[G. L. c. 59, §§ 53-56 inc. The penalty for failure to comply with section forty-nine is a fine of not more than two hundred dollars."

The oath at the end of the valuation list was amended in 1853 when assessors were required to assess property at its “fair cash value" to accord with the statute; and in other particulars it was made more specific.

SECTION 53.

Collector's List and Warrant

The assessors shall, within a reasonable time, commit the tax list with their warrant to the collector of taxes, and, if there is a fire, water, light or improvement district in the town, they shall commit to him a separate list and warrant for the district taxes. If no collector has been chosen, they shall commit such list with their warrants, to a constable; or, if there is no constable, to the sheriff or his deputy; but the assessors of a town shall not commit a tax list to the collector until the bonds of such collector and of the town treasurer have been given and approved as required by law.

The tax list committed to the collector shall be,

SECTION 54. in substance, as follows:

SECTION 55. The warrant shall specify the duties of the collector as prescribed by law in the collection of taxes, the times when and the person to whom he shall pay them, shall be substantially in the form heretofore used, and need not be under seal.

SECTION 56. If a warrant issued for the collection of taxes is lost or destroyed, the assessors may issue a new warrant therefor, which shall have the same force and effect as the original warrant.

While the colonial statutes required the issuance of a warrant to the constable directing him to collect a tax,1 it was not until 1701 that the form of the warrant was prescribed by stat1 G. L. c. 59, § 94, infra page 319.

1 Anc. Chart. p. 71.

G. L. c. 59, §§ 53-56 inc.]

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ute. In 1785 the form was again fixed by statute, and no other form has since been substituted by specific enactment; but as the warrant is supposed to specify the duties of the collector as prescribed by law in the collection of taxes, the form of the warrant ordinarily used has changed from time to time as the statutes relating to the collection of taxes have been amended and altered.*

The warrant should be signed by all, or by a majority, of the assessors, for if it is signed by one for or in behalf of the others it is always open to question in subsequent proceedings whether the others did in fact assent to the issuance of the warrant and authorize it to be signed in their behalf, and a failure to establish such assent and authority would be fatal to the validity of any action taken under the warrant. The form established in 1785 concluded with the words "given under our hands and seals" but it was held in 1827 that a warrant concluding "given under our hands" and actually sealed was valid; and it was provided in the Revised Statutes that a seal should no longer be necessary.

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The tax list must accompany the warrant, proceed from the same source and be committed to the collector as part of the documents constituting his authority for the collection of the taxes of the year, but there is no requirement that the warrant be physically annexed to the list. An additional tax assessed in accordance with the statute upon property omitted from the annual assessment is properly entered on the tax list of the collector although it is entered in a separate book or on a separate piece of paper with a new warrant.o There is no obligation upon the collector to return the warrant to the assessors after he has completed the collection of the tax by virtue of the authority contained in it.1o

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The provisions of the statute relating to the form of the tax

2 St. 1701-2, c. 8.

3 St. 1785, c. 50. § 6. This form may still be used in spite of the changes

in the statutes, Westhampton v. Searle, 127 Mass. 502, 506 (1879).

For the form now in use, see infra, Appendix, Form No. 4.

5 Reynolds v. New Salem, 6 Met. 340 (1843).

6 Bradford v. Randall, 5 Pick. 495 (1827).

Barnard v. Graves, 13 Met. 85 (1847).

8 G. L. c. 59, § 75, infra page 304. Noyes v. Hale, 137 Mass. 266 (1884). 10 Howard v. Proctor, 7 Gray 128 (1856).

[G. L. c. 59, §§ 57,58 list and the inclusion of different items of taxation in distinct columns are probably merely directory;" and the requirement that the warrant shall specify the duties of the collector is clearly only directory. A collector might be excused from executing a defective warrant, but if he proceeds to collect the tax in compliance with all the requirements of the statutes his action cannot be attacked directly or collaterally upon the ground that his warrant did not state these requirements with sufficient accuracy or fulness.12

When a collector acts in pursuance of a warrant from the assessors, and the assessors have jurisdiction of the subjectmatter and the warrant is regular on its face, the collector is not bound to examine into the legality of the previous proceedings and is protected by the warrant from liability for executing it in the manner prescribed by law.13

When the same persons are selectmen and assessors, the issuance of a warrant by them as assessors when the office of collector is vacant to a person who has not received an appointment as temporary collector is not in itself such an appointment, for in such case the warrant was not issued by the selectmen in their capacity of selectmen, and the statutes do not contemplate the issuance of a warrant to a person who has not already been elected or appointed collector.14

Interest and Discount on Taxes

SECTION 57. Taxes shall be payable in every city, town and district in which the same are assessed, and bills for the same shall be sent out, not later than October fifteenth of each year, unless by ordinance, by-law or vote of the city, town or district, an earlier date of payment is fixed. On all taxes remaining unpaid after the expiration of seventeen days from said October fifteenth, or after such longer time as may be fixed by any city, town or district which fixes an earlier date for payment, but not exceeding thirty days from such

11 Blackburn v. Walpole, 9 Pick. 97 (1829).

12 King v. Whitcomb, 1 Met. 328 (1840); Barnard v. Graves, 13 Met. 85 (1847); Westhampton v. Searle, 127 Mass. 502 (1879); Leominster v. Conant, 139 Mass. 384 (1885).

