reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 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 2 - Board of Park Commissioners; Membership; Tenure; Vacancies; Removals

Section 2. A town may elect a board of park commissioners, consisting of three or five persons and prescribe their terms of office, or the members of a town planning board or department of public works, or road commissioners may if so authorized by vote of the town act as park commissioners therein. In a town which has not elected a board of park commissioners or has not authorized the town planning board so to act, the selectmen shall act as such board of park commissioners and have authority to approve or disapprove the acquisition of lands by eminent domain as set forth in section seventy-nine of chapter ninety-two and shall have all other powers and duties of a park commission. The mayor of a city may, with the approval of the city council, appoint a board of park commissioners for said city, consisting of five persons, who shall hold office for terms of one, two, three, four and five years respectively from the first Monday in May next following such appointment, or until their successors are qualified; and thereafter the mayor shall annually, before the first Monday in May, with like approval appoint one such commissioner for a term of five years from said first Monday in May. No member of the city council, clerk or treasurer of such city or town shall be such commissioner. In cities a vacancy in such board shall be filled in like manner for the residue of the unexpired term. A commissioner may be removed by a vote of two thirds of the voters of a town, or by a vote of two thirds of all the members of a city council. Such commissioners shall serve without compensation.
2023 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 3 - Acquisition of Property for Parks

Section 3. Any such board may locate public parks within its city or town and for that purpose may take in fee by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine or by purchase, gift, devise or otherwise, land which it considers desirable therefor, or may take bonds for the conveyance thereof to its city or town, but any such taking by eminent domain or by purchase shall be subject to the provisions of section fourteen of chapter forty. A city or town may take and hold in trust or otherwise any grant, gift, bequest or devise, made for the purpose of laying out or improving any parks therein.
2023 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 4 - Connecting Ways; Extent of Power of Eminent Domain

Section 4. Such boards may connect any public park or way, under their control, with any part of the city or town for which they are appointed by taking over any connecting ways, or part thereof leading to such park, and may accept and add to such park any way or part thereof, adjoining and parallel with any boundary line of the same; but the consent of the public authorities having control of such way, and the written consent of a majority of the owners of land abutting thereon, shall first be obtained. They shall have the same power and control over such ways as they have over parks, and a town may invest them with the control, improvement and maintenance of any of the ways thereof for the purpose of carrying out this section. If any such way or part thereof shall pass from the control of any such board, the power and authority over the same shall revert to the public authorities having control of ways in the town in which such way is located.
2023 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 5 - Powers and Duties of Boards of Park Commissioners

Section 5. Such boards may lay out and improve public parks, make rules for their use and government, appoint all necessary engineers, surveyors, clerks and other officers, including a police force to act in such parks, define their powers and duties and fix their compensation and do all acts needful for the proper execution of their powers and duties. They shall have the authority given to the mayor, aldermen, selectmen, road commissioners and tree warden respectively by section seven of chapter eighty-four and by chapter eighty-seven, in places under their jurisdiction. Subject to appropriation, such boards shall also have the power to conduct park programs and recreation activities at places other than such public parks.
2023 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 5a - Leasing of Concessions; Bids

Section 5A. Whenever the board or officer having charge of the public parks in a city or town having a population of more than fifty thousand determines to lease concessions in any such park, said board or officer shall invite sealed proposals for such leasing which shall be publicly opened and read and shall award the contract for any such concession to the highest responsible bidder who, in the opinion of said board or officer, would be the most suitable from the standpoint of character, reputation and experience to operate such concession, provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to an award of such a lease to a nonprofit organization or group organized for the purpose of promoting the assistance of youth programs.
2023 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 7 - Erection of Buildings in Parks

Section 7. Land taken for or held as a park under this chapter shall be forever kept open and maintained as a public park, and no building which exceeds six hundred square feet in area on the ground shall be erected on a common or park dedicated to the use of the public without leave of the general court; but, except in parks in Boston and in parks comprising less than one hundred acres in extent, structures for shelter, refreshment and other purposes may be erected of such material and in such places as, in the opinion of the fire commissioners, if any, do not endanger buildings beyond the limits of such park. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity, upon petition of not less than ten taxable inhabitants of the city or town in which such common or park is located, to restrain the erection of a building on a common or park in violation of this section.
2023 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 8 - Use of Parks by Military Forces

