reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 33a § 41 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 41 - Challenges

Article 41. Challenges.  (a)(1) The military judge and members of a general or special court-martial may be challenged by the accused or the trial counsel for cause stated to the court. The military judge or the court shall determine the relevancy and validity of challenges for cause and may not receive a challenge to more than 1 person at a time. Challenges by the trial counsel shall ordinarily be presented and decided before those by the accused are offered.  (2) If exercise of a challenge for cause reduces the court below the minimum number of members required by article 16, all parties shall, notwithstanding article 29, either exercise or waive any challenge for cause then apparent against the remaining members of the court before additional members are detailed to the court. However, peremptory challenges shall not be exercised at that time.  (b)(1) Each accused and the trial counsel are entitled initially to 3 peremptory challenges of members of the court. The military judge may not be challenged except for cause.  (2) If exercise of a peremptory challenge reduces the court below the minimum number of members required by article 16, the parties shall, notwithstanding article 29, either exercise or waive any remaining peremptory challenge, not previously waived, against the remaining members of the court before additional members are detailed to the court.  (3) Whenever additional members are detailed to the court, and after any challenges for cause against such additional members are presented and decided, each accused and the trial counsel are entitled to 3 peremptory challenges against members not previously subject to peremptory challenge.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 42 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 42 - Oaths or Affirmations

Article 42. Oaths or Affirmations.  (a) Before performing their respective duties, military judges, general and special courts-martial members, trial counsel, defense counsel, reporters and interpreters shall take an oath or affirmation in the presence of the accused to perform their duties faithfully. The form of the oath or affirmation, the time and place of the taking thereof, the manner of recording the same and whether the oath or affirmation shall be taken for all cases in which these duties are to be performed or for a particular case shall be as prescribed in regulation or as provided by law. These regulations may provide that an oath or affirmation to perform faithfully the duties as a military judge, trial counsel or defense counsel may be taken at any time by any judge advocate or other person certified or designated to be qualified or competent for the duty, and if such an oath or affirmation is taken, it need not again be taken at the time the judge advocate or other person is detailed to that duty.  (b) Each witness before a court-martial shall be examined under oath or affirmation.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 43 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 43 - Statute of Limitations

Article 43. Statute of limitations.  (a) A person charged with absent without leave or missing movement may be tried and punished at any time without limitation.  (b)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this article, a person charged with an offense shall not be liable to be tried by court-martial if the offense was committed more than 6 years before the receipt of sworn charges and specifications by an officer exercising summary court-martial jurisdiction over the command.  (2) A person charged with an offense shall not be liable to be punished under article 15 if the offense was committed more than 2 years before the imposition of punishment.  (c) Periods in which the accused is absent without authority or fleeing from justice shall be excluded in computing the period of limitation prescribed in this article.  (d) Periods in which the accused is absent from territory in which the United States has the authority to apprehend the accused, or in the custody of civil authorities, or in the hands of the enemy, shall be excluded in computing the period of limitation prescribed in this article.  (e) When the United States is at war or when the commander-in-chief declares a state of emergency in accordance with state law, the running of a statute of limitations applicable to any offense under this chapter is suspended until 3 years after the termination of hostilities as proclaimed by the president of the United States, by a joint resolution of congress or by the commander-in-chief for offenses:  (1) involving fraud or attempted fraud against the United States, any state or any agency of either in any manner, whether by conspiracy or not;  (2) committed in connection with the acquisition, care, handling, custody, control or disposition of any real or personal property of the United States or any state; or  (3) committed in connection with the negotiation, procurement, award, performance, payment, interim financing, cancellation or other termination or settlement, of any contract, subcontract or purchase order that is connected with or related to the prosecution of the war or with any disposition of termination inventory by any war contractor or government agency.  (f) If charges or specifications are dismissed as defective or insufficient for any cause and the period prescribed by the applicable statute of limitations has expired or will expire within 180 days after the date of dismissal of the charges and specifications, trial and punishment under new charges and specifications are not barred by the statute of limitations if the new charges and specifications:  (1) are received by an officer exercising summary court-martial jurisdiction over the command within 180 days after the dismissal of the charges or specifications; and  (2) allege the same acts or omissions that were alleged in the dismissed charges or specifications, or allege acts or omissions that were included in the dismissed charges or specifications.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 44 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 44 - Former Jeopardy

