reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 277b § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 277b - Statewide Grand Jury|Section 3 - Nature and Scope of Investigation

[Text of section effective until December 31, 2020. Repealed by 2015, 10, Sec. 46. See 2015, 10, Sec. 71.]  Section 3. The superior court justice appointed to preside over the grand jury shall consult with the attorney general and district attorney for the relevant district about the nature and scope of the investigation and shall thereafter designate and authorize an existing county grand jury to serve as a statewide grand jury for the purposes of the investigation specified in the written application or, alternatively, the superior court justice may convene and preside over a specially-empaneled statewide grand jury.
MA Gen L ch 277b § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 277b - Statewide Grand Jury|Section 4 - Manner of Drawing and Selecting Specially-Empaneled Statewide Grand Jury

[Text of section effective until December 31, 2020. Repealed by 2015, 10, Sec. 46. See 2015, 10, Sec. 71.]  Section 4. A specially-empaneled statewide grand jury shall be drawn and selected in the same manner as the county grand jury in the county in which the specially-empaneled statewide grand jury is to sit. A specially-empaneled statewide grand jury may, at the discretion of the presiding superior court justice, draw jurors from counties adjoining the county in which the statewide grand jury is to sit.
MA Gen L ch 277b § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 277b - Statewide Grand Jury|Section 5 - Period During Which Statewide Grand Jury May Sit

[Text of section effective until December 31, 2020. Repealed by 2015, 10, Sec. 46. See 2015, 10, Sec. 71.]  Section 5. A specially-empaneled statewide grand jury convened pursuant to this chapter shall sit for a period not to exceed 18 months. The superior court justice presiding over the statewide grand jury may extend that period if, in accordance with section 41 of chapter 234A and section 1A of chapter 277, public necessity requires further time by the statewide grand jury to complete an ongoing investigation.
MA Gen L ch 277b § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 277b - Statewide Grand Jury|Section 6 - Powers and Duties of Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General

[Text of section effective until December 31, 2020. Repealed by 2015, 10, Sec. 46. See 2015, 10, Sec. 71.]  Section 6. The attorney general or an assistant attorney general shall attend each session of a statewide grand jury and may prosecute any indictment returned by it. The attorney general or assistant attorney general shall have the same powers and duties in relation to a statewide grand jury that the attorney general or assistant attorney general has in relation to a county grand jury, except as otherwise provided by law.
MA Gen L ch 277b § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 277b - Statewide Grand Jury|Section 7 - County in Which Indictment to Be Returned; Venue

[Text of section effective until December 31, 2020. Repealed by 2015, 10, Sec. 46. See 2015, 10, Sec. 71.]  Section 7. Indictments shall be returned in the county wherein the statewide grand jury sits and shall thereafter be transferred to the county specified by the statewide grand jury on the indictment. For the purposes of trial for offenses indicted by a statewide grand jury, venue shall be in any county in which venue would otherwise be proper.
MA Gen L ch 277b § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 277b - Statewide Grand Jury|Section 8 - Effect on Jurisdiction of County Grand Jury or District Attorney

[Text of section effective until December 31, 2020. Repealed by 2015, 10, Sec. 46. See 2015, 10, Sec. 71.]  Section 8. Nothing in this chapter shall limit the jurisdiction of county grand juries or district attorneys. Except as otherwise provided by law, an investigation by a statewide grand jury shall not preempt an investigation by any other grand jury or agency having jurisdiction over the same subject matter.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 1 - Trial List of Criminal Cases, Adding Cases to List

Section 1. At each session of the superior court for criminal business, the district attorney, before trials begin, shall make and deposit with the clerk, for the inspection of parties, a list of all cases to be tried at that session, and the cases shall be tried in the order of such trial list, unless otherwise ordered by the court for cause shown. Cases may be added to such list by direction of the court, on its own motion or upon motion of the district attorney or of the defendant.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 2 - Trial of Issues of Fact

Section 2. Issues of fact joined upon an indictment or complaint shall, in the superior court, be tried by a jury drawn and returned in the manner provided for the trial of issues of fact in civil causes, unless the person indicted or complained against elects to be tried by the court as provided by law.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 4 - Oaths of Jurors

Section 4. The following oath shall be administered to the jurors for the trial of all criminal cases which are not capital:  You shall well and truly try the issue between the commonwealth and the defendant, (or the defendants, as the case may be,) according to your evidence; so help you God.  The following oath shall be administered to the jurors for the trial of capital cases:  You shall well and truly try, and true deliverance make, between the commonwealth and the prisoner at the bar, whom you shall have in charge, according to your evidence; so help you God.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 5 - Affirmation of Jurors

