on the poll-list as a voter. Within ten days thereafter the clerk of every town meeting transmits to each person elected to any town office, whose name has been entered on the polllist as a voter, a notice of his election.

No person is eligible to any town office unless he is an elector of the town for which he is chosen. No loan officer appointed under the Act of the 14th of March 1792, entitled "An Act for loaning monies belonging to this state," is during his continuance in that office eligible to the office of supervisor. Every person

chosen or appointed to the office of supervisor, town-clerk, assessor, overseer of the poor, commissioner of highways, or town-sealer, before he enters on the duties of his office, and within ten days after he is notified of his election or appointment, shall take and subscribe before some justice of the peace or commissioner of deeds, the oath of office prescribed by the constitution of the state. This oath is administered without reward; and the justice or commissioner, also without reward, certifies in writing the day and year when the same was taken, and delivers such certificate to the person by whom the oath was made, who, within eight days thereafter, shall cause it to be filed in the office of the town-clerk. Neglect to take and subscribe this oath, and to file the certificate thereof as stated, is deemed a refusal to serve. Every person chosen or appointed to the office of overseer of highways, or commissioner or inspector of common schools, or pound-master, before he enters on the duties of his office, and within ten days after he is notified of his election or appointment, shall cause to be filed in the office of the town-clerk a notice in writing signifying his acceptance of such office; and if he does not do so, the neglect is deemed a refusal to serve. Every

person chosen or appointed to the office of collector, before he enters on the duties of his office, and within eight days after he receives notice of the amount of taxes to be collected by him, shall execute to the supervisor of the town and lodge with him a bond with one or more sureties, approved of by such supervisor, in double the amount of such taxes, conditioned for the faithful execution of his duties as collector. Within six days thereafter the supervisor shall file this bond, with his approbation indorsed thereon, in the office of the county clerk, who makes an entry thereof in a book provided for the purpose, in the same manner as judgments are entered of record; and every such bond is a lien on all the real estate held jointly or severally by the collector or his sureties within the county at the time of the filing thereof, and continues to be such lien till its condition, together with all costs and charges which may accrue by the prosecution thereof, are fully satisfied. Every person chosen or appointed to the office of constable, before he enters on the duties of his office, and within eight days after he is notified of his election or appointment, shall take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office, and shall execute in the presence of the supervisor or town-clerk of the town, with at least two sufficient sureties approved of by such supervisor or town-clerk, an instrument in writing by which such constable and his sureties, jointly and severally, agree to pay to each and every person who may be entitled thereto, all such sums of money as the said constable may become liable to pay on account of any execution which is delivered to him for collection; and all jointly and severally agree and become liable to pay each and every such person for any damages which he may sustain from or by

any act or thing done by said constable, by virtue of his office of constable. Every constable so chosen or appointed shall in good faith be an actual resident of the town or ward in which he is chosen or appointed. The supervisor or townclerk indorses on such instrument his approbation of the sureties therein named, and shall then cause the same to be filed in the office of the townclerk, and a copy of this instrument, certified by the town-clerk, is presumptive evidence in all courts of the execution thereof by such constable and his sureties. All actions against a constable or his sureties upon any such instrument shall be prosecuted within two years after the expiration of the year for which the constable named therein has been elected. If any person chosen or appointed to the office of collector or constable does not give the security and take the oath required within the time limited for that purpose, such neglect is deemed a refusal to serve. If any person chosen or appointed to the office of supervisor, town clerk, assessor, commissioner of highways, or overseer of the poor, refuses to serve, he forfeits to the town the sum of $50; and if any person chosen or appointed to the office of commissioner or inspector of common schools, overseer of highways, pound-master, or town - sealer, refuses to serve, he forfeits to the town the sum of $10. No Quaker, or reputed Quaker, chosen or appointed to the office of assessor, is liable to the said penalty if he affirms, within three days after receiving notice of his election or appointment, that he has conscientious scruples about executing the duties of that office. Such affirmation is made before some one of the justices of the town, who, without reward, certifies in writing the day and year when the same was taken; and such

