Massachusetts Question 2, Voluntary Association Lawsuits and Member Liability Referendum (1922)
| Massachusetts Question 2 | |
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| Topic Civil trials and Tort law |
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| Status |
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| Type Veto referendum |
Origin |
Massachusetts Question 2 was on the ballot as a veto referendum in Massachusetts on November 7, 1922. It was defeated.
A “yes” vote supported approving a law allowing voluntary associations of five or more people to sue and be sued under their common name, with service permitted on designated officers, and protecting individual members' personal property from being attached or seized in such lawsuits. |
A “no” vote opposed approving a law allowing voluntary associations of five or more people to sue and be sued under their common name, with service permitted on designated officers, and protecting individual members' personal property from being attached or seized in such lawsuits. |
Election results
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Massachusetts Question 2 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 300,260 | 49.92% | ||
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301,205 | 50.08% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Question 2 was as follows:
| “ | Shall a law (Chapter 368 of the Acts of 1921) which provides that any voluntary association composed of five or more persons, and not subject to the first eleven sections of chapter 182 of the General Laws, may sue or be sued in its common name, that in any suit against such association service may be made upon certain designated officers thereof, and that the separate property of any member thereof shall be exempt from attachment or execution in any such suit, which law was passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 124 in the affirmative to 84 in the negative, and in the Senate by a majority not recorded, and was approved by His Excellency the Governor, be approved? | ” |
Path to the ballot
Before 1952, citizen-initiated ballot measures in Massachusetts required a fixed number of signatures. In 1950, voters approved a constitutional amendment changing this to a percentage-based system, tying the number of required signatures to ballots cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. Before 1952, the signature requirement for veto referendums was 15,000 for general legislation and 10,000 for emergency legislation.
See also
External links
- William Francis Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Massachusetts Statewide Ballot Measures: 1919-Present"
- The Berkshire Evening Eagle, "Specimen Ballot For State Election Tuesday, November 7 ," October 28, 1922
Footnotes
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