reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 114 § 34 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 34 - Use of Land for Burial; New Cemeteries or Extensions; Approval of Board of Health; Description of Land

Section 34. Except in the case of the erection or use of a tomb on private land for the exclusive use of the family of the owner, no land, other than that already so used or appropriated, shall be used for burial, unless by permission of the town or of the mayor and aldermen of the city in which the same lies; but no such permission shall be given until the location of the lands intended for such use has been approved in writing by the board of health of the town where the lands are situated after notice to all persons interested and a hearing; and the board of health, upon approval of the use of any lands either for new cemeteries or for the extension of existing cemeteries, shall include in the records of the said board a description of such lands sufficient for their identification. For every interment in violation of this section in a town in which the notice prescribed in section thirty-seven has been given, the owner of the land so used shall forfeit not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 35 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 35 - Lands to Be Used for Burial; Approval

Section 35. No land other than that so used and appropriated on April tenth, nineteen hundred and eight, shall be used for the purpose of burial if it be so situated that surface water or ground drainage therefrom may enter any stream, pond, reservoir, well, filter gallery or other water used as a source of public water supply, or any tributary of a source so used, or any aqueduct or other works used in connection therewith, until a plan and description of the lands proposed for such use have been submitted to, and approved in writing by the department of environmental protection.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 36 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 36 - Use of Cemeteries; Appeal From Order of Board of Health; Hearing

Section 36. Any person, including those persons in control of any public land, or the officers of any municipality, aggrieved by the action of a board of health in approving the purchase, taking or use of any lands for cemetery purposes may, within sixty days, appeal from the order of said board to the department of environmental protection, and said department may, after a hearing, rescind such order or may modify and amend the same by approving a part of the lands so proposed for such use.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 37 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 37 - Use of Cemeteries; Regulations by Local Boards of Health; Notice

Section 37. Boards of health may make regulations concerning burial grounds and interments within their towns; may impose penalties not exceeding one hundred dollars for a breach thereof; may prohibit the use by undertakers, for the purpose of speculation, of tombs as places of deposit for bodies committed to them for burial; and may close any tomb, burial ground, cemetery or other place of burial within the town for such time as they consider necessary for the protection of the public health. Notice of such regulations shall be given by publishing them in a newspaper, if any, of the town; otherwise, by posting a copy in a public place therein. Such publication shall be notice to all persons.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 38 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 38 - Closing of Tombs, Burial Ground or Cemetery; Hearing; Notice

Section 38. Before a tomb, burial ground or cemetery is closed by order of the board of health for more than one month, all persons interested shall have an opportunity to be heard, and personal notice of the time and place of hearing shall be given to at least one owner of the tomb, and to three at least, if there are so many, of the owners of such burial ground or cemetery, and notice shall be published for at least two successive weeks preceding such hearing in two newspapers published in the county.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 39 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 39 - Owner of Tomb; Appeal From Order of Board of Health

Section 39. The owner of a tomb aggrieved by an order of the board of health closing a tomb, burial ground or cemetery may, within six months after the date thereof, appeal therefrom to the superior court, first giving written notice to the board fourteen days before the entry of such appeal; but the order of the board shall remain in force until the appeal has been determined.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 40 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 40 - Use of Cemeteries; Jury Trial; Rescission of Order; Costs and Double Costs

Section 40. Appeals shall be tried before a jury, and if the jury find that the tomb, burial ground or cemetery so closed was not a nuisance or injurious to the public health at the time of the order and that the closing thereof was not necessary for the protection of the public health, the court shall rescind such order so far as it affects such tomb, burial ground or cemetery, and the appellant may recover the costs of the appeal from the town where the tomb, burial ground or cemetery was situated. If the order is sustained, the board of health shall recover double costs, to the use of the town.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 41 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 41 - Laying Out or Constructing Public Ways In, Upon or Through Burial Places; Authority

Section 41. A public way shall not be laid out or constructed in, upon or through an enclosure used or appropriated for a burial place except by special authority from the general court or with the previous consent of the inhabitants of the town where such enclosure is situated; or, if such enclosure belongs to private proprietors, with their previous consent.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 42 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 42 - Passage Through Cemeteries

Section 42. Whoever uses as a means of passage from one point to another, not being thereupon at the time for any other purpose, the premises of a cemetery or burial place, in any other parts thereof than the defined ways, paths and walks, shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 42a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 42a - Visitation Hours of Cemeteries

Section 42A. No cemetery exempted from taxation under the provisions of section five of chapter fifty-nine shall be closed for visitations between the hours of eight o'clock antemeridian and sunset, except during the months of June, July, August and September when such cemeteries shall remain open until the hour of seven o'clock postmeridian; provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply on Saturdays if the cemetery is owned or used exclusively by a religious denomination which observes the Sabbath on Saturday. It shall be deemed to be a violation of this section if entrance to or exit from any such cemetery by motor vehicle is prevented during said hours, if said cemetery has accessible roads for motor vehicles; provided, however, that access by motor vehicle may be prevented on the second Sunday in May, the last Monday in May, and on Easter Sunday. Whoever wilfully violates this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 42b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 42b - Commercial Use of Cemeteries; Consent; Penalties

