reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 240 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 11 - Petition in Land Court to Determine Encumbrances

Section 11. If the title to land appears of record to be affected by a possible condition, restriction, reservation, stipulation or agreement made or imposed more than thirty years prior to the commencement of the proceedings hereinafter provided for, a person having a freehold estate, vested or contingent, in possession, reversion or remainder, in said land, or in any undivided or any aliquot part thereof, or any interest therein which may become a freehold estate, and any person who has conveyed such estate or any such interest therein with covenants of title or warranty, may file a petition on oath in the land court to determine the validity, or define the nature and extent, of such possible condition or other encumbrance, against any person who might be entitled in any event to enforce it or avail himself thereof. Two or more persons owning in severalty different portions of such estate or different interests therein may join in such petition, or two or more such defects of the same general character in the title to the same parcel of land or to different portions of the same parcel of land may be set forth in the same petition, and if the petition is contested the court shall make an appropriate order for separate issues.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 12 - Unknown, etc., Respondents; Describing; Amending Petition

Section 12. If it is averred in the petition that there are necessary or proper respondents whose names are unknown to the petitioner, they may be described generally, as heirs or devisees of a person deceased, as persons claiming under certain persons named, as the owners of certain land, or otherwise, and if it is so averred that the true name of a respondent cannot be ascertained, he shall be described as accurately as practicable. If it is so averred that there are classes of necessary or proper respondents whom it is impracticable and unnecessary to name and to serve with process individually, they may be described generally. The court may, if in its opinion the petitioner can and should do so, require him by amendment to name or describe respondents more particularly.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 13 - Respondents Upon Whom Service Cannot Be Made; Notice; Appointing Agents

Section 13. The court shall prescribe the notice to be given to non-resident respondents, to respondents whose residences are unknown, to unknown or unnamed respondents, and to any other respondents upon whom for any reason service cannot be made. If the court finds that there are respondents to be affected by the decree, who have not had actual notice of the petition, it shall appoint a disinterested person to act for them.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 14 - Jurisdiction; Hearings; Decrees; Costs

Section 14. Upon service of such notice, the court shall have jurisdiction of all persons made respondents to the petition in the manner above provided, and shall, upon a hearing, make a decree determining the validity, nature or extent of any such possible condition or other encumbrance, which shall be effectual to exclude all the respondents from any claim thereunder contrary to such determination, and shall have the same effect as a release by such respondents of such claims. The court may award costs in its discretion.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 14a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 14a - Municipal Zoning Ordinances, etc.; Petition for Judicial Determination of Validity

Section 14A. The owner of a freehold estate in possession in land may bring a petition in the land court against a city or town wherein such land is situated, which shall not be open to objection on the ground that a mere judgment, order or decree is sought, for determination as to the validity of a municipal ordinance, by-law or regulation, passed or adopted under the provisions of chapter forty A or under any special law relating to zoning, so called, which purports to restrict or limit the present or future use, enjoyment, improvement or development of such land, or any part thereof, or of present or future structures thereon, including alterations or repairs, or for determination of the extent to which any such municipal ordinance, by-law or regulation affects a proposed use, enjoyment, improvement or development of such land by the erection, alteration or repair of structures thereon or otherwise as set forth in such petition. The right to file and prosecute such a petition shall not be affected by the fact that no permit or license to erect structures or to alter, improve or repair existing structures on such land has been applied for, nor by the fact that no architects' plans or drawings for such erection, alteration, improvement or repair have been prepared. The court may make binding determinations of right interpreting such ordinances, by-laws or regulations whether any consequential judgment or relief is or could be claimed or not.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 16 - Jurisdiction of Land Court; Determining Enforceability of Restrictions

Section 16. The land court shall have jurisdiction upon a petition to register land, or if land has been previously registered, upon a supplemental petition by the owner thereof, to hear and determine the question whether or not equitable restrictions arising under contracts, deeds or other instruments limiting or restraining the use or the manner of using land are enforceable in whole or in part.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 17 - Restrictions Injurious to Public Interests; Registration of Land; Damages

