reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 45 § 23a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 23a - Petition for Shore Reservation

Section 23A. A town bordering on tidewater may, at an annual town meeting, vote to instruct its selectmen to petition in writing the county commissioners of the county in which said town is situated, in this and the two following sections called the commissioners, to establish, lay out and maintain, on behalf of the county, a shore reservation bordering on tidewater in such town, and thereupon said selectmen shall so petition. This section and sections twenty-three B and twenty-three C shall not apply to cities.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 23b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 23b - Submission of Plans and Estimates of Cost of Shore Reservation

Section 23B. If the commissioners, after a public hearing upon the petition and after such further investigation as the commissioners consider desirable, determine that public necessity requires that such a reservation should be so established, laid out and maintained, they shall submit plans and estimates of the cost to the general court by filing the same with the clerk of the house of representatives not later than December first following such determination, for such action as to the general court may seem advisable.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 23c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 23c - Taking or Acquisition of Land for Establishment of Shore Reservation

Section 23C. After being authorized by the general court to establish any such reservation, the commissioners, on behalf of the county, may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or acquire by purchase, gift, devise or otherwise, such land in fee as may be necessary therefor, and may establish, lay out and maintain the same. Any person injured in his property by the establishment and laying out of such a reservation may recover compensation therefor from the county under said chapter seventy-nine.  The selectmen of any town instructed to petition for the establishment of such a reservation, if and to the extent authorized by vote of the town at a town meeting, may stipulate in writing in behalf of the town to indemnify and save harmless the county against all or any part of any claims for damages sustained under this section, and to contribute money, labor or materials toward the cost of establishing, laying out, maintaining and properly policing such a reservation.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 24 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 24 - Penalty for Violation of Rules and Regulations Made Under Authority of Chapter

Section 24. Whoever violates any rule or regulation for the government or use of any land or way taken or held under this chapter or for like purposes under any special act, and made under authority of law by any board or officer in charge thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 45 § 25 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 45 - Public Parks, Playgrounds and the Public Domain|Section 25 - Posting of Emergency Numbers at Ice Skating Facilities

Section 25. In cities and towns the emergency telephone numbers of the local municipally-designated emergency ambulance service to render emergency first aid and transport persons to hospitals shall be posted in a conspicuous place at ice skating facilities, both public and private.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 1 - Certificates of Birth, Marriage, Death and Acknowledgments and Adjudications of Paternity; Contents; Residence Defined

Section 1. Each town clerk shall receive or obtain and record the following facts, as well as such additional information that may be required under federal statutes or contracts, regulations promulgated pursuant to section 4 of chapter 17, or, as the commissioner of public health may require, relative to births, marriage, acknowledgments and adjudications of paternity and deaths which occurred in the town and for certificates of marriage issued by the town.  In the record of births, date of birth, place of birth, name and sex of child; names, places of birth, and dates of birth of both parents; and residence and birth surname of the child's mother. In the record of birth of a child born to parents not married to each other, the name of and other facts relating to the father shall not be recorded except as provided in section 2 of chapter 209C where paternity has been acknowledged or adjudicated under the laws of the commonwealth or under the law of any other jurisdiction.  In the record of marriages, date of record, date and place of marriage, name, residence and official station of the person by whom solemnized; for each of the parties to be married the name, date and place of birth, residence, age, number of the marriage, as first or second, and if previously married, whether widowed or divorced, and the birth-given names of their parents.  In the record of death, date of death, names of deceased, including birth surname for women, social security number, sex, race, marital status, education, name of spouse if ever married, supposed age, residence, occupation, place of death, place of birth, names and places of birth of the parents, birth surname of the mother, disease or cause of death, defined so that it can be classified under the international classification of causes of death, place and type of immediate disposition. The word ''residence'', as used in this section, shall include the name of the street and number, if any, of the house.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 11/2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 11/2 - Certificates of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth; Filing

Section 11/2. The state registrar shall establish a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth for fetal deaths, as defined in section 202 of chapter 111, occurring in the commonwealth after a gestational period of 20 weeks or more. The certificate shall be issued only at the request of either individual listed as mother or father on the report of fetal death. The certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth shall meet all of the format requirements for a certificate of live birth as provided in this chapter and in section 4 of chapter 17. If the parents of the stillborn child decide not to name the stillborn child, the person preparing a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth shall leave blank any references to the stillborn child's name.  The certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth shall be filed with the state registrar within 10 days after the delivery. When a birth resulting in stillbirth occurring in the commonwealth has not been registered within 1 year after the date of delivery, a certificate marked ''delayed'' may be filed and registered in accordance with regulations of the department of public health relating to evidentiary and other requirements sufficient to substantiate the alleged facts of birth resulting in stillbirth.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 1a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 1a - Birth Records of Abandoned Children or Foundlings