Article 44. Former jeopardy.  (a) No person shall, without the person's consent, be tried a second time for the same offense.  (b) No proceeding in which an accused has been found guilty by a court-martial upon any charge or specification is a trial for the purposes of this article until the finding of guilty has become final after review of the case has been fully completed.  (c) A proceeding that, after the introduction of evidence but before a finding, is dismissed or terminated by the convening authority or on motion of the prosecution for failure of available evidence or witnesses without any fault of the accused shall be considered to be a trial in the sense of this article.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 45 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 45 - Pleas of the Accused

Article 45. Pleas of the accused.  (a) If an accused after arraignment makes an irregular pleading, or after a plea of guilty sets up matter inconsistent with the plea, or if it appears that the accused has entered the plea of guilty improvidently or through lack of understanding of its meaning and effect, or if the accused fails or refuses to plead, a plea of not guilty shall be entered in the record, and the court shall proceed as though the accused had pleaded not guilty.  (b) With respect to any charge or specification to which a plea of guilty has been made by the accused and accepted by the military judge or by a court-martial without a military judge, a finding of guilty of the charge or specification may be entered immediately without vote. This finding shall constitute the finding of the court unless the plea of guilty is withdrawn prior to announcement of the sentence, in which event, the proceedings shall continue as though the accused had pleaded not guilty.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 46 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 46 - Opportunity to Obtain Witnesses and Other Evidence

Article 46. Opportunity to obtain witnesses and other evidence.  The trial counsel, the defense counsel and the court-martial shall have equal opportunity to obtain witnesses and other evidence as prescribed by regulations and provided by law. Process issued in court-martial cases to compel witnesses to appear and testify and to compel the production of other evidence shall apply the principles of law and the rules of courts-martial generally recognized in military criminal cases in the courts of the armed forces of the United States, but which may not be contrary to or inconsistent with this code. Process shall run to any part of the United States, or the territories, commonwealths and possessions, and may be executed by civil officers as prescribed by the laws of the place where the witness or evidence is located or of the United States.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 47 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 47 - Refusal to Appear or Testify

Article 47. Refusal to appear or testify.  (a) Any person not subject to this code may be punished by the military court in the same manner as a criminal court of the state if the person:  (1) has been duly subpoenaed to appear as a witness or to produce books and records before a court-martial or court of inquiry, or before any military or civil officer designated to take a deposition to be read in evidence before such a court;  (2) has been duly paid or tendered the fees and mileage of a witness at the rates allowed to witnesses attending a criminal court of the state; and  (3) willfully neglects or refuses to appear, or refuses to qualify as a witness or to testify or to produce any evidence which that person may have been legally subpoenaed to produce.  (b) The fees and mileage of witnesses shall be advanced or paid out of the appropriations for the compensation of witnesses.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 48 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 48 - Contempt

Article 48. Contempt.  (a) A military judge or summary court-martial officer may punish for contempt any person who uses any menacing word, sign or gesture in its presence or who disturbs its proceedings by any riot or disorder.  (b) A person subject to this code may be punished for contempt by confinement not to exceed 30 days or a fine of $100 or both.  (c) A person not subject to this code may be punished for contempt by a military court in the same manner as a criminal court of the state.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 49 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 49 - Depositions