Section 17. If the land court shall find and determine, after hearing, that the enforcement of any of such restrictions or limitations would be injurious to the public interests, it shall register title to the land free from said restrictions as and to the extent required by the public interests, or, in case of registered land, shall enter an appropriate order therefor; provided, that if the land court shall find and determine that any of such restrictions or limitations, though they ought not to be enforced, are nevertheless valid and have not become inoperative, it shall, before registering said land free from said restrictions or limitations or any of them, ascertain and determine whether any person or property entitled to the benefits of any of such restrictions or limitations may be damaged by the non-enforcement thereof. If so, the case shall be referred to the superior court for the assessment of such damages. Chapter seventy-nine, so far as applicable, shall govern such assessment. The amount of any damages so assessed, with interest thereon from the date of such assessment to the date of payment at the rate allowed by law upon judgments, may be paid by the owner of the land into the superior court at any time after such assessment for the benefit of the persons or property entitled thereto; and, if so paid, the clerk of the superior court shall so certify to the land court, and shall pay the sum so received by him to the parties to whom it has been awarded. If no damages shall be awarded the clerk of the superior court shall certify that fact to the land court. Upon such certification from the clerk of the superior court of the final determination of such proceedings for assessment and of the payment of any damages therein assessed, the title may be registered free from any restrictions, or in case of registered land may be freed therefrom by the entry of such order as may be appropriate therefor.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 18 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 18 - Appeal

Section 18. Any party aggrieved by a finding or decision of the land court that the enforcement of any such restrictions or limitations would be injurious to the public interests may appeal therefrom to the supreme judicial court, which may draw from the facts and instruments stated in the record, findings or decision any inferences of fact that might have been drawn therefrom at a trial, and reverse or order such modification of said findings or decision as justice may require. The appeal shall be taken within twenty days after receipt of notice of the filing of such finding or decision, and further proceedings under the preceding section shall be suspended until after the determination of said appeal. If an appeal is not duly prosecuted, the finding or decision shall stand as if no appeal had been taken.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 19 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 19 - Petition to Land Court

Section 19. One or more persons holding land or flats adjacent to or covered by high water may apply by petition to the land court for the settlement and determination of the lines and boundaries of their ownership therein.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 20 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 20 - Proceedings

Section 20. Upon such petition the court may by a warrant appoint one or more commissioners who shall, before entering upon their duties, be sworn to faithfully and impartially execute the warrant, and a certificate of such oath shall be made on the warrant by the person administering it. The commissioners shall notify all persons interested, by personal service or by publication as the court orders, to appear at a time and place named and be heard relative to a proposed survey of such flats, and thereafter shall survey the flats of the petitioners and all adjacent flats owned by other parties whose rights may be affected by a determination of the lines of the flats of the petitioners, shall determine the boundary lines thereof and report to the court the boundaries established for each owner, with a plan of the several portions of flats showing the lines established for each owner, which, after its approval, shall by order of the court be recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district where said flats lie. The proceedings upon such petition shall be according to sections two, four, six, seven and eight of chapter two hundred and forty-one, so far as applicable thereto.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 21 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 21 - Report and Plan of Commissioners; Effect

Section 21. When the report and plan of said commissioners has been accepted by the court and recorded as aforesaid, it shall forever fix and determine the rights of all persons and parties, except where definite boundary lines have been established by parties legally authorized to establish them.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 22 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 22 - Costs

Section 22. The expenses and charges of the commissioners shall be allowed by the court; the other costs shall be taxed in the usual manner, and the whole shall be apportioned by the court among all parties interested in the determination of the boundary lines in such flats, and shall be paid in proportion to the value of the interests which they respectively hold therein.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 23 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 23 - Determination of Boundaries by Court

Section 23. Instead of appointing the commissioners authorized by section twenty, the court may exercise the powers and duties of such commissioners.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 24 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 24 - Parties; Subsequent Purchasers As

Section 24. Whoever, during the pendency of proceedings for the division of flats, acquires by purchase, devise or descent, or by the enforcement of a mortgage or lien, an interest or title in or to any flats which are the subject matter of such proceedings, may by order of the court be made a party to such proceedings, and shall be chargeable with such share of the expenses as the court orders.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 25 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 25 - Boundaries Determined Concurrently With Registration

Section 25. A petitioner for registration may in his petition request the court to proceed under sections nineteen to twenty-four, inclusive, concurrently with the registration proceedings, and the court may comply with the request, if such compliance seems conducive to justice and the rights of all parties.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 26 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 26 - Rights of Commonwealth

Section 26. Proceedings under sections nineteen to twenty-five, inclusive, shall not affect any right or title of the commonwealth to any land or flats, unless it consents to become a party thereto.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 27 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 27 - Fiduciaries, etc.; Establishing Power or Authority

Section 27. Any person having, in a representative or fiduciary capacity or otherwise, a power or authority created by any written instrument to sell, convey, mortgage or otherwise transfer any interest in real estate may file a petition in the land court setting forth the act or acts which he proposes to do by virtue of such power or authority, and praying that his power or authority under such written instrument to do such act or acts may be established.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 28 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 28 - Determination by Court