Section 1A. Each town clerk shall receive or obtain and record in the record of births facts relative to births of abandoned children and foundlings found within the limits of his town and the identity of whose parents is unknown. The facts relative to births required by section one shall, so far as possible, be set forth in records subject to this section, except that the town wherein such child or foundling was found shall be recorded as the place of birth, and that the date recorded as the date of birth shall be that determined by the commissioner of children and families. Such a record shall constitute the birth record of such child or foundling.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 1b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 1b - Filing Reports of Out-of-State Births or Adoptions

Section 1B. Any resident of the commonwealth who is the parent of a child born outside the commonwealth may personally present to the town clerk of the town where such parent was domiciled at the time of such birth, or in the case of an adopted child, at the time of such adoption, an original certificate or other written evidence of the birth, and a certified copy of the adoption decree if adopted, or a duly authenticated photostatic copy thereof. The town clerk may file such documents as evidence establishing such birth or adoption, or may make a copy thereof, which he shall attest as a true copy, and which he may then file as such evidence.  If such evidence is not, in the opinion of the town clerk, sufficient to establish such birth or adoption, and he refuses to file the same, a judge of probate in the county where such town lies may, on petition and after a hearing at which the clerk shall have an opportunity to be heard, order him to receive such certificate, written evidence or photostatic copy as sufficient evidence to establish such birth or adoption, whereupon such clerk shall file the same.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 1c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 1c - Filing Reports of Out-of-State Deaths

Section 1C. The spouse or heirs at law of any resident of this commonwealth who dies outside the commonwealth may personally present to the town clerk of the town where such person was domiciled at the time of his death an original certificate or other written evidence of the same, or a duly authenticated photostatic copy thereof. The town clerk may file such certificate, written evidence or photostatic copy as evidence establishing such death, or may make a copy thereof, which he shall attest as a true copy, and which he may then file as such evidence.  If such certificate, written evidence or photostatic copy is not, in the opinion of the town clerk, sufficient to establish such death, and he refuses to file the same, a judge of probate in the county wherein such town lies may, on petition and after a hearing at which the clerk shall have an opportunity to be heard, order him to receive such certificate, written evidence or photostatic copy as sufficient evidence to establish such death, whereupon such clerk shall file the same.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 1d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 1d - Adoption of Surname Upon Marriage

Section 1D. Each party to a marriage may adopt any surname, including but not limited to the present or birth-given surname of either party, may retain or resume use of a present or birth-given surname, or may adopt any hyphenated combination thereof.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 1e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 1e - Definitions

Section 1E. As used in this chapter the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:  (a) ''Administrator'', the hospital administrator or other person in charge of a hospital or similar institution in which births occur.  (b) ''Commissioner'', the commissioner of public health.  (c) ''Custodian'', a town clerk, the archivist of the commonwealth, the superintendent of the Quabbin reservoir and the state registrar.  (d) ''Department'', department of public health.  (e) ''Hospital medical officer'', a person registered under section nine of chapter one hundred and twelve.  (f) ''Physician'', a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy pursuant to section two of chapter one hundred and twelve.  (g) ''State registrar'', the registrar of vital records and statistics.  (h) ''Registry'', the registry of vital records and statistics established in section four of chapter seventeen.  (i) ''Town clerk or clerk'', a town clerk, city clerk or local registrar as provided in section twenty-two.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 2 - Separate Registries for Births, Deaths and Marriages

Section 2. Separate indexes of births, marriages and deaths shall be kept, and each entry shall be numbered in its order. The town clerk shall preserve all returns of births, marriages and deaths and shall conveniently arrange them for examination. He may record in separate columns the facts of such births, marriages and deaths.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 2a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 2a - Disclosure of Information About Vital Statistics; Conditions

Section 2A. Examination of records and returns of children born out of wedlock or abnormal sex births, or fetal deaths, or of the notices of intention of marriage and marriage records in cases where a physician's certificate has been filed under the provisions of section twenty A of chapter two hundred and seven, or those of persons born out of wedlock, or of copies of such records in the department of public health, shall not be permitted except upon proper judicial order, or upon request of a person seeking his own birth or marriage record, or his attorney, parent, guardian, or conservator, or a person whose official duties, in the opinion of the town clerk or the commissioner of public health, as the case may be, entitle him to the information contained therein, nor shall certified copies thereof be furnished except upon such order, or the request of such person. The provisions of this section shall not apply to such records, returns or notices recorded or filed prior to January first, eighteen hundred and forty-one or to such copies thereof.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 2b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 2b - Pre-Adoption Birth Certificates; Application for Inspection by Adopted Persons