13 See on this subject infra page 396, and upon the effect of informalities in the tax list and warant upon liability on the collector's bond, G. L. c. 60 § 13, infra page 326.

14 Phelon v. Granville, 140 Mass. 386 (1886).

G. L. c. 59, §§ 57,58]

earlier date, interest shall be paid at the following rates computed from the date on which the taxes become payable: At the rate of six per cent per annum on all taxes and, by way of penalty, at the additional rate of two per cent per annum on the amount of all taxes in excess of two hundred dollars assessed to any taxpayer, in any one city or town, if such taxes remain unpaid after the expiration of three months from the date on which they became payable, but if, in any case, the tax bill is sent out later than the day prescribed, interest shall be computed only from the expiration of such seventeen days or said longer time. In no case shall interest be added to taxes paid prior to the expiration of seventeen days from the date when they are payable, nor shall any city or town so fix an earlier date of payment and longer time within which taxes may be paid without interest as would permit the payment of any taxes without interest after November first of the year in which they are due. Bills for taxes assessed under section seventy-five shall be sent out not later than December twenty-sixth, and such taxes shall be payable not later than December thirty-first. If they remain unpaid after that date, interest shall be paid at the rates above specified, computed from December thirty-first until the day of payment, but if, in any case, the tax bill is sent out later than December twenty-sixth, said taxes shall be payable not later than ten days from the date of the bill, and interest shall be computed from the fifteenth day following the date when the tax becomes due. In all cases where interest is payable it shall be added to and become a part of the tax.

SECTION 58. Towns shall not allow any discount on taxes.

It was not until 1873 that interest was under any circumstances collected from a delinquent taxpayer. Under the conditions prevailing in the earlier times, when the taxes for each year were turned over to a collector upon the best terms that the town could make and the fees and charges were retained by the collector, the recovery of interest was denied, the court saying that to allow interest in such a case would be giving a bounty upon the negligence of collectors.1 In more recent times in cities and the larger towns, when the collector is usually a salaried official and taxes are frequently so large that the use of the money required to pay them for as long a period as it proves possible to delay payment is worth a considerable sum 1 Danforth v. Williams, 9 Mass. 324 (1812).

[G. L. c. 59, §§ 57, 58 to the person assessed, the imposition of interest after a certain date is the only practical means of enforcing prompt payment of taxes and of throwing the loss caused by delay upon the delinquent taxpayer. Until 1913 the statutory provision for interest on overdue taxes was applicable only if the city or town so voted, and if no such action had been taken no interest could be recovered even after demand; the collection of taxes being governed wholly by statute, the general principles which allow interest on an overdue obligation after demand would have no application.

In 1913 it was provided that in every city or town taxes should be payable not later than the fifteenth day of October, and that on taxes remaining unpaid after the first of November interest should be paid from October 15. The effect of this statute was not only to make interest recoverable in every case without a vote of the city or town, but also to create a liability for seventeen days' interest as soon as the tax became delinquent. Other changes were made in 1915, 19165 and 1918, and in 1920 the statute was placed in its present form.

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Even when the collector is not paid a fixed salary but obtains his compensation from commissions upon the sums collected, the town is entitled to insist upon the collection of the sums of interest due from individual taxpayers and the turning over of such sums to its treasurer by the collector; but when the collector undertakes to pay over the amount of the whole tax list on a certain date and carries out his agreement although he has not collected all the taxes, he is entitled to retain the interest he subsequently collects from the delinquent taxpayers.

2 Thus if a city council made provision for interest but failed to specify when the taxes were due, no interest could be lawfully collected, Kelly v. O'Rourke, 232 Mass. 168 (1919).

3 St. 1913, c. 688, § 1; and see as to unpaid taxes of previous years, St. 1913, c. 824.

4 St. 1915, c. 237, § 21, provided that interest might be at a rate not less than 6 nor more than 10 per cent as the city council or town should vote.

5 St. 1916, c. 103, provided that tax bills should be sent out on or before October 15 and if not paid within fifteen days should bear interest from the time when sent out; it also made provision for interest on bills sent out late and bills for omitted assessments.

St. 1918, c. 190 provided that interest should be added after the bill was overdue seventeen days.

7 St. 1920, c. 460 added the provision as to the additional interest of 2% when the tax remains unpaid for three months.

8 Needham v. Morton, 146 Mass. 476, 480 (1888).

Needham v. Morton, 146 Mass. 476 (1888).