This guide is designed to highlight selected resources for doing legal research in Massachusetts. It is designed primarily for Harvard Law School students, staff and faculty. At present, it focuses on Massachusetts state materials and not materials related to the federal courts in Massachusetts.
Our Massachusetts collection is on the 4th floor of Langdell, but much is stored offsite in the Harvard Depository, in Reference, in Historical & Special Collections or on microfilm/microfiche. Increasingly, we are acquiring more of our Massachusetts materials in electronic format. This guide is intended as a starting place to highlight some of the more popular resources we have. Check Hollis for more materials.
An amazing resource for Massachusetts legal information is the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries. They are open to members of the public and are happy to help them with research questions.
Adapted in part from research guide written by Stephanie Burke Farne, former Harvard Law School Library Reference Librarian.
When starting research for Massachusetts on Lexiis+ and Westlaw, it might be easier to start with their state pages where you can search across primary law, secondary sources and more related to Massachusetts.
As in any type of legal research, it is often useful to start with a secondary source or commentary on the law. Check out the secondary sources of section of this guide which includes highlghts of particular titles in specific subject areas. MCLE Online Pass (Harvard Law login) and Massachusetts Practice Series (Westlaw) are often very useful starting places.
Mass. = Massachusetts Reports (for Supreme Judicial Court decisions or "SJC")
Mass. App. Ct. = Massachusetts Appeals Court Reports
N.E., N.E.2d or N.E.3d= Northeastern Reporter, Northeastern Reporter 2d or Northeastern Reporter 3d (Supreme Judicial Court and Mass. Appeals Court Decisions)
Mass. App. Div. = Reports of Massachusetts Appellate Division
See Table 1 of the Bluebook and SJC Style Manual for additional information about case citations.
Note: For SJC cases from 1822-1867, the volumes of official reports were named for the repoter (e.g. Pick. for Pickering). See Early Mass. Reports citation conversion. See also Appendix 3 of the Section 2.02 SJC Style Manual and Table 1 of the Bluebook.
Massachusetts Appeals Court cases are officially published in the Massachusetts Appeals Court reports by the Office of the Reporter for Judicial Decisions and in the Northeastern Reporter.
The court also issues "unpublished" orders under Appeals Court Rule 23.0: Summary disposition (formerly known as Appeals Court Rule 1:28 or Rule 1:28 orders). A court decision and rule change has made it possible to cite them as persuasive in some circumstances. "If, in a brief or other filing, a party cites to a decision issued under this rule, the party shall cite the case title, a citation to the Appeals Court Reports where issuance of the decision is noted, and a notation that the decision was issued pursuant to this rule (or its predecessor, Appeals Court Rule 1:28). No such decision issued before February 26, 2008, may be cited."
Sources for old court cases and records under Massachusetts Legal History.
The Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest written constitution in effect in the United States. It sets forth the rights of individuals in the "Declaration of Rights, Part I," and the form of government in "The Frame of the Government, Part II." The Constitution can be amended by a special constitutional convention, the legislature or by popular initiative. There are over 100 amendments in the "Articles of Amendment."
See also Initiatives/Ballots in Legislative History section of guide.
The library has a microfilm collection of state constitutional documents (1786-1988). Records for individual documents in the collection appear in Hollis, but the following bibliographies can also be used to identify documents in it. You could also use the bibliographies for bibliographic information that you could use to search in digital collections like HathiTrust.
The Massachusetts legislature (known as the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) has one session per year. Laws that are enacted are published chronologically in the Massachusetts Acts and Resolves (session laws). They are then arranged by subject in the general laws (code). Some Massachusetts laws are known as "Special Acts" which are usually laws that concern individuals and do not have general application (e.g. authorizing something for a particular town). See our Legislative History section for information about bills (laws that are not yet enacted).
The session laws include all laws enacted by the Massachusetts General Court, published chronologically. They can be useful for a broad overview of all the laws enacted over time or in a particular session and looking for Special Acts. Commercial versions on Lexis+ and Westlaw can also be useful for identifying orignal bill numbers of laws.
The following tools can help you look for statutes beyond a basic keyword search. The general laws are a code, organized by subject and hierarchical in nature. Lexis+ and Westlaw also allow you to browse and search the table of contents of the statutes which can sometimes be helpful for identifying relevant nearby sections (e.g. a definitions section). You can also start with secondary sources to help identify citations.
When looking for early Massachusetts laws without citations, it is very helpful to start with a research guide or bibliography to gather specific references and publication titles in addition to searching Hollis. See also Massachusetts Legal History section of this guide.