Section 42B. No person shall use the premises of a cemetery or burial place for the purpose of taking photographs or making a motion picture for commercial purposes without the previous consent of the board of commissioners, trustees or directors of such cemetery or burial place or their designees. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43 - Buildings Upon Burial Places

Section 43. No building shall be erected upon any burial place belonging to a city, except by special authority from the general court, or with the previous consent of the city council.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43a - Ownership, Maintenance and Operation of Cemeteries; Private Profit

Section 43A. No cemetery established on or after July first, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, shall be owned, maintained or operated except by a municipality or other political subdivision of the commonwealth, a church, a religious or charitable society, or by a cemetery association incorporated as provided in section one, nor shall such a cemetery be maintained or operated for the purpose of private profit or gain, directly or indirectly, to any director, officer or member of the cemetery association or other agency owning, maintaining and operating the same. A cemetery lawfully established prior to said date may continue to be owned, maintained and operated under the form of organization adopted therefor.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43b - Sale of Cemetery Lots and Plots for Speculative Purposes

Section 43B. The sale of cemetery lots and plots, or the sale of crypts in a community mausoleum or niches in a columbarium, for speculative purposes, or the conveyance of any portion of a cemetery already dedicated to burial purposes as security for debt, is hereby prohibited, and every such conveyance shall be void and of no effect. Whoever makes or attempts to make a sale or conveyance contrary to the provisions of this section shall be subject to the penalty provided by section forty-three N.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43c - Disposition of Proceeds of Sales of Cemetery Lots and Plots; Liquidation of Indebtedness

Section 43C. The proceeds of the sales of lots and plots in a cemetery shall, except as hereinafter provided, be applied solely to the improvement and maintenance of the cemetery and the avenues, paths and structures situated therein, for the purchase of additional cemetery land, and for the accumulation of a permanent care and improvement fund. If any indebtedness of a fixed amount is incurred in the purchase of lands for such cemetery, or in making any improvement therein, a sum not exceeding fifty per cent of the gross receipts from the sale of burial lots and plots may be applied to the liquidation of such indebtedness. All moneys received from the sale of personal property and surplus real estate of a cemetery shall be applied first to the liquidation of any fixed indebtedness incurred by it on account of the purchase or improvement of the lands dedicated to cemetery purposes, and any residue remaining after the liquidation of such indebtedness shall be deposited in the permanent care and improvement fund of the cemetery. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any cemetery established prior to July first, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, or to any cemetery owned, maintained and operated by a church or religious society.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43d - Location of Community Mausoleums; Exceptions

Section 43D. Every community mausoleum, other than a structure containing crypts erected or controlled by a church or a religious society and used only as a repository for the remains of the clergy or dignitaries of such church or religious society, and every crematory, columbarium or other structure, other than a columbarium located within or adjacent to a building owned or occupied by a church or religious society in which regular religious services are held and used only as a repository for the ashes of the regular attendants at such religious services and their families, intended to dispose of or hold or contain the bodies or remains of the dead, erected on or after July first, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, shall be located only within the limits of a cemetery containing no less than twenty acres, which shall have been in existence and actually used for burial purposes for a period of at least five years immediately preceding the time of the erection thereof.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43e - New Community Mausoleums; Plans and Specifications; Approval; Construction

Section 43E. No community mausoleum, the crypts of which are available to the public for burial purposes, shall be erected without the consent and approval of the department of environmental protection. Before commencing the erection of any such structure, full detailed plans and specifications shall be presented to said department for its approval. Such approval shall be evidenced by a certificate in writing, signed by the proper officer of said department. No community mausoleum or any structure intended to hold or contain the bodies of the dead permanently, which is available to the public for said use, shall be erected or added to, and no building not previously used or intended to be used for the permanent disposition of the human dead shall be altered or changed for such use or used for such purposes, unless constructed of such materials and workmanship as will insure its durability and permanence as well as the safety, convenience, comfort and health of the community in which it is located, as dictated and determined at the time by modern mausoleum construction and engineering science.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43f (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43f - Community Mausoleums; Construction; Supervision

Section 43F. The department of environmental protection shall have supervisory control over the erection of any such community mausoleum and shall enforce compliance with the approved plans and specifications therefor. Said department shall appoint an inspector, experienced in modern mausoleum construction and engineering science, to supervise the erection of any such mausoleum and said department shall determine the reasonable amount of compensation of said inspector, which compensation shall be paid by the cemetery association or other agency erecting such community mausoleum. No departure from the original plans and specifications shall be permitted, except upon approval of said department evidenced in like manner and form as the approval of the original plans and specifications.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43g (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43g - Use of Community Mausoleum Prior to Completion; Care and Improvement Fund

