# Begley v. Board of Appeal of Boston

> Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · June 30, 1965 · 349 Mass. 458

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9743800

## Case

- **Full name:** Julia Begley & Others vs. Board of Appeal of Boston & Another
- **Court:** Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
- **Decided:** June 30, 1965
- **Citations:** 349 Mass. 458; 208 N.E.2d 799; 1965 Mass. LEXIS 746
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Whittemore
- **Judges:** Wilkins, Whittemore, Kirk, Spiegel, Reardon
- **Cited by:** 12 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9743800

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- noting, in interpreting earlier version of § 11, that it may reflect legislative judgment that "[because] the population of Boston is far greater than that of any other city or town in Massachusetts, the number of frivolous or vexatious appeals from the board of appeal of Bost…

## Opinion text

Whittemore, J.
dissenting. The statute in terms makes it a condition of an appeal in Boston that there be a bond indemnifying the person in whose favor the decision was rendered “from all damages and costs which he . . . may sustain.” So far as this imposes a bond for court costs, I agree that it may be sustainable for Boston only by the principle referred to in the opinion. It appears to me in any event, however, arbitrary and unreasonable classification to give a right only to persons in Boston to have substantive damages in the event that an appeal is not found meritorious. The bond is plainly in an amount far beyond any court costs that could be recoverable; it follows, I submit, that it has been ordered under an unconstitutional aspect of the statute.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9743800. Public record. Not legal advice.