See Chapter 2 of the Handbook of Massachusetts Legal Research for listing of early codifications.
When we use the term "legislative history", librarians mean trying to find documents produced in the process of legislation being considered and enacted. If you just wanted to understand how the law's language changed, you can often start with the general laws (code) and use the credits and historical notes/annotations.
Please note that Massachusetts does not produce the same extent of documentation that the federal government or other jurisdictions might produce. Also, while some materials might be accessible in our library or online, you might also need to take a trip to the State Archives at Columbia Point (or the State Library).
See also Initiatives/Ballots below.
1) Identify session law references relevant to the law. Consult the "historical notes" section of an annotated version of the Massachusetts General Laws for the particular statute you are researching. See Legislation section of this guide to find sources for session laws.
2) Use the session law references to identify bill number and try to obtain bill history with one of the following:
Bill histories will help you identify dates, committees, sponsor names, etc.. (See bill tracking sources above.)
3) See sources Full-text sources above for finding the original bill and different versions to note changes.
4) The Legislative Package
Once you have a bill number and year, you can look for the "legislative package." This package contains the original petition filed with the Senate or House clerk, which is a simple form, along with the bill itself, including the text. In some rare cases, a statement of intent may be filed with the bill, printed at the top of the bill. All petitioner names appear on the bill, as well as handwritten changes made by committees that reviewed the bill. The State Archives at Columbia Point maintain the documents comprising the legislative package for each bill introduced in the General Court. For very recent bills, check the General Court's online information or contact the House or Senate clerk.
If the Governor has introduced a bill, a Governor's message will be filed with the House clerk and given a House bill number. Along with the proposed bill will be a "transmittal letter," which details the need for the bill. This is an extremely important document for determining intent of legislation, and is part of the legislative package. Bills as proposed and filing letters of the current administration may be found on the governor's website. Another source to examine when the Governor has proposed legislation is the annual message of the Governor, a program in accordance with which the governor may initiate bills throughout the legislative sessions, may be detailed. The annual message of the Governor is printed as Senate Bill 1 in the first year of a legislative session. The bill number varies in the second session.
Administrative agencies may file proposed legislation. The agencies' recommendations come with bill drafts, and are printed as the first series of bills within a year.
5) Check for Legislative Hearings and Debates. (See below.)
6) Check for Legislative council and special commission reports. (See below.)
7) Check news sources like State House News and others for more information regarding the legislation like names, dates and the politics around the legislation. See below and News, Other Periodicals and Media section of guide.
Check sources below include details about finding sources for particular types of documents/materials.
You can also try looking in sources for Massachusetts state government documents (Hollis, state library catalog and sources listed under State Documents in this guide.
The indexes in each volume of the Journal of the House and the Journal of the Senate (see below) provide important information about the bill history which may lead to other material relevant to the bill's intent, including the committee assignment of the bill, the date of public hearings, and the dates of debate on the chamber floor. If the bill is from the current session, a bill history may be available online.
Bills introduced into the House or Senate are referred to committees whose topics most closely align with that of the bill. Public hearings must be held on every bill referred to a committee. Videotapes of selected hearings produced by WGBH, the local PBS station, under contract with the General Court, are official sources for those hearings. These videotapes are catalogued and searchable through the State Library's catalog but . Selective committee hearings from 2007 on appear on the legislative website. The State House News Service is an unofficial print and electronic source of selected hearings. Written testimony submitted to the committee for hearings are included in bill folders, which may or may not be deposited by the committee in the State Archives. The committee should be contacted directly to determine if that is its practice.
If the bill is favorably reported out to the first committee, it received its "first reading" and goes to any other committee it may have to be sent on to. If it survives, it receives a "second reading", which means that there is the opportunity for debate on the floor of the chambers. This is an important step for researchers in determining the intent of the bill.
After the "second reading" procedural step, members of the chamber are asked if the bill should go to the Committee on Third Readings (House or Senate). If the bill is sent to the Committee, it may undergo technical changes, change in citation form or even review for Constitutional issues. The bill is then sent back to the chamber floor where it may be debated again. If amendments are made, the bill will be sent back to the Committee on Third Readings (House or Senate) for re-examination. If the bill "passed to be engrossed," it is sent on to the other chamber to undergo the same process all over again.
The State Library has the official audiotape and videotape records of the proceedings of the House, which includes these floor debates, beginning in November 1984. Senate proceedings are available from 1994.