Section 8. Without the consent of such board no military organization shall camp, parade, review, or perform any military evolution or exercise in, or enter, any park laid out as aforesaid, except in case of riot, insurrection, rebellion or war.
2023 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 9 - Annual Reports of Park Commissioners

Section 9. Such boards shall make reports of their respective doings and detailed statements of all receipts, expenditures and liabilities for the preceding financial year, in towns at the annual town meetings and at such other times as the town directs, and in cities to the city council annually within thirty days after the end of the financial year.
2023 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 11 - Restrictions on Height of Buildings on Parkways

Section 11. In a city which by a vote of its city council, or in a town which by vote of a town meeting, accepts this section, or has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, the park commissioners may, in accordance with section thirty-seven of chapter eighty-two, establish a building line distant at no point more than twenty-five feet from any exterior line of a way under their control or the part of a public way on which a park abuts; and the extreme height to which buildings upon such ways may be erected shall be seventy feet exclusive of such steeples, towers, domes, cornices, parapets, balustrades, sculptured ornaments, chimneys and roofs as such board may approve.
2023 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 12 - Authorization for Improvement of Open Spaces

Section 12. A city or town having public grounds or open spaces in any of its public ways, which have been or may be designated by it as not needed for public travel, may give the improvement thereof to corporations within its limits organized under section four of chapter one hundred and eighty, which, under the direction of the city council, selectmen or road commissioners, shall have the use, care and control thereof and may grade, drain, curb and fence the same, set out shade or ornamental trees, lay out flower plats and otherwise improve them.
2023 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 13 - Trespassing in Parks; Destruction of Park Property; Penalty

Section 13. Any person who wilfully or maliciously drives cattle, horses or other animals, or any vehicle, on or across such grounds or ways, or destroys or removes any fence or railing on such grounds or ways, or plays games thereon, or otherwise interferes with or injures the work of the corporation having the care of the property so injured, shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars, which shall be paid over to such corporation.
2023 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 15 - Playgrounds for Minors

Section 15. Every town having a population of more than five thousand which accepts this section, and every city and town having such population which has accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, shall provide and maintain at least one public playground conveniently located and of suitable size and equipment, for the recreation and physical education of the minors of such city or town, and at least one other playground for every additional twenty thousand of its population.
2023 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 16 - Procedure for Accepting Law Requiring Playgrounds for Minors

Section 16. In towns which have a population of more than five thousand and which have not already satisfied the provisions of the preceding section or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, upon petition to the selectmen by ten per cent of the voters filed fifteen days before the day of the annual election of town officers, the following question shall be submitted to the town at the next annual meeting or shall be placed on the official ballot, if any, at the next town election: ''Shall section fifteen of chapter forty-five of the General Laws, requiring certain towns to provide public playgrounds, be accepted by this town?'' Said section shall take effect in any town to which it applies upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters voting as aforesaid.
2023 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 17 - Temporary Playgrounds

Section 17. If in a town in the metropolitan parks district, or in any city, tenement buildings are built about or contiguous to open spaces, the owners of such buildings may apply to the park commissioners, if any, or, in a city or town of said district having no park commission, to the metropolitan district commission, and said boards may, with the approval of the board of health of the city or town, take a lease of such open spaces for a neighborhood playground for a term not exceeding fifteen years, subject to renewal, at a rental not exceeding the taxes thereon. The owners of such buildings shall have the care and control thereof under the supervision of the park commissioners, or if there are none, of the selectmen.
2023 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 17a - Use of Streets for Recreation or Playground Purposes

