reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 36 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 4 - Assistant Registers; Appointment

Section 4. Each register, with the approval of the superior court, may appoint an assistant register of deeds, removable at his pleasure, for whose official acts he shall be responsible; provided, however, that any person so appointed by the register for Suffolk county who has served continuously in any position in the registry of deeds in said county for a period of twenty or more years shall not be removed therefrom except for cause. The assistant shall give bond in the same manner as the register, and may be a woman. Any document or paper certified or attested by such assistant or by a second, third or fourth assistant register or by a chief clerk designated under section seven shall be admissible evidence as if certified or attested by the register.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 5 - Assistant Registers in Suffolk County and Southern District of Middlesex

Section 5. The registers of deeds for Suffolk county and the southern district of Middlesex may, by a writing recorded in their respective registries, appoint one of the persons employed in their respective registries as second assistant register, one of such persons as third assistant register and one of such persons as fourth assistant register, all of whom shall serve at the pleasure of such register; provided, however, that any person so appointed by the register of deeds for Suffolk county who has served continuously in any such position for a period of at least ten years shall not be removed therefrom except for cause.  The register of deeds for the southern district of Middlesex may, by a writing recorded in his registry, appoint one of the persons employed in said registry as fifth assistant register and one of such persons as sixth assistant register.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 5a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 5a - Second Assistant Register and Administrative Assistant for Norfolk County

Section 5A. The register of deeds for Norfolk county may, by a writing recorded in his registry, designate one of the persons employed therein as second assistant register who shall serve at the pleasure of such register and may also so designate one of the persons employed therein as administrative assistant who shall serve at the pleasure of such register and be compensated at the same rate allowed for the second assistant register.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 6 - Assistant Registers for Districts of Southern Essex and Worcester and Hampden County

Section 6. The registers for the southern district of Essex, the county of Hampden and the Worcester district may, with the approval of their respective county commissioners, appoint and at pleasure remove, a second assistant register. Such an assistant shall have all the powers and authority vested in an assistant register.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 7 - Chief Clerk in Worcester District

Section 7. The register for the Worcester district may, by a writing recorded in his registry, authorize a person employed in said registry to certify or attest, as chief clerk, records or copies of records recorded or filed therein, which authority the register may at pleasure in like manner revoke.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 8 - Assistant and Temporary Registers and Clerks; Powers and Duties

Section 8. During the disability of a register, or if a vacancy occurs in the office, the assistant register, or second assistant register, or if none, the clerk, shall perform the register's duties. If the register is disabled and there is no assistant or clerk, or if they are both unable, by reason of illness or otherwise, to perform their official duties, the county commissioners, or in Suffolk county the superior court, may appoint a temporary register of deeds. Notice of such appointment shall be recorded in the registry. Section three shall apply to temporary registers who shall exercise the same powers and duties as registers of deeds until the register or a qualified assistant is able to assume the same, or until the qualification of a new register.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 9 - Removal

Section 9. If a register, upon presentment of the grand jury, is found guilty of misconduct in his official duties, or if from bodily or mental infirmity he is incapable in person of rightly performing the same, the county commissioners, or in Suffolk county the superior court, shall, after reasonable notice, remove him from office, and may order delivery of the books, papers and other things belonging to the office to their clerk or to a new register when appointed or elected.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 10 - Duties of New Register as to Unrecorded Instruments

Section 10. If, upon the death, removal or expiration of the term of a register, deeds or other instruments entered in the registry are unrecorded, or recorded but unattested, or if records are unattested, his successor or any subsequent register shall record or attest such deeds, instruments or records agreeably to the facts and conformably with the records and books of entry.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 11 - Office Hours

Section 11. Every register shall keep in his registry all books, records, deeds and papers belonging thereto, and shall keep the office open a fixed number of hours daily on days other than Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, for receiving and recording papers, except that, if the convenience of the public so requires, a register may keep his registry open on any Saturday, not a legal holiday, for said purposes during such hours as he may determine. Office hours heretofore fixed in the respective counties shall continue until changed by order of the county commissioners. Notice thereof shall be given by posting the same in conspicuous places upon or near the entrance door and upon the walls or counters in each registry. The provisions of section nine of chapter four shall apply in the case of the closing of a registry on any Saturday to the same extent as if such Saturday were a legal holiday.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 12 - Place of Record

Section 12. Every deed and other instrument required to be recorded in the registry of deeds shall be recorded in the registry of deeds for the district where the land lies to which such deed or instrument relates; and in all things relating to the register or registry of deeds, each district therefor shall be deemed a county.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 12a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 12a - Refusal to Accept Certain Instruments for Recording Authorized

