Massachusetts General Laws
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 43, § 37 (2026)
Initiative petition; measure defined
✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 37. A petition conforming to the requirements hereinafter provided and requesting the city council to pass a measure, except an order granted under section seventy or seventy-one of chapter one hundred and sixty-four or chapter one hundred and sixty-six, or requesting the school committee to pass a measure, therein set forth or designated, shall be termed an initiative petition, and shall be acted upon as hereinafter provided. In this and the eight following sections, ''measure'' shall mean an ordinance, resolution, order or vote passed by a city council, or a resolution, order or vote passed by a school committee, as the case may be.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6
cases, 1959–1989 · leading case: LaBranche v. A.J. Lane & Co., 537 N.E.2d 119 (Mass. 1989).
LaBranche v. A.J. Lane & Co., 537 N.E.2d 119 (Mass. 1989). “The word “measure” is defined in G. L. c. 43, § 37, “[to] mean an ordinance, resolution, order or vote passed by a city council.”
Brucato v. City of Lawrence, 156 N.E.2d 676 (Mass. 1959). “Here, however, even if the term “ordinance,” as used in § 33A, did include a vote like that of September 16, 1957, the fact that under § 47E such a vote could be adopted by a simple majority of the council is persuasive that the restrictions of § 33A were not to apply.”
Gould v. City Council, 392 Mass. 302 (Mass. 1984). “The word “measure” appearing in § 42 is defined in G. L. c. 43, § 37, as including “an ordinance, resolution, order or vote passed by a city council.”
Andrade v. City Council of Gloucester, 547 N.E.2d 927 (Mass. 1989). “” G. L. c. 43, § 37 (1988 ed.). 5 In construing the term in previous cases, we have considered instructive the distinction between legislative and executive acts, reasoning that only the former constitute “measure[s]” subject to referendum petition.”
Opinion of the Justices to the House of Representatives, 352 N.E.2d 678 (Mass. 1976). “43, § 42, concerning a referendum in a city after final passage of any “measure,” which is defined in G. L. c. 43, § 37, as an “ordinance, resolution, order or vote passed.”
Fantini v. Sch. Comm., 285 N.E.2d 433 (Mass. 1972). “The vote of January 18 was undoubtedly a “vote,” and the plaintiffs and the intervener argue that under G. L. c. 43, § 37, any “vote” is a “measure” within G.”
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