Section 17A. For the purpose of promoting recreation, play or sport, the city of Boston, by written order of its commissioner of transportation and written approval by its police commissioner, any other city by ordinance and any town by by-law may provide for the closing to vehicular traffic, during periods of time specified in such order, ordinance or by-law, of any public way or part thereof within the limits of such city or town, except a state highway or a parkway or boulevard, having due regard in every instance to the rights of abutting owners and the general public in the use of such way or part thereof.
2023 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 18 - Persons Entitled to Use Playgrounds

Section 18. This chapter shall not be construed to prohibit the use of any playgrounds or recreation centers by adults or children of special age groups at the discretion of the body having the grounds or premises in charge.
2023 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 19 - Acquisition of Property; Use

Section 19. A town, by a two thirds vote at an annual town meeting, or a city, by a two thirds vote of the city council, may determine to take or purchase land within its limits, which shall be a public domain, and any appropriate money and accept gifts of money and land therefor. Such public domain shall be devoted to the culture of forest trees, or to the preservation of the water supply of such city or town, and the title thereto shall vest in the city or town in which it lies, except that cities or towns owning land within the territorial limits of other cities and towns for water supply purposes may, as herein provided, convert such land into a public domain and retain the title thereto.
2023 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 20 - Method of Acquisition

Section 20. If a city or town has determined to take land for a public domain as provided by the preceding section, the aldermen or the selectmen shall within ten days adopt an order for the taking of such land in fee by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine.
2023 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 21 - City or Town Forests; Management

Section 21. The selectmen in the town and the mayor and the city council in a city shall appoint a special town forest committee to manage and care for that portion of the public domain known as the city or town forest; provided, however, that a town may vote to designate the conservation commission of said town to manage and care for such town forest; provided, further, that a town may vote to authorize said conservation commission to appoint such forest committee; and provided, further, that in a city, the mayor and the city council may appoint a forester or other board or officer to provide such management and care of such forest. Such forest shall exclude lands held within the watershed of any pond, stream, reservoir, well or other water used by a city of town as a source of water supply. The special town forest committee shall be composed of three members who shall choose their own chairman, and shall serve without compensation. One member of said committee shall be appointed each year for a term of three years, except that, when first appointed, one shall be appointed for a term of three years, one for a term of two years and one for a term of one year.
2023 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 22 - Buildings; Erection; Lease

Section 22. Any city or town owning a public domain may lease any building thereon, and it may erect thereon any building for public instruction and recreation. All sums derived from rents or from the sale of the products of any such domain shall be applied, so far as may be necessary, to the management thereof.
2023 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 23 - Limitation on Use of Funds

Section 23. No land shall be taken or purchased for a public domain, no building erected thereon and no expenditures authorized or made or liability incurred therefor until an amount sufficient to cover the estimated expense thereof has been appropriated therefor as provided in section nineteen, and all contracts made for expenditures in excess thereof shall be void. The expenditures shall not exceed the appropriations therefor.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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 or by an adoptive parent of an adopted person under 18 years of age and born in the commonwealth, 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.''
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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.
2023 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 4 - Birth Without Attending Physician; Report; Recording; Petition; Hearing

Section 4. The mother of a child who was born without a physician or hospital medical officer in attendance shall, within thirty days after the birth of such child, file a report of such birth, signed and sworn to by her, setting forth the facts required for a record as provided in section one, with the clerk or registrar of the city or town wherein such birth occurred. Such report shall be on a form prepared and furnished to the clerk by the commissioner. Written evidence substantiating such facts shall be required by said clerk or registrar and if he is satisfied as to the truth and accuracy thereof, he shall make a record of such birth. If, however, in the opinion of the clerk or registrar such evidence is not satisfactory, he shall refuse, in writing, to record such birth. The mother may then present a petition, together with such written refusal and her evidence to establish the validity of such record, to a judge of the probate court for the county where such birth occurred. Written notice shall be given to said clerk or registrar of the time and place of the hearing on such petition. After such hearing, if the court is of the opinion that such birth should be recorded, it shall order such recording. Upon receipt of such order, the clerk or registrar shall make a record of such birth.
2023 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 4a - Local Officials; Processing of Birth Certificates