Section 43G. No community mausoleum, crypt or structure erected as aforesaid shall be used for the purpose of depositing therein the remains of any dead body until such mausoleum, crypt or structure, or a component section thereof, is fully completed, and the permanent care and improvement fund required by section forty-three J has been established.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43h (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43h - Sale of Community Mausoleum Prior to Completion

Section 43H. No crypt in a community mausoleum shall be sold or offered for sale before said structure, or a component section thereof, is fully completed.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43i (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43i - Removal of Bodies Constituting Menace to Public Health

Section 43I. Whenever any mausoleum, vault, crypt or other structure containing one or more dead human bodies shall, in the opinion of the department of public health, become a menace to public health, and the owner thereof fails to remedy or remove the same to the satisfaction of said department, any court of competent jurisdiction may order the owner of said structure to remove such dead body or bodies for interment in some suitable cemetery at the expense of such owner. If such owner cannot be found, such removal and interment shall be at the expense of the cemetery association or other agency in the cemetery of which such mausoleum, vault, crypt or other structure is situated.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43j (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43j - Permanent Care and Improvement Fund for Community Mausoleums

Section 43J. Every cemetery association or other agency establishing, maintaining and operating a community mausoleum on or after July first, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, shall create and establish a permanent care and improvement fund, distinct and separate from the permanent care and improvement fund of its cemetery. The fund established under authority of this section shall be created by applying to such fund at least thirty per cent of the proceeds received, in full or in instalments, from the sales of crypts in such mausoleum. The income of such fund shall be devoted to the care, maintenance and improvement of such community mausoleum.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43k (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43k - Custodian of Fund; Administration and Investment

Section 43K. The treasurer of the cemetery in which such community mausoleum is situated shall be the custodian of the permanent care and improvement fund established therefor as aforesaid and every such fund shall be held, administered and invested in the manner provided by law for funds in savings banks of the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43l (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43l - Abating or Enjoining Nuisance

Section 43L. Any cemetery, community mausoleum or columbarium established, maintained or operated in violation of or contrary to any provision of this chapter shall be a nuisance and may be abated or enjoined as such at the suit of any taxpayer of the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43n (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43n - Penalties; Violations of This Chapter

Section 43N. Whoever fails to comply with or violates any provision of this chapter in respect to the establishment, maintenance or operation of a cemetery, community mausoleum, crematory or columbarium, or to the disposal of dead human bodies, shall, unless another penalty is provided by this chapter, be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 43o (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 43o - Sale of Monuments for Cemetery Lots by Cemetery Corporations

Section 43O. The following corporations owning or operating cemeteries shall not sell or engage in the business of selling monuments for cemetery lots:— Municipal corporations, cemetery corporations organized under general laws, and cemetery corporations organized by acts of incorporation passed since March eleventh, eighteen hundred and thirty-one. This act shall be deemed an amendment of any charters heretofore granted except charters in which the right to sell monuments is expressly conferred. This act shall not prohibit the sale by any of said corporations of monuments in their possession prior to the effective date of this act.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 44 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 44 - Cremation of Bodies

[See Order of the Commissioner of Public Health, dated March 23, 2020, (2019 MA EO H20-9) related to the COVID-19 State of Emergency, for potential impact on the terms of this section.]  Section 44. The body of a deceased person shall not be cremated within 48 hours after his decease unless he died of a contagious or infectious disease, and, if the death occurred within the commonwealth, the body shall not be cremated by any corporation authorized to cremate the bodies of the dead until its officers have received the certificate or burial permit required by law before burial, and a certificate from a medical examiner or similarly authorized person that he has viewed the body and made personal inquiry into the cause and manner of death, and is of opinion that no further examination or judicial inquiry concerning the same is necessary. If the death occurs without the commonwealth, the medical examiner's certificate may be provided by a medical examiner or similarly authorized person in whose jurisdiction said death occurred or the reception and cremation of the body of a deceased person shall be governed by a by-law or regulation made or approved by the department of public health as provided in section nine.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 44a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 44a - Receptacles for Cremated Remains; Caskets

Section 44A. The body of a deceased person to be cremated shall be contained in a suitable receptacle; provided, however, that a casket shall not be used for such cremation unless such use has been requested by a person lawfully entitled to the custody and control of such body.
MA Gen L ch 114 § 45a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVI - Public Health|Chapter 114 - Cemeteries and Burials|Section 45a - Funeral Director's Name Used in Connection With Death Certificate or Burial Permit

Section 45A. No funeral director, whether doing business as an individual, partnership or corporation, shall permit his name to be used in connection with any death certificate or burial permit unless he was specifically engaged to perform the burial to which such permit or certificate relates.  Any violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of fifty dollars.