A Guide to Massachusetts' Branches of Government

/Home/U.S. Northeast - Government Websites/Massachusetts - official commonwealth websites

Massachusetts Primary Law

Like the federal government, Massachusetts has three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. Each branch has specific functions.

Legislative Branch - Statutory Laws

The state legislature, known as the Massachusetts General Court, studies and enacts proposed legislation. The laws are published in two formats, a chronological compilation known as the Acts and Resolves, and a codified version (arranged by subject), known as the General Laws of Massachusetts.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/?refer=massgov

Acts and Resolves

Each piece of enacted legislation is known as an act or a resolve.

Acts
Most of enacted legislation each year consists of acts, ranging from appropriation measures to amendments of existing laws. Acts passed in each legislative session are known as session laws. There are two types of session laws:

General Laws are permanent in nature and applicable to the entire Commonwealth or to the state government. In other words, they apply to the area over which the legislative body has jurisdiction.

Special Laws are legislative acts applying to a particular county, city, town, district, individual, or group of individuals and not general in nature.

Resolves
are statutes with limited force and effect, e.g. naming a bridge, establishing a special commission to study an issue, etc.

Acts and Resolves enacted during a year are compiled chronologically and published annually in a volume called “The Acts and Resolves." The library has the Acts and Resolves for each year that the General Court has been in session. Session laws are also available online from 1692 to present.
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=afsubtopic&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Research+%26+Technology&L2=Legal+%26+Legislative+Resources&L3=Massachusetts+State+Law&L4=Massachusetts+Acts+and+Resolves&sid=Eoaf

There is no published master index to all Acts and Resolves. The bound volume issued at the end of each session contains a subject index to that year's enactments.

General Laws

Those session laws that are considered General Laws (permanent in nature and applicable throughout the Commonwealth) are arranged by topic in a codified version of the law. The official version, published since 1984 every two years, is known as "The General Laws of Massachusetts." There is an unofficial version of the code on the Massachusetts General Court web site.
http://www.mass.gov/legis

Various commercial publishers also issue hardcopy and electronic editions of the General Laws. Some of these editions are "annotated,” i.e. the publisher supplements the code with various references (annotations) to relevant court opinions, Attorney General opinions, dates of amendments, citations to legal treatises and law journal articles, etc. Over time, there have been numerous codes prepared. Some earlier codes had different titles, but their purpose was the same: to provide access to the current law at that time.

The State Library maintains a collection of both official and annotated Massachusetts codes, in hardcopy and electronic format. This collection includes some outdated codes for historical research. These holdings are included in the library's online catalog. The General laws are also available in electronic format through Loislaw, available to all onsite researchers at the State Library and to state employees remotely.
http://www.mass.gov/lib/services/loislaw.htm

Executive Branch – Administrative Law

Regulations
Certain executive branch agencies in Massachusetts government have been given the power by the legislature to issue regulations. For this reason, regulations are sometimes known as "delegated legislation." As the term implies, regulations have the force of law.

Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR)
Regulations are published first in the bi-weekly Massachusetts Register and then in the Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR), both issued by the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office. The Code of Massachusetts Regulations is published in loose-leaf form.

Please note that there is no correlation between the chapter number of the agency's enabling legislation in the Mass. General Laws and the title number of the agency's regulations in the Code of Massachusetts Regulations. For example the Office of Child Care Services is covered in MGL ch. 28A; its regulations are designated as 102 CMR.

The State Library maintains a complete set of current and historical Massachusetts regulations. The Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries web site includes a page with a subject index, as well as a page linking to all regulations currently available online (dependent upon the agency). The State Bookstore Catalog also lists regulations by issuing agency, with title and section numbers for each regulation.
http://www.state.ma.us/sec/spr/sprcat/catidx.htm

Administrative Agency Decisions
Certain executive branch agencies are granted quasi-judicial authority in their enabling legislation, i.e. these agencies may hear cases and issue rulings. Examples of administrative agency decisions are State Ethics Commission opinions, Board of Registration in Medicine decisions, Department of Public Utility rulings, etc.

The State Library of Massachusetts tries to collect all executive branch agency decisions in either print or electronic format. See the Library's online catalog under the name of the issuing agency. In addition, the issuing agencies maintain records of their decisions

Judicial Branch - Case Law

The Massachusetts Court System has three levels of courts: the Trial Courts, the Appeals Court, and the Supreme Judicial Court.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the state's highest court) and the Massachusetts Appeals Court (the intermediate appellate court) each publish formal decisions. The State Library owns a complete collection of these published decisions:
http://www.state.ma.us/courts/courtsandjudges/courts/supremejudicialcourt
http://www.state.ma.us/courts/courtsandjudges/courts/appealscourt

Massachusetts Reports includes all Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decisions (1804 to present).

Massachusetts Appeals Court Reports includes all Massachusetts Appeals Court decisions (1978 to present).

Massachusetts Digest and Massachusetts Digest 2nd provide an index to these decisions.

Decisions from the courts mentioned below are also available in electronic form through LOISLAW, available to researchers onsite at the State Library and to state employees remotely. A commercial site maintained by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Publishers archives the last 90 days of Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court opinions for free access.
http://www.masslaw.com/

Records and briefs of both courts are available for public inspection at the Social Law Library, 1200 New Courthouse, Pemberton Square, Boston, MA 02108, Tel. (617) 523-0018.

Lower Courts

Background
Certain lower courts, whose decisions lack precedential value, do issue written decisions. The Library has the following sources:

Massachusetts Appellate Division Reports include decisions from the Massachusetts District Court Appellate Divisions and the Boston Municipal Court (1936 to date).

Massachusetts Law Reporter, decisions from the Massachusetts Superior Courts from September 1993 to date.