person within eight days thereafter causes said certificate to be filed in the office of the town-clerk. If any town officer who is required by law to take the oath of office enters upon the duties of his office before taking the oath, he forfeits to the town the sum of $50. Town officers hold their offices for one year, and until others are chosen or appointed in their places and have qualified. The oath of office of any town oficer, except justices of the peace and commissioners of deeds, may be subscribed and sworn before, and certified by, the town-clerk of the town in which such officer is elected, without fee or reward. The supervisors of the several towns which have local school funds belonging to the town have to give an additional bond, with two or more sureties, in double the amount of all school moneys, funds, or securities under their respective control or custody. Justices of the peace hold office for four years, unless elected or appointed to fill vacancies. They take the oath of office before the clerk of the county in which they have been elected or appointed, at any time before the fifteenth day of January next succeeding their election or appointment. Each justice, in towns or cities, before he enters upon the duties of his office, executes an instrument in writing, with two sureties approved by the supervisor, or the town-clerk where the justice of the peace is also supervisor of the town, or the common council of the city in which such justice resides, conditioned that he will pay over on demand to the officer, person, or persons entitled to the same, all moneys received by him by virtue of his office; and, previous to entering upon the discharge of his official duties, files this instrument in the office of the clerk of the city or town in which he resides. Before being sworn into office, he has to file with the county

clerk a certificate of the town or city clerk that he has filed the said bond; and no justice of the peace shall be sworn into office until he has filed such certificate as aforesaid. These provisions as to justices of the peace do not apply to the city and county of New York, or to those cities whose charters require these officers to give such bonds.

If any town omits or neglects at its annual town meeting to choose its proper officers, or any of them, it is lawful for any three justices of the peace of said town, by a warrant under their hands and seals, within five days after the town meeting, to appoint such officer or officers; and the person or persons so appointed hold their respective offices until others are chosen or appointed in their places, and have the same powers and are subject to the same duties and penalties as if they had been duly chosen by the electors; but if the justices of the peace fail to so appoint, it is the duty of the town-clerk, within thirty days thereafter, to call a special town meeting for the purpose of electing such officer or officers. Such warrant of the justices is filed forthwith in the office of the town - clerk, who forthwith gives the appointees notice. Any three justices of the peace may, for sufficient cause shown to them, accept the resignation of any town officer of their town; and whenever they accept any such resignation, they shall forthwith notify the townclerk thereof. If any person chosen or elected to be a town officer refuse to serve, or die, or resign, or remove out of the town, or become incapable of serving before the next annual town meeting, the town-clerk, within eight days after the happening of such vacancy, on the petition of not less than twenty-five legal voters of the town, calls a special town meeting for the purpose of supplying the

same. In case a special town meeting is not so called, then, and not otherwise, any vacancy so occurring is filled by appointment made by not less than three justices of the peace of the town. But this does not apply to the filling of vacancies in the office of justice of the peace or any other town office where special provision is made by law for the mode and manner of filling the same. If the electors do not, within fifteen days after the happening of a vacancy, supply the same by an election at town meeting, the same is supplied by the justices of the town, in the manner and with the effect described. Vacancies in all town offices, except the office of supervisor, assessor, commissioner of highways, overseer of the poor, collector, or overseer of highways, are supplied by the justices of the town in the manner described. Vacancies in the office of collector are supplied by the supervisor and two justices of the peace, and vacancies in the office of overseer of highways by the commissioners of highways. Whenever a vacancy occurs in any town office and there are not three justices of the peace residing in the town, the justice or justices residing may associate with themselves one or more justices of the peace from any adjoining town, as may be necessary to make the number three; and such three justices have the like power to fill the vacancy as if they were respectively justices of the town in which the vacancy occurred. Whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of justice of the peace of any town, the supervisor, town-clerk, and remaining justices, or a majority of such officers, are authorised by warrant under their hands and seals to appoint a suitable person to fill the vacancy, and the person so appointed holds office until the next regular annual town meeting, or the 31st

day of December next ensuing, should the vacancy be of an officer whose term would then expire. Every such appointment is filed in the office of the town-clerk, and a copy thereof in the office of the county clerk, before the person so appointed is authorised to act.

