The

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory, case law, and local ordinances. The '' General Laws of Massachusetts'' form the general statutory law.

Sources

The Constitution of Massachusetts is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the General Court, published in the '' Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts'', and codified in the '' General Laws of Massachusetts''. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in the '' Massachusetts Register'' and codified in the '' Code of Massachusetts Regulations''. The legal system is based on

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the Appellate Divisions of the Massachusetts District Court and the Boston Municipal Court departments, which are published in the ''

Massachusetts Reports Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

'', ''

Massachusetts Appeals Court Reports Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

'', and '' Massachusetts Appellate Division Reports'', respectively. Cities and towns may also promulgate bylaws and local ordinances.

Constitution

The foremost source of state law is the Constitution of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Constitution in turn is subordinate to the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

, which is the supreme law of the land.

Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from th ...

has enacted

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

. Its

session laws Session laws are the collection of statutes enacted by a legislature during a single session of that legislature, often published following the end of the session as a bound volume. The United States Statutes at Large are an example of session l ...

are published in the official '' Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts''. They are in turn codified as the '' General Laws of Massachusetts''.

Regulations

Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

s, which along with administrative orders and decisions form part of the body of

administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), ad ...

. The '' Massachusetts Register'' is the bi-weekly publication that contains new and amended (permanent and emergency) regulations, notices of hearings and comment periods, notices of public interest, executive orders by the Governor, Attorney General opinions, a cumulative table of changes to regulations published during the current calendar year, and a list of Acts and Resolves passed by the General Court. The '' Code of Massachusetts Regulations'' (CMR) is the canonical compilation of regulations promulgated by state agencies pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act and is updated through the ''Massachusetts Register''. Both the ''Code of Massachusetts Regulations'' and ''Massachusetts Register'' are published by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Case law

The legal system of Massachusetts is based on the

. Like all U.S. states except

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, Massachusetts has a

reception statute A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the English common law before its independence to the extent not explicitly rejected by the legislative body ...

providing for the "reception" of English law. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...

. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Massachusetts have developed a large body of case law through the decisions of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Massachusetts Appeals Court. The decisions of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the Appellate Divisions of the Massachusetts District Court and the

Boston Municipal Court The Boston Municipal Court (BMC), officially the Boston Municipal Court Department of the Trial Court, is a department of the Trial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The court hears criminal, civil, mental health, rest ...

departments, which are published in the ''

'', ''

'', and '' Massachusetts Appellate Division Reports'', respectively. The ''Massachusetts Law Reporter'' publishes decisions from the

Massachusetts Superior Court The Massachusetts Superior Court (also known as the Superior Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court department in Massachusetts. The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in civil actions over $50,000, and in matters where equit ...

. MassCourts is the case management system used by the courts.

Local ordinances

References

External links

General Laws of Massachusetts
from the

General Laws of Massachusetts
archives from the

State Library of Massachusetts The State Library of Massachusetts in Boston, Massachusetts was established in 1826 and "supports the research and information needs of government, libraries, and people through ... services and access to a comprehensive repository of state docum ...

Code of Massachusetts Regulations
from the

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the Corporations Division, the Elections Division, the ...

Code of Massachusetts Regulations
from the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries
Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts
from the State Library of Massachusetts

from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Session laws
from the Massachusetts General Court
Massachusetts Register
from the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
Massachusetts Register
from the State Library of Massachusetts

from the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries

from the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries

from the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries
Slip opinions
of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Massachusetts Appeals Court
Unpublished decisions
of the Massachusetts Appeals Court
Local ordinance codes
from Public.Resource.Org * Case law: {{Authority control