Section 12A. A register of deeds may refuse to accept an instrument for recording if it cannot be properly duplicated or a proper record cannot be made thereof.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 13 - Recording of Certified Copies of Instruments in More Than County or District

Section 13. If a deed or other writing affecting land has been recorded in a registry of deeds or registered in a registry district of the land court, a copy thereof, duly certified by a proper official, may be recorded or registered in any county or registry district wherein the original might properly have been recorded or registered, and when so recorded or registered shall have the same effect as a record or registration of the original instrument.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 13a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 13a - Plans, Rules for Filing in Registries

Section 13A. The registers of deeds, or a majority of them, may from time to time make and amend rules prescribing the size or sizes of plans which shall be received for record in registries of deeds in which copies of such rules are posted as hereinafter provided, the material on which the plans shall be made, and other requirements which will best effect the preservation for reference of the matter shown on such plans. No such rule or any amendment thereof shall take effect until after it has been approved by the attorney general. Any register of deeds may post a copy of the rules, approved as aforesaid, in a conspicuous place in his registry; and, after the expiration of thirty days from such posting, no plan which does not, in the opinion of the register, conform to such rules shall be received for record therein.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 13b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 13b - Plans; Filing in Registry of Deeds; Fees

Section 13B. A plan, the original of which was prepared by an engineer, surveyor or draftsman who is no longer living or whose whereabouts is not known but which plan has been referred to in deeds or other documents theretofore duly recorded or a plan prepared or bearing a date prior to January first, nineteen hundred and sixteen, shall be received for filing in the registry of deeds of the district or county where the land lies even though the original or the best available print or photo copy thereof does not conform to the rules established under section thirteen A, provided there is filed and recorded with it a tracing or copy thereof prepared in accordance with said rules as then applicable in said registry and duly identified as a copy thereof. The fee for filing such plan shall be the recording fee for the tracing or copy thereof, as provided by section thirty-eight of chapter two hundred and sixty-two, together with a further fee to be established in each case by the register of deeds with due regard to the probable expense of preserving and storing the original or print or photo copy thereof. In his discretion, the register may require the person presenting such plan for filing to provide and to record an affidavit setting forth the facts that qualify said plan to be received under the provisions of this section.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 14 - Registry Book; Contents of Entries; Instrument Number; Changes and Corrections

Section 14. (a) Each register shall keep a record, in book or electronic form, into which the register shall enter recording information for all instruments accepted for record in the order in which they are recorded. Upon recording of an instrument, the following information shall be entered into the record: (i) the day, hour and minute when the register assigns an instrument number or book and page number, as the case may be; (ii) the instrument number, or book and page number, so assigned; (iii) the names of the grantors and grantees in the instrument; and (iv) the city or town in which the land lies.  (b) No instrument received by the register shall be considered recorded until the register assigns to the instrument an instrument number, or book and page number, as the case may be.  (c) A change or correction made to the record shall be accessible to the public in that particular registry district in which the affected land lies. Such change or correction shall be maintained by the register as part of the record for public inspection during registry business hours at each office in the registry district. A change or correction to the record shall document the nature and date of the change or correction.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 14a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 14a - Certification of Historic or Archeological Site; Recording of Notice

Section 14A. A notice of certification of an historic or archeological site and a withdrawal of such certification, required to be recorded under the provisions of section twenty-seven of chapter nine, shall be recorded by the register of deeds without the payment of any fee therefor.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 15 - Method of Recording Documents; Microphotographs

Section 15. He shall record all instruments upon the pages of the record books in fair and legible handwriting or in print, and in continuous successive lines, and shall note on the record, before attesting the same, all erasures and interlineations and the value of any stamp affixed thereto pursuant to federal law, and the cancellation thereof, and he shall make duplicate microphotographic process copies of all books in his registry in which deeds, certificates of title and other instruments have been recorded or entered.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 16 - Recordation; Receipts of Federal Succession Taxes

Section 16. He shall record receipts of federal revenue collectors for succession taxes, or other evidence of their payment, if the person applying for such record first makes affidavit to the genuineness of such receipt or evidence before a person qualified to take acknowledgment of deeds.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 17 - Duplicate Records; Attestation; Effect of Copies; Fees