Article 49. Depositions.  (a) At any time after charges have been signed as provided in article 30, any party may take oral or written depositions unless the military judge or summary court-martial officer hearing the case or, if the case is not being heard, an authority competent to convene a court-martial for the trial of those charges forbids it for good cause.  (b) The party at whose insistence a deposition is to be taken shall give to every other party reasonable written notice of the time and place for taking the deposition.  (c) Depositions may be taken before and authenticated by any military or civil officer authorized by the laws of the state or by the laws of the place where the deposition is taken to administer oaths.  (d) A duly authenticated deposition taken upon reasonable notice to the other parties, so far as otherwise admissible under the rules of evidence, may be read in evidence or, in the case of audiotape, videotape, digital image or file or similar material, may be played in evidence before any military court, if it appears:  (1) that the witness resides or is beyond the state in which the court is ordered to sit, or beyond 100 miles from the place of trial or hearing;  (2) that the witness by reason of death, age, sickness, bodily infirmity, imprisonment, military necessity, non amenability to process or other reasonable cause is unable or refuses to appear and testify in person at the place of trial or hearing; or  (3) that the present whereabouts of the witness is unknown.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 50 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 50 - Admissibility of Records of Courts of Inquiry

Article 50. Admissibility of records of courts of inquiry.  (a) In any case not extending to the dismissal of a commissioned officer, the sworn testimony, contained in the duly authenticated record of proceedings of a court of inquiry, of a person whose oral testimony cannot be obtained, may, if otherwise admissible under the rules of evidence, be read in evidence by any party before a court-martial if the accused was a party before the court of inquiry and if the same issue was involved or if the accused consents to the introduction of such evidence.  (b) Such testimony may be read in evidence only by the defense in cases extending to the dismissal of a commissioned officer.  (c) Such testimony may also be read in evidence before a court of inquiry.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 50a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 50a - Defense of Lack of Mental Responsibility

Article 50A. Defense of lack of mental responsibility.  (a) It is an affirmative defense in a trial by court-martial that, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the accused, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of the acts. Mental disease or defect does not otherwise constitute a defense.  (b) The accused has the burden of proving the defense of lack of mental responsibility by clear and convincing evidence.  (c) Whenever lack of mental responsibility of the accused with respect to an offense is properly at issue, the military judge shall instruct the members of the court as to the defense of lack of mental responsibility under this article and charge them to find the accused:  (1) guilty;  (2) not guilty; or  (3) not guilty only by reason of lack of mental responsibility.  (d) In the case of a court-martial composed of a military judge only or a summary court-martial officer, whenever lack of mental responsibility of the accused with respect to an offense is properly at issue, the military judge or summary court-martial officer shall find the accused:  (1) guilty;  (2) not guilty; or  (3) not guilty only by reason of lack of mental responsibility.  (e) Notwithstanding the provisions of article 52, the accused shall be found not guilty only by reason of lack of mental responsibility if:  (1) a majority of the members of the court-martial present at the time the vote is taken determines that the defense of lack of mental responsibility has been established; or  (2) in the case of a court-martial composed of a military judge only or a summary court-martial officer, the military judge or summary court-martial officer determines that the defense of lack of mental responsibility has been established.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 51 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 51 - Voting and Rulings

Article 51. Voting and rulings.  (a) Voting by members of a general or special court-martial on the findings and on the sentence shall be by secret written ballot. The junior member of the court shall count the votes. The count shall be checked by the president, who shall forthwith announce the result of the ballot to the members of the court.  (b) The military judge shall rule upon all questions of law and all interlocutory questions arising during the proceedings. Any such ruling made by the military judge upon any question of law or any interlocutory question other than the factual issue of mental responsibility of the accused is final and constitutes the ruling of the court. However, the military judge may change the ruling at any time during the trial. Unless the ruling is final, if any member objects thereto, the court shall be cleared and closed and the question decided by a voice vote as provided in article 52, beginning with the junior in rank.  (c) Before a vote is taken on the findings, the military judge shall, in the presence of the accused and counsel, instruct the members of the court as to the elements of the offense and charge them:  (1) that the accused must be presumed to be innocent until the accused's guilt is established by legal and competent evidence beyond reasonable doubt;  (2) that in the case being considered, if there is a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused, the doubt must be resolved in favor of the accused and the accused must be acquitted;  (3) that, if there is a reasonable doubt as to the degree of guilt, the finding must be in a lower degree as to which there is no reasonable doubt; and  (4) that the burden of proof to establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt is upon the state.  (d) Subsections (a), (b) and (c) shall not apply to a court-martial composed of a military judge only. The military judge of such a court-martial shall determine all questions of law and fact arising during the proceedings and, if the accused is convicted, adjudge an appropriate sentence. The military judge of such a court-martial shall make a general finding and shall in addition, on request, find the facts specially. If an opinion or memorandum of decision is filed, it will be sufficient if the findings of fact appear therein.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 52 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 52 - Number of Votes Required

