Definition
Selectmen are elected municipal officers found primarily in the New England states, chosen by the voters of a town to manage general public business and exercise executive authority on behalf of the town. The board of selectmen functions as the executive governing body of the New England-style town, exercising powers delegated by state statute rather than by inherent common-law authority. The singular form is "selectman"; the collective body is typically called the "board of selectmen."
Though originally and still predominantly a New England institution, the office appears by statute in several states beyond the original New England core, with scope and powers varying by jurisdiction.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Simply the plural of "selectman," an elected town official.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): One of a board of officers elected annually by an English or American town to manage certain local affairs.
The common usage tracks the legal meaning closely here, but the everyday sense understates what is legally significant: selectmen are not merely administrators but statutory officers whose authority derives from and is bounded by state enabling legislation. Their powers are executive in character and can include authority over roads, finances, licensing, and emergency functions — none of which is implied by the casual usage.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
No formally distinct subcategories exist as a matter of law. However, the practical scope of the office divides into two functional patterns:
Board-governed towns: The board of selectmen acts collectively as the executive, with no single officer holding independent authority. Votes require board action.
Town manager model: Many modern New England towns have layered a professional town manager beneath the board of selectmen. The board retains policy and oversight authority; day-to-day administration passes to the manager. This arrangement is statutory in origin and does not alter the formal legal character of the office.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in New England municipal law, local government history, or town governance must understand that the board of selectmen is the institutional equivalent of what other states call a city council, board of aldermen, or county commission — but it is not identical to any of them. Conflating these institutions produces errors in comparative municipal law research.
The office is exclusively statutory. Unlike mayors or sheriffs, selectmen possess no inherent common-law powers; every authority they exercise must trace to a state enabling act or specific town charter authorization. This matters when researching whether a particular act — signing a contract, issuing a license, declaring an emergency — was within the board's legal competence. Historical sources sometimes describe selectmen in terms that imply broader inherent authority than they actually possessed.
Terminological evolution is a research trap. Several New England municipalities have replaced "selectmen" or "board of selectmen" with gender-neutral equivalents such as "select board" or "board of selectpeople" by local vote or state legislative authorization (Massachusetts notably amended its enabling statutes to permit this). Sources from different eras may use different names for the same institutional role. Do not assume a change in name signals a change in legal structure.
The office also connects to the broader New England town meeting system. Selectmen typically serve as the executive arm of the town meeting, which is the legislative body. Understanding one institution requires understanding the other; research that focuses only on the board of selectmen without accounting for town meeting authority will miss the constitutional structure of New England local government.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four historical sources agree on the essential definition: selectmen are elected town officers in New England (and some other states) with statutory executive powers over town business. All four sources are accurate as far as they go.
Black's (both editions) limits the institution to New England states, which is historically the primary locus but slightly underinclusive — Rapalje & Lawrence and Bouvier both note that the office appears "in several states," a broader and more accurate framing. Bouvier is the most careful on this point, emphasizing that the powers flow from state statutes rather than from any inherent authority.
None of the historical dictionaries address the town manager overlay that has become common in the twentieth century, nor the recent trend toward gender-neutral renaming. Researchers relying solely on historical dictionary definitions will get an accurate nineteenth-century picture but will need to supplement with current state statutes to understand the office as it operates today.
Black's 2nd Edition's reference to Felch v. Weare (N.H.) is a genuine citation and illustrates that courts were called upon to interpret the scope of selectmen's authority — a reminder that the statutory limits of the office were litigated, not merely assumed.
Jurisdictional Note
The office of selectmen is primarily a New England institution — found in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut — with statutory analogues in a small number of other states. Powers vary significantly by state enabling act and individual town charter. Researchers should never assume that a description of selectmen's authority in one New England state applies to another without checking the relevant statutes.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Municipal Corporations; Town Government; New England Town Meeting