Section 17. The register shall, at the expense of the county, procure and keep duplicate record books, in which he shall make fair and legible copies of the record of any deed or other instrument existing in the registry which has become worn, mutilated or indistinct, if so directed by the county commissioners, or if so requested by any person lawfully interested in preserving the same. He shall attest such copies, referring in his certificate of attestation to the book and page of the original record, and shall note on the margin of the first page of the original the volume and page of the duplicate records containing the copy. Such copies shall have the same force as the original records. He shall receive the same fees for copies and notations as for an original record, payable by the person requesting the same.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 18 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 18 - Attestation of Records by Volume

Section 18. He may attest the records by the volume, and the attestation shall be sufficient when the volume containing the same bears the attest, with the written signature of the register or other person lawfully authorized.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 18a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 18a - Illegible Signatures

Section 18A. The register or an assistant register may print or type the name of any person whose signature appears on any instrument filed for recording and is not clearly legible, such name to be printed or typed directly below such signature.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 19 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 19 - Facsimile Signatures

Section 19. A facsimile of the signature of any register, imprinted by him, by an assistant register or by such office assistant as the register in writing may designate, upon any original instrument in attestation of the fact that the same has been recorded in his registry or upon any copy of the records or plans which the register is authorized by law to certify or attest as a true copy, shall have the same validity as his written signature.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 20 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 20 - Instruments Affecting Mortgages Registered in Different Counties

Section 20. If an assignment, extension, partial release, release or discharge of a mortgage of land, or a certificate of the taking or surrender of possession for foreclosure of such mortgage, or an affidavit of notice of sale under a power of sale therein, or an execution for possession of the premises conveyed thereby or any other instrument purporting to affect the same, has been recorded in the county where the land lies, and the original mortgage was not recorded in the same registry, the register of the county where such mortgage was originally recorded, upon exhibition to him at the registry of such instrument purporting to affect the same, shall enter upon the margin of the record of the mortgage a note of reference to the record of such instrument.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 21 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 21 - Marginal References on Record of Instruments Affecting Certain Mortgages

Section 21. When an instrument described in the preceding section affecting a mortgage is recorded, and it refers by book and page to the record of the mortgage, the register shall enter upon the margin of such record, if in the same registry, a notation of the record of the instrument containing such reference.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 22 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 22 - Instruments Affecting Interests Created by Delinquent Taxes or Assessments; Recordation

Section 22. If an assignment, release, partial release, discharge or disclaimer affecting title to land created by a sale or taking for payment of a tax or assessment is recorded, the register shall make a note of reference thereto on the margin of the record of the deed or instrument of sale or taking, if in his registry and referred to in such conveyance.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 23 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 23 - Recordation; Certification of Book and Page Number on Instruments

Section 23. He shall certify upon every instrument recorded by him the time when received and the number of the book and leaf or page where recorded.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 24 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 24 - Recordation; Federal Liens; Filing Fee

Section 24. Notice of a federal tax lien which may be filed in the commonwealth or any other federal lien on any real property or fixtures shall be filed with the register of deeds of the county in which such real property or fixtures are situated. Said register shall, whether the title of the real property involved is registered or unregistered, record such notice, the recording fee for which shall be five dollars. Each register of deeds shall cause competent persons to prepare and keep current an alphabetical listing of all taxpayers against whom such a federal tax lien or other federal lien has been recorded commencing with the year nineteen hundred and fifteen. Certificates of discharge or certificates releasing specific property from such liens, or other notices affecting such liens shall be filed with the same register of deeds with whom the notice of lien was filed. The register of deeds shall, for a like fee, record any such certificates or notices and make a note of reference thereto on the margin of the record of the notice of lien referred to therein. Certification of notices of liens, certificates discharging liens, certificates releasing specific property from liens, or other notices affecting federal liens upon real property or fixtures by the secretary of the treasury of the United States or his delegate, or by any official or entity of the United States responsible for filing or certifying of any other lien shall entitle them to be recorded and no other attestation, certification or acknowledgement shall be necessary. The register of deeds may bill the district directors of internal revenue or other appropriate federal officials on a monthly basis for documents filed by them.
MA Gen L ch 36 § 24a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VI - Counties and County Officers|Chapter 36 - Registers of Deeds|Section 24a - Recordation; Petitions, Decrees or Orders in Bankruptcy

Section 24A. At any time after a petition in bankruptcy is filed, or a decree of adjudication or an order approving the trustee's bond is made, pursuant to the federal Bankruptcy Act of 1898, as amended by the federal Bankruptcy Act of 1938, the bankrupt, trustee, receiver, custodian, referee or any creditor may record a certified copy of such petition, with the schedules omitted, or of such decree or order in the registry of deeds for any county or district wherein the bankrupt owns or has an interest in any land.