Section 5. A juror who is conscientiously scrupulous of taking either of the oaths above prescribed shall be allowed to affirm.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 6a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 6a - Testimony Concerning Ownership in Cases Involving Motor Vehicle Theft or Fraudulent Claims; Preservation of Testimony

Section 6A. At the arraignment of a defendant charged with violating the provisions of sections twenty-seven A, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, one hundred and eleven A and one hundred and thirty-nine of chapter two hundred and sixty-six, the court shall, upon a showing of need by the commonwealth, and after granting adequate time to defense counsel to consult with the defendant, allow testimony from the owner or person in control of such vehicle, solely on the issue of ownership and unauthorized use, and such testimony shall be taken and preserved and shall be admissible at trial.  In the prosecution of a person charged with violating the provisions of sections twenty-seven A, twenty-eight, twenty-eight A, twenty-nine, one hundred and eleven A and one hundred and thirty-nine of chapter two hundred and sixty-six, the court shall order, as a condition of granting a continuance, that the testimony of a witness then present in court be taken and preserved for subsequent use at trial or any other proceeding. The witness shall be examined in open court by the party on whose behalf he is present and the adverse party shall have the right to cross-examination. The expenses of taking and preserving the testimony shall be assessed as costs against the party requesting the continuance.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 7 - Burden to Prove License or Admission to Practice as Attorney at Law

Section 7. A defendant in a criminal prosecution, relying for his justification upon a license, appointment, admission to practice as an attorney at law, or authority, shall prove the same; and, until so proved, the presumption shall be that he is not so authorized.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 8 - Justification in Libel Cases

Section 8. The defendant in a prosecution for writing or publishing a libel may introduce in evidence the truth of the matter contained in the publication charged as libellous, and the truth shall be a justification, unless actual malice is proved.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 8a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 8a - Killing or Injuring a Person Unlawfully in a Dwelling; Defense

Section 8A. In the prosecution of a person who is an occupant of a dwelling charged with killing or injuring one who was unlawfully in said dwelling, it shall be a defense that the occupant was in his dwelling at the time of the offense and that he acted in the reasonable belief that the person unlawfully in said dwelling was about to inflict great bodily injury or death upon said occupant or upon another person lawfully in said dwelling, and that said occupant used reasonable means to defend himself or such other person lawfully in said dwelling. There shall be no duty on said occupant to retreat from such person unlawfully in said dwelling.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 9 - Proof of Ownership of Property

Section 9. In the prosecution of crimes which relate to or affect real or personal estate, it shall be sufficient, and shall not be a variance, if it is proved on the trial that, at the time when the crime was committed, either the actual or constructive possession or the general or special property in the whole or any part of such real or personal estate was in the person or community alleged to be the owner thereof.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 10 - Night Time; Definition

Section 10. If a crime is alleged to have been committed in the night time, night time shall be deemed the time between one hour after sunset on one day and one hour before sunrise on the next day; and the time of sunset and sunrise shall be ascertained according to mean time in the place where the crime was committed.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 11 - Directed Verdict; Setting Aside Verdict, New Trial or Finding of Guilty of Included Offense

Section 11. If a motion for a directed verdict of not guilty is denied and the case is submitted to the jury and a verdict of guilty is returned, the judge may on a renewed motion for a directed verdict of not guilty pursuant to the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure set aside the verdict and order a new trial, or order the entry of a finding of guilty of any offense included in the offense charged in the indictment or complaint.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 11a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 11a - Habitual Criminals; Separate Trial on Issue of Prior Conviction