In 1881 an Act was passed relating to the election and appointment of town officers and the transaction of other town business in counties containing upward of 300,000 inhabitants, as determined by the last state census. Under it the officers required by law to be elected or chosen at the annual town meetings are to be elected by ballot by the electors of the towns respectively at the general election; and the terms of office of the persons elected commence and determine on the first day of January, and the fiscal year in said towns commences on the first day of January. The board of town auditors meets annually, for the purpose of auditing the accounts of town officers, at the office of the town-clerk on the last Tuesday of December in each year at 2 P.M., except when the same is Christmas-day, in which case the meeting is held on the following day; and the supervisor and all other town officers or boards of town officers who receive or disburse any moneys belonging to the town, account for the same, under oath, to such board of town auditors annually at such meeting. Each of said towns, containing more than 500 electors, comprises one or more election districts, as the supervisor, town - clerk, and assessor thereof may deem necessary or proper. There is provided at the polling-place in each election district, at the general elections held therein, a separate ballot box marked with the word "town," in which are deposited all ballots correspondingly indorsed, and containing the names of all town officers to be chosen at such election;

which ballots are canvassed and counted immediately after the completion of the canvass of the votes in the other boxes used at the election; and the inspectors make one certificate or statement only of the result of the canvass of votes for town officers, and forward it within twenty-four hours thereafter to the town-clerk. This election for town officers is conducted in the same manner as elections for state and county officers, and all provisions of law affecting these elections extend to these town elections so far as applicable. In each of these towns, containing more than one polling district, the justices of the peace attend at the townclerk's office on the second day after the election at 10 A.M., and proceed to canvass the votes for town officers as the same have been certified as just stated; and the town-clerk acts as clerk in the canvass, and enters in his record a statement of the number of votes for each candidate in the several districts, and of the officers elected or chosen, which record is signed by him and the justices acting as canvassers. The persons receiving the highest number of votes for the respective offices are deemed to be duly elected thereto, excepting only the inspectors of election for each election district. Only two names for inspectors are placed on any one ballot, and the two receiving the greater number of votes are declared elected, and the third inspector is selected by the justice or justices from the two persons in such election district who have the highest number of votes next to the two inspectors so elected. In towns having

but one election district, the selection of the third inspector is made by the town-clerk, and the records of the votes cast, and of the town officers elected or chosen, are signed by him only. If no justice of the peace is present at the canvass, the town

clerk appoints some suitable person, who is sworn by him faithfully to perform such duty; and if the townclerk is absent, the justice or justices present appoint a suitable person in his place, who is sworn in like manner, and the persons so appointed possess all the powers and are subject to all the duties and responsibilities of the officers in whose place they are appointed. If any of the returns

have not been received, or are required to be returned to the inspectors for correction, an adjournment may be taken from day to day for the purpose of procuring the proper returns. The several boards of registry give ten days' notice of their intention to meet for the purpose of registering the voters of such district whose names do not appear on the registry, which meeting is held on one day only in each district from 9 A.M. until 9 P. M.-not less than five nor more than fifteen days preceding the annual or special town meeting. This annual town meeting is held at 12 o'clock noon, and continues until the final completion of the business, not later than 2 P.M., and in towns having more than one general district not later than sunset. The supervisor and justices of the peace, or a majority of such officers of each town, have exclusive power to accept the resignation of any town officer therein, and to make appointments to fill vacancies, and file the certificate of every such appointment forthwith in the office of the townclerk. The persons so appointed enter upon their duties so soon as they have duly qualified, and serve until the first day in January, or, in the case of collectors, until the first day of May next succeeding the then ensuing general election. Persons elected to supply vacancies in the office of supervisor, town-clerk, collector, and other offices in said towns, the full terms of which are more

than one year, are deemed elected for the full term thereof, commencing on the first day of January, and collectors on the first day of May, next after their election. Except justices of the peace, assessors, commissioners of highways, commissioners of excise, and other like officers, of whom one only is elected in each year, in which last-named cases the persons elected to fill vacancies are deemed elected to serve from the first day of January or May, and only for the then remaining and unexpired portion of the vacated term. The terms of office of constables in these towns are five years from the first day of January; and it is arranged so that only one constable is elected in each year for the full term.

The supervisor of each town receives and pays over all moneys raised for defraying town charges, except those raised for the support of highways and bridges, of common schools, and of the poor where poor moneys are raised. He prosecutes in the name of his town, or otherwise as may be necessary, for all penalties of $50 or under, given by law to each town or for its use, and for which no other officer is specially directed to prosecute. He keeps an account of the receipt and expenditure of all moneys which come into his hands by virtue of his office, in a book provided for that purpose at the expense of the town, and delivered to his successor in office. On the Tuesday preceding the annual town meeting, he accounts with the justices of the peace and town-clerk of the town for the disbursement of all moneys received by him; and at every such accounting the justices and town-clerk enter a certificate in the supervisor's book of accounts, showing the state of his accounts at the date of the certificate. supervisor neglect to account, or render a false account, or convert to his

If any