Section 2B. Upon written application, which shall include proof of identity and payment of applicable fees, by an adopted person 18 years of age or older who was born in the commonwealth on or before July 17, 1974 or on or after January 1, 2008 or by an adoptive parent of an adopted person under 18 years of age and born in the commonwealth on or after January 1, 2008, the state registrar shall:-  (a) make available for inspection at the offices of the state registry the birth certificate prior to adoption which indicated the prior legal parent or parents listed on the initial birth certificate or if there has been more than 1 adoption, the birth certificate prior to the first adoption which indicates the parent or parents listed on the birth certificate prior to adoption.  (b) send by certified mail return receipt to the adopted person age 18 or older or to the parents of an adopted person under 18 years of age a photocopy of the contents of the birth record with the following notation on it: ''The contents of this birth record are being released under section 2B of chapter 46 of the Massachusetts General Laws or under a court order. This record was amended by adoption. This is not a certified copy of a birth record.''
MA Gen L ch 46 § 2c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 2c - Pre-Adoption Birth Certificates; Access by Child of Deceased Adopted Parent

Section 2C. If an adopted person is deceased, his child, if 18 years or older, or such child's parent or guardian if such child is less than 18 years of age, shall be eligible to apply for the information his adopted parent would have access to under section 2B and to participate in the adoption contact information registry pursuant to section 31.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 3 - Physician's Record of Birth; Out of Hospital Birth

Section 3. Every physician or hospital medical officer shall keep a record of birth of every child of which he is in charge showing the information required by section one, to be recorded in the records of birth.  If a birth occurs in a hospital, or if a birth occurs elsewhere and the mother and child are taken to a hospital for postnatal care immediately after birth, said physician or hospital medical officer shall, within twenty-four hours after such birth, file with the administrator a report, on forms furnished by the commissioner, stating the facts required by section one to be shown on the record of such birth.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 3a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 3a - Hospital Administrator's Duties; Report; Verification

Section 3A. The administrator or person in charge of a hospital shall be required to obtain, within twenty-four hours after a birth occurring therein or the admittance thereto of a mother and child for post-natal care, the report required by section three. If the hospital in which such birth occurred delivers more than 99 births per year, such report shall be prepared on an electronic system of birth registration approved by the commissioner of public health and transmitted to the state registrar. Said administrator or person in charge shall then forthwith make, or cause to be made, a copy of such report on forms prepared and furnished by the commissioner of public health and shall, within ten days after obtaining such report, file such copies with the town clerk of the city or town wherein the birth occurred. Such copies shall be signed or otherwise verified by the mother in a manner developed pursuant to regulations promulgated pursuant to section 4 of chapter 17, or, if she is not able, then by the father or other responsible adult, attesting to the truth and accuracy of the facts appearing in the report. Such copies shall also be signed or otherwise verified, in a manner specified under regulations promulgated pursuant to section 4 of chapter 17, by the physician, certified nurse midwife or hospital medical officer in charge of such birth or by an administrator designated by the hospital as overseeing birth registration.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 3b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 3b - Birth Without Immediate Admittance to Hospital for Postnatal Care; Report

Section 3B. Every physician attending a birth after which the mother and child are not admitted to a hospital for postnatal care immediately after birth shall, within ten days after such birth, file with the clerk of the city or town wherein such birth occurred a report on forms prepared and furnished by the commissioner of public health, stating the facts required to be shown on the record of such birth.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 3c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 3c - Children Born Out of Wedlock; Information Regarding Benefits and Responsibilities of Parentage; Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage

Section 3C. Prior to obtaining the report required by section three, if a birth is of a child whose mother was unmarried at the time of birth or conception, the administrator or person in charge of a hospital or similar institution in which such birth occurs, or his agent, shall: (a) provide written information, furnished by the IV–D agency as set forth in chapter one hundred and nineteen A, to the mother, and to the putative father if he is known to the administrator or person in charge of the hospital, regarding the benefits and responsibilities of parentage, including the availability of services to establish paternity, and shall provide an application for child support enforcement services; and (b) provide an opportunity for the child's mother and putative father to complete a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage pursuant to section eleven of chapter two hundred and nine C. If the mother of the child was or is married and the child's birth occurs during the marriage or within 300 days of termination of the marriage by divorce, a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage naming the putative father may be executed by the mother and the putative father only if the mother and the mother's husband at the time of the child's birth or conception sign an affidavit denying that the husband is the father of the child, as provided in section 5 of chapter 209C. Where the marriage has been terminated by annulment or by the death of either the husband or the wife, paternity of the putative father may only be established by filing a complaint to establish paternity as provided by chapter 209C.
MA Gen L ch 46 § 3d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts|Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths|Section 3d - Acknowledgments and Adjudications of Paternity; Records Available to Iv&ndash;d Agency

Section 3D. The state registrar shall accept for filing acknowledgments of paternity obtained by the hospital administrator and the city and town clerk pursuant to this chapter and adjudications of paternity entered by the court pursuant to chapter 209C and shall upon request make such records available to the IV–D agency as set forth in chapter 119A. The state registrar shall upon such request make available, including by electronic access, to the IV–D agency for purposes of child support enforcement, records of adjudications and acknowledgments and records of subjects for whom no father's name has been inserted on the subject's birth certificate within six months of birth, including the names, addresses, and social security number of the subject of the record, the subject's mother, and the subject's father, where available.