Section 11A. If a defendant is charged with a crime for which more severe punishment is provided for second and subsequent offenses, and the complaint or indictment alleges that the offense charged is a second or subsequent offense, the defendant on arraignment shall be inquired of only for a plea of guilty or not guilty to the crime charged, and that portion of the indictment or complaint that charges, or refers to a charge that, said crime is a second or subsequent offense shall not be read in open court. If such defendant pleads not guilty and is tried before a jury, no part of the complaint or indictment which alleges that the crime charged is a second or subsequent offense shall be read or shown to the jury or referred to in any manner during the trial; provided, however, that if a defendant takes the witness stand to testify, nothing herein contained shall prevent the impeachment of his credibility by evidence of any prior conviction, subject to the provisions of section twenty-one of chapter two hundred and thirty-three. If a defendant pleads guilty or if there is a verdict or finding of guilty after trial, then before sentence is imposed, the defendant shall be further inquired of for a plea of guilty or not guilty to that portion of the complaint or indictment alleging that the crime charged is a second or subsequent offense. If he pleads guilty thereto, sentence shall be imposed; if he pleads not guilty thereto, he shall be entitled to a trial by jury of the issue of conviction of a prior offense, subject to all of the provisions of law governing criminal trials. A defendant may waive trial by jury. The court may, in its discretion, either hold the jury which returned the verdict of guilty of the crime, the trial of which was just completed, or it may order the impanelling of a new jury to try the issue of conviction of one or more prior offenses. Upon the return of a verdict, after the separate trial of the issue of conviction of one or more prior offenses, the court shall impose the sentence appropriate to said verdict.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 12 - Acquittal of Part of Crime and Conviction of Residue

Section 12. If a person indicted for a felony is acquitted by the verdict of part of the crime charged, and is convicted of the residue, such verdict may be received and recorded by the court, and thereupon the defendant shall be adjudged guilty of the crime, if any, which appears to the court to be substantially charged by the residue of the indictment, and shall be sentenced and punished accordingly.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 14 - Liability for Fees of Person Acquitted

Section 14. No prisoner or person under recognizance, acquitted by verdict or discharged because no indictment has been found against him, or for want of prosecution, shall be liable for any costs or fees or for any charge for subsistence while he was in custody.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 15 - Discontinuance of Prosecution Under By-Laws, Ordinances, Etc.

Section 15. In a prosecution before a district court under the by-laws, ordinances, orders, rules or regulations of a city or town, the city solicitor, town counsel or other person appointed to represent such city or town may enter a nolle prosequi or do anything relative to such prosecution which may be done by the district attorney.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 16 - Assignment of Counsel for Inmates of Institutions for Reformation of Juvenile Offenders

Section 16. The court may assign counsel to an inmate of any institution for the reformation of juvenile offenders who is to be tried for an offence alleged to have been committed therein; and shall, upon application, order the superintendent or other officer of such institution to produce at the trial such inmates thereof as, in the opinion of the counsel for the defence, certified in writing, or of the judge, in the absence of counsel, are material witnesses for the defence; and such officer shall obey the order and provide for the custody and safe return of such inmates.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 16a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 16a - Exclusion of Public From Trial for Sex Offenses Involving Minors Under Age of Eighteen

Section 16A. At the trial of a complaint or indictment for rape, incest, carnal abuse or other crime involving sex, where a minor under eighteen years of age is the person upon, with or against whom the crime is alleged to have been committed, or at the trial of a complaint or indictment for getting a woman with child out of wedlock, or for the non-support of a child born out of wedlock, the presiding justice shall exclude the general public from the court room, admitting only such persons as may have a direct interest in the case.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 16b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 16b - Exclusion of Public From Trial of Criminal Proceeding Involving Husband and Wife

Section 16B. The presiding justice of a district court may exclude the general public from the court room during the trial of any criminal proceeding involving husband and wife.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 16c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 16c - Exclusion of Public From Trial Involving Crime of Incest or Rape

Section 16C. To protect the parties involved at a trial arising from a complaint or indictment for incest or rape, the trial judge may exclude all spectators from the courtroom in which such trial is being held, or from said courtroom during those portions of such trial when direct testimony is to be presented; provided, that either of the parties requests that all spectators be so excluded at the trial or portions thereof; and provided further, that the defendant in such trial by a written statement waives his right to a public trial for those portions from which spectators are so excluded.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 16f (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 16f - Expedited Trials of Sex Crimes Involving Minor Children as Victims or Witnesses; Continuance; Impact Statement

Section 16F. In any criminal proceeding involving an alleged sex crime perpetrated upon a minor child, or in which a minor child is expected to testify as a witness to a sex crime, the court shall, in order to minimize stress on such child, take action to expedite trial and give precedence to the case over any other case; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to mean that trial shall be expedited if it is not in the best interests of the child.  When a motion or a request for a continuance is made the prosecutor shall file an impact statement which specifies whether the commonwealth agrees to the request for continuance, whether the child or the child's representative agrees to such request, and the effect, if any, the granting of the continuance will have on the child. In ruling on any motion or request for continuance or other delay, the court shall consider and give weight to any possible adverse impact that a delay or continuance may have on the child. Prior to issuing an order on a motion for continuance or delay, the court shall make written findings of fact concerning the impact on the child of continuing or delaying the case.