Section 28. Upon such petition, after such notice as the court may direct, it may determine the existence and extent of the power or authority of the petitioner to do such act or acts, including the existence of the necessity for its exercise and also any other fact or circumstance required for the exercise of such power or authority.
MA Gen L ch 240 § 29 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 240 - Proceedings for Settlement of Title to Land|Section 29 - Procedure Under This Chapter

Section 29. Except as otherwise provided, procedure in the land court under this chapter shall be that provided by sections fifteen to twenty-five, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and eighty-five and by the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure.
MA Gen L ch 241 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 241 - Partition of Land|Section 1 - Persons Entitled to Partition

Section 1. Any person, except a tenant by the entirety, owning a present undivided legal estate in land, not subject to redemption, shall be entitled to have partition in the manner hereinafter provided. If such estate is in fee, he shall be entitled to partition in fee; if a life estate or a term for years, he shall be entitled to partition thereof to continue so long as his estate endures. A life tenant or a tenant for years of whose term at least twenty years remain unexpired may, in the discretion of the court, have partition of the fee. The existence of a lease of the whole or a part of the land to be divided shall not prevent partition, but such partition shall not disturb possession of a lessee under a lease covering the interests of all the co-tenants.
MA Gen L ch 241 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 241 - Partition of Land|Section 2 - Jurisdiction; Probate Courts; Land Court

Section 2. Probate courts and the land court shall have concurrent jurisdiction of all petitions for partition. Any petition for partition may be filed in the probate court for any county where any part of the land included in the petition lies, or in the land court for any land within the commonwealth. The petition may include any or all of the common land within the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 241 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 241 - Partition of Land|Section 3 - Land Within Jurisdiction of Probate Court in Two or More Counties

Section 3. If a case is begun in a probate court and the land is within the jurisdiction of the probate court in 2 or more counties, the court in which proceedings are first begun shall retain jurisdiction thereof, which shall exclude the jurisdiction of probate courts of other counties; but this shall not prevent the probate court in any other county where a part of the common land lies, not included in the original petition, from making partition thereof.
MA Gen L ch 241 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 241 - Partition of Land|Section 4 - Extent of Land Partitioned

Section 4. The court may make partition of all or any portion of the land included in the petition of which the parties thereto are co-tenants; but if all of the common land is not included in the petition, the court may, upon request of any party thereto, seasonably filed, cause any other part of the common land to be included, unless a petition for partition thereof is pending in another county or in the land court.
MA Gen L ch 241 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 241 - Partition of Land|Section 5 - Division of Shares

Section 5. The court may set off to the petitioner his share, leaving the residue of the land for the persons entitled thereto, subject to a future partition; or it may set off to the persons entitled to the residue their respective shares therein. If two or more co-tenants consent to hold their shares undivided, such shares may be so set off.
MA Gen L ch 241 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 241 - Partition of Land|Section 6 - Form and Contents of Petition; Interveners

Section 6. The petition shall set forth on oath the nature and extent of the share of each co-tenant, so far as known to the petitioner, stating whether he has an estate of inheritance, for life or for years, whether in possession, remainder or reversion, and whether vested or contingent. It shall contain a description of each parcel of land sufficiently specific for identification. If the common title is derived by will or inheritance from a common ancestor, the name of the testator or common ancestor shall be given; if under a deed, reference shall be made thereto. The petition shall be in the alternative, praying for division of the land or for the sale, either public or private, of all or any part thereof which the court may find cannot be advantageously divided. If a private sale is desired, the minimum sum for which the sale may be made shall be stated. Only persons having legal title to an estate for years, for life or in fee, whether in possession, reversion or remainder, shall be necessary or proper parties. Mortgagees, lienors, attaching creditors and other persons having or claiming encumbrances on the land shall not be parties, but shall be named in the petition and given such notice as the court may order, and shall be permitted to intervene so far as may be necessary to protect their interests in the land or to establish their rights in the proceeds of a sale.
MA Gen L ch 241 § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases|Title III - Remedies Relating to Real Property|Chapter 241 - Partition of Land|Section 7 - Notice; Filing; Registered Land

Section 7. Upon the filing of a petition for partition, the petitioner shall forthwith cause to be filed, in the registry of deeds for each registry district where any of the land included in the petition lies, a notice of the same, containing a brief description of the land in such district included therein, and the names of all persons appearing in the petition as parties. If the proceedings are at any time amended, either by the inclusion of more land or by adding new parties, a further notice thereof shall be filed forthwith in the registry district where the land lies. No interlocutory decree for partition or sale shall be made by the court until it appears by affidavit that such notices have been filed. If any part of the land is registered land, the petitioner shall, in filing said notices, comply with section eighty-six of chapter one hundred and eighty-five.