virtually abolished. 6 Pick. 104. offences and misdemeanors committed in the county of Suf- 11 Pick. 28. to have concur with C. C. P. proceedings zances in crimi Suffolk county. 6. All actions, suits and prosecutions, in the name of Municipal court the commonwealth, upon recognizances taken in any crimi- rent jurisdiction nal prosecution or proceeding in the county of Suffolk, may and S. J. C., of be brought in and before the municipal court of the city of upon recogniBoston, and said municipal court shall have jurisdiction nal matters in thereof, concurrent with the court of common pleas and 1844, 44, § 1. supreme judicial court, in said county, in all cases wherein said court of common pleas and supreme judicial court respectively now have jurisdiction; and all writs for the recovery of the penalties of such recognizances shall be in the forms prescribed by law, and may be sued out in term time or vacation, and shall be served fourteen days before the term at which they are returnable; and said municipal court shall have power and authority to render judgment for the whole, or any part they think proper, of the penal sum of such recognizances respectively, and interest thereon, and issue writs of execution, in form prescribed by law, against the party sued in said actions, and the said writs of execution shall be tested, sealed, directed and served, in the same manner as writs of execution issuing from the court of common pleas of this commonwealth. minors to house 7. The municipal court has also jurisdiction, concurrent May sentence with the police court, to sentence to the house of reforma- of reformation, tion, in certain cases, minors under the age of sixteen, who 1847, 208, § 1. live an idle and dissolute life, &c. in certain cases. writs, &c. like R. S. 86, § 5. 1843, 7, 1. 8. The said court shall issue all such writs and pro- Court to issue and exercise all such powers, as may be necessary C. C. P. cesses, or proper for the discharge of their duty, in like manner as may be done by the court of common pleas; and all such writs and processes may run into any county, and shall be obeyed and executed throughout the state. 9. All precepts, warrants, venires and processes, issued Seal and teste of from said municipal court, shall be tested like similar pro- 1843, 7, § 7. precepts. Seal. Grand jurors to be summoned Ibid, § 3. See R. S. 86, § 6. cesses from the court of common pleas, and shall be under the seal of the municipal court, and signed by its clerk. 10. The seal of the said municipal court shall in all cases be the same as that of the court of common pleas of this commonwealth. 11. The clerk of the said municipal court, seven days and empanelled. at least, and not more than fourteen days, before each term of the said court, commencing on the first Monday of January, and the first Monday of July, in each year, shall issue a writ of venire facias for twenty-three grand jurors to serve in said court, twenty-two of whom shall be drawn and returned from the city of Boston and one from the town of Chelsea, in said county of Suffolk; and the grand jurors, so returned, shall constitute the grand inquest of the commonwealth for said county, for the term of six months, and until another grand jury is empanelled in their stead. 1 Proceedings when the grand dictment for a capital crime. 1844, 44, § 4. 12. If the grand jury, attending at any term of the jury find an in- municipal court, shall find and return to the court any indictment for any crime punishable with death, if the person accused be not in custody, process shall be forthwith issued for the arrest of the party charged with such offence, and the party so charged shall, as soon as may be, be served with a copy of the indictment by the sheriff or his deputy, with an order of court giving notice to the accused, that the indictment will be entered at the supreme judicial court next to be holden in and for said county of Suffolk, Com. v. Webster, or at any intermediate time before the next term when said supreme judicial court shall be in session in said county, and notice of such indictment shall also be forthwith given to the chief or first justice of that court by the clerk of said municipal court; and the said clerk shall transmit and certify the original indictment to the supreme judicial court at the next term thereof, or at any intermediate time when said supreme judicial court shall be in session in said county, where it shall be entered, and the said supreme S. J. C. March T. 1850. 1 For general provisions respecting the drawing of jurors, and grand jurors, see Rev. Stat. 95, c. 136; stat. 1838, c. 21; 1840, c. 74. judicial court shall then and there have full cognizance and jurisdiction thereof, and the same proceedings shall be had, as if the said indictment had been found and returned in said supreme judicial court. R. S. 86, § 7. Ibid, 95, §§ 34,35. 13. The traverse jurors of the municipal court shall be Traverse jurors. drawn and returned from the city of Boston, and from the town of Chelsea, in the manner provided in the ninety-fifth chapter of the Revised Statutes, and writs of venire facias shall be issued for that purpose, returnable at the terms held in January, April, July and October, in each year; and the jurors, so returned at each of those four terms, respectively, shall also serve at the two next succeeding terms.1 new trials and tions. 14. The said municipal court may grant new trials in court may grant the like cases, and upon the same terms and conditions as allow excepare provided, in the one hundred and thirty-eighth chapter Ibid, 86, § 11. of the Revised Statutes, for the granting of new trials by the court of common pleas; and exceptions may be taken to any decision or direction of the court in matter of law, in the same manner, and with the same limitations, as are provided in said chapter. But no appeal is allowed to the allowed. supreme judicial court. 15. Whenever hereafter a vacancy shall happen in the office of clerk of said municipal court, such vacancy shall be filled by an appointment thereto, to be made by the said judges of the court of common pleas; and the records of the said municipal court are to be kept separate and distinct from those of the court of common pleas. No appeal Ibid, 10. How clerk shall 1843, 7, § 2. counted for as in 16. All fines, forfeitures and costs, accrued or allowed Fines, &c. to be upon any judgment or other proceeding in said court, shall paid and acbe paid, received and accounted for, in like manner as is provided in the case of criminal prosecutions in the court of common pleas. 17. All costs arising in criminal prosecutions, in the Provision for taxing, certifysaid municipal court, shall be taxed by the prosecuting ing and paying officer according to law, and the allowance thereof shall be the municipal certified by the clerk, under the direction of the court, and 1843, 61, § 1. costs arising in court. 1 See note on p. 88. |