Section 4A. Each town clerk upon receipt of the return of a birth in his town shall determine that it is filled out in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and if he shall record it as required by section one. If there are any deficiencies or omissions therein, he shall contact the physician, administrator or parents, as the case may require, for the necessary clarification, amendment or supplementation or may require the preparation of a new certificate if necessary to insure compliance with this chapter.
Upon request of the chairman of the local board of health, said town clerk shall file daily with the local board of health a list of all births reported to him, showing as to each, the date of birth, sex, name of the child, names of the parents, their residence and the name of the physician or officer in charge. Such list shall not be a public record.
2023 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 6 - Notification of Births and Deaths

Section 6. Parents, within forty days after the birth of a child, and every householder, within forty days after a birth in his house, shall cause notice thereof to be given to the clerk of the town where such child is born. The commissioner of children and families, within forty days after the delivery or commitment of an abandoned child or foundling to the department of children and families, shall cause notice of the birth of such child or foundling to be given to the clerk of the town wherein such child or foundling was found. Every householder in whose house a death occurs and the oldest next of kin of a deceased person in the town where the death occurs shall, within five days thereafter, cause notice thereof to be given to the board of health, or, if the selectmen constitute such board, to the town clerk. The keeper, superintendent or person in charge of a house of correction, prison, reformatory, hospital, infirmary or other institution, public or private, which receives inmates from within or without the limits of the town where it is located shall, when a person is received, obtain a record of all the facts which would be required for record in the event of the death of such person, and shall, on or before the fifth day of each month, give notice to the town clerk of every birth and death among the persons under his charge during the preceding month. The facts required for record by section one or section one A, as the case may be, shall, so far as obtainable, be included in every notice given under this section.
2023 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 7 - Report of Births and Deaths at Sea

Section 7. The master or other commanding officer of a vessel shall give notice, with the facts required for record, of every birth or death occurring among the persons under his charge. The notice of a birth shall be given to the clerk, and the notice of a death shall be given to the board of health or, if the selectmen constitute such board, to the clerk of the town at which his vessel first arrives after such birth or death.
2023 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 7a - Report of Births on Airplanes; Penalty for Violation

Section 7A. The captain or other commanding officer of an airplane shall give notice, with the facts required for record, of every birth occurring among the persons under his charge. Said notice shall be given to the clerk of the town at which his airplane first arrives after such birth. The captain or other commanding officer of an airplane neglecting to give notice of such a birth for ten days after the arrival of his airplane at the place where notice is to be given shall forfeit not more than five dollars.
2023 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 8 - Penalty for Failure to Report Births and Deaths

Section 8. A parent, keeper, superintendent or other person required by section six to give or cause to be given notice of a birth or death, neglecting so to do for ten days after the time limited therefor, and the master or commanding officer of a vessel neglecting so to do for ten days after the arrival of his vessel at the place where notice is to be given, shall forfeit not more than five dollars.
2023 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 10 - Death Certificates of Veterans; Contents; Penalty for Violation

Section 10. A physician or officer furnishing a certificate of death as required by section nine or by section forty-five of chapter one hundred and fourteen, shall, if the deceased, to the best of his knowledge and belief, was a Spanish War, World War I, World War II, Korean or Vietnam veteran, as defined in clause Forty-third of section seven of chapter four, or served in the Mexican border service of nineteen hundred and sixteen and nineteen hundred and seventeen, insert in the certificate a recital to that effect, and shall also certify in such certificate both the primary and the secondary or immediate cause of death as nearly as he can state the same. For neglect to comply with any provision of this section, such physician or officer shall forfeit ten dollars.
2023 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 - Duties of Undertakers

Section 11. Every undertaker or other person in charge of a funeral shall forthwith obtain the physician's or officer's certificate required by section nine, enter thereon the facts as to the deceased required by section one to be recorded, and return it to the board of health or its agent, or, if the selectmen constitute such board, to the clerk of the town where the death occurred. The board of health shall transmit such certificate to the town clerk.