Article 52. Number of votes required.  (a) No person may be convicted of an offense except as provided in subsection (b) of article 45 or by the concurrence of all of the members present at the time the vote is taken.  (b) All other questions to be decided by the members of a general or special court-martial shall be determined by a majority vote, but a determination to reconsider a finding of guilty or to reconsider a sentence, with a view toward decreasing it, may be made by any lesser vote that indicates that the reconsideration is not opposed by the number of votes required for that finding or sentence. A tie vote on a challenge disqualifies the member challenged. A tie vote on a motion relating to the question of the accused's sanity is a determination in favor of the accused. A tie vote on any other question is a determination in favor of the accused.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 53 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 53 - Court to Announce Action

Article 53. Court to announce action.  A court-martial shall announce its findings and sentence to the parties as soon as determined.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 54 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 54 - Record of Trial

Article 54. Record of trial.  (a) Each general and special court-martial shall keep a separate record of the proceedings in each case brought before it, and the record shall be authenticated by the signature of the military judge. If the record cannot be authenticated by the military judge by reason of the military judge's death, disability or absence, it shall be authenticated by the signature of the trial counsel or by that of a member, if the trial counsel is unable to authenticate it by reason of the trial counsel's death, disability or absence. In a court-martial consisting of only a military judge, the record shall be authenticated by the court reporter under the same conditions that would impose such a duty on a member under this subsection.  (b)(1) A complete verbatim record of the proceedings and testimony shall be prepared in each general and special court-martial case resulting in a conviction; and  (2) in all other court-martial cases, the record shall contain such matters as may be prescribed by regulations.  (c) Each summary court-martial shall keep a separate record of the proceedings in each case and the record shall be authenticated in the manner as may be prescribed by regulations.  (d) A copy of the record of the proceedings of each general and special court-martial shall be given to the accused as soon as it is authenticated.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 55 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 55 - Cruel and Unusual Punishments Prohibited

Article 55. Cruel and unusual punishments prohibited.  Punishment by flogging or by branding, marking or tattooing on the body or any other cruel or unusual punishment may not be adjudged by a court-martial or inflicted upon any person subject to this code. The use of irons, single or double, except for the purpose of safe custody, is prohibited.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 56 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 56 - Maximum Limits

Article 56. Maximum limits.  The punishment that a court-martial may direct for an offense may not exceed such limits as prescribed by this code, but in no instance may a sentence exceed more than 10 years for a military offense, nor shall a sentence of death be adjudged. A conviction by general court-martial of any military offense for which an accused may receive a sentence of confinement for more than 1 year is a felony offense. Except for convictions by a summary court-martial, all other military offenses are misdemeanors. Any conviction by a summary court-martial is not a criminal conviction. The limits of punishment for violations of the punitive articles prescribed herein shall be as prescribed by the manual for courts-martial of the commonwealth in effect at the time of the offense, but in no instance shall any punishment exceed 10 years confinement.
MA Gen L ch 33a § 57 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title V - Militia|Chapter 33a - Massachusetts Code of Military Justice|Section 57 - Effective Date of Sentences

Article 57. Effective date of sentences.  (a) Whenever a sentence of a court-martial as lawfully adjudged and approved includes a forfeiture of pay or allowances in addition to confinement not suspended, the forfeiture may apply to pay or allowances becoming due on or after the date the sentence is approved by the convening authority. No forfeiture may extend to any pay or allowances accrued before that date.  (b) Any period of confinement included in a sentence of a court-martial begins to run from the date the sentence is adjudged by the court-martial, but periods during which the sentence to confinement is suspended or deferred shall be excluded in computing the service of the term of confinement.  (c) All other sentences of courts-martial are effective on the date ordered executed.