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SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH v. CITY CLERK OF LOWELL

373 Mass. 178 (1977)

366 N.E.2d 717

SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH & another vs. CITY CLERK OF LOWELL & another.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

August 4, 1977.

Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Barbara J. Rouse, Assistant Attorney General, for the plaintiffs.

David Lee Turner, Town Counsel, for the Town Clerk of Brookline (Henry P. Grady, City Solicitor, for the City Clerk of Worcester, with him).

Donald L. Conn & James R. Senior, for the City Clerk of Melrose, submitted a brief.

Present: HENNESSEY, C.J., QUIRICO, BRAUCHER, KAPLAN, WILKINS, LIACOS, & ABRAMS, JJ.

BRAUCHER, J.

In 1974 the Attorney General issued three opinions with respect to the recording and use of names. Rep. A.G., Pub. Doc. No. 12, at 105 (1974). Rep. A.G., Pub. Doc. No. 12, at 48 (1974). Rep. A.G., Pub. Doc. No. 12, at 72 (1974). Those opinions asserted and elaborated a common law principle that people may select or change their names freely if there is no fraudulent intent. The defendants, city and town clerks, refused to follow those opinions and that...

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