The unofficial State House News Service has transcribed debates since 1972. However, do not be surprised if the "debate" is extremely brief.
Masstrac/Instatrac has transcripts (written and recorded) back to the mid-2000's and some selected submitted written testimony.
See Video Resources to Assist with Massachusetts State Government and Legislaive Research with more specific information about the State Library's holdings and other sources.
If both chambers of the legislature enact the bill, it is sent along to the Governor's Office for approval. The Governor's staff prepares a summary analysis of the bill, including its impact if passed. These papers constitute the Governor's Legislative Files. During the Governor's term of office, these may be obtained from the Governor's Office. The papers of previous administrations may be obtained from the State Archives. These papers do not provide evidence of legislative intent because they issue from the executive office. If the Governor returns the bill with amendment, it takes the form of a "Governor's Message" and becomes a bill itself. A transmittal letter will accompany the amendment, which does provide evidence of legislative intent.
Another set of sources issuing from the Governor's office which may provide direct or indirect evidence of the intent of legislation are Governor's press releases from around the date of the signing of the bill by the Governor. These are available at the State Library, dating from 1958. Recent releases appear on the the government website. You can try web archiving projects like the Wayback Machine for previous administrations' websites See Find Archived Mass.gov content.
Special commissions could propose legislation as an appendix to a mandated report. Special Commission Reports may have House or Senate bill numbers. You could check out the following indexes:
Index to special reports: authorized by the General Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (January 1994 to December 2005)
Index to Special Reports (1988-March 1994)
Index of Special Reports Authorized by the General Court (1900-1988)
Index to Massachusetts Legilative Documents (1883-1899)
Index of Reports to the General Court (1883-1899)
Index and Guide to Massachusetts State Legislative Documents (1802-1882)
Massachusetts had a Legislative Research Council for a period of time, but it is now defunct. (A recent audit of the Massachusetts General Court studied other states and raised the issue of the potential of its revival.)
The New England Law Boston Library has a guide Massachusetts Research Council Reports with a selection of these reports, as well as the Massachusetts State Library.
Also, check HOLLIS and the Massachusetts State Library catalog and State Library's Digital Collections for reports. You might also check the Official Publications of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Other less formal means of gleaning information relevant to legislative intent include contacting the original petitioners for the bill, whether sponsoring legislators or members of special organizations. The names of the original petitioners appear on the original petition in the legislative package. Also, do not forget to examine newspapers for clues about the social conditions out of which the idea for the legislation sprang.
Final regulations published in the Massachusetts Register are removed and interfiled into our Code of Massachusetts Regulations.
The Massachusetts Register includes:
Note that the Code of Massachusetts Regulations did not start until 1976. See the Massachusetts State Library's Massachusetts Rules and Regulations (Pre-Codified Code of Massachusetts Regulations "CMR") . New regulations are published in the Massachusetts Register and then pulled out and inserted in the CMR. The state does not offer the current CMR in pdf as a whole in its entirety for free.. Regulations in the CMR may be updated by "emergency regulations" published in the Massachusetts Register. Emergency regulations are kept in a separate volume until they expire or are interfiled into the main CMR volumes. See What Are Emergency Regulations (Massachusetts State Library)
There is no official subject index to the CMR published by the Secretary of State, but there are Weil's Index to the Code of Massachusetts Regulations and the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries' index.
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Some agencies post their decisions on their websites, but the scope of coverage can change. We do have some print reporters in the library cancelled, but check Hollis to see if we still subscribe.
Local laws are often available or linked through the city or town websites. Availability of documents like minutes and other materials can vary widely. Some cities have their own archives. City and town public libraries can also be helpful.
We have limited historical codes in our collection (check Hollis). (Some are held by the School of Design Library.) Selected historical codes from Massachusetts cities/towns may also be found in the following projects.
In addition to the generally applicable Massachusetts municipal laws, sometimes there are special acts that apply to specific towns and cities and laws that need town/city approval. (See Legislation section of guide.) Some towns/cities also publish applicable special acts on their websites.
Check for annotations for court rules appearing with annotated statutes/codes.
See Secondary Sources under Civil Practice, Criminal Law and Litigation.
One of this most popular secondary sources in Massachusetts, Massachusetts Practice Series is an encyclopedic series of treatises on a variety of subjects. It is available in print in the library or on Westlaw.
Massachusetts Contintuing Legal Education (MCLE) is a nonprofit that offers continuing legal education/training to lawyers. They also offer several publications from looseleafs to seminar texts, deskbooks and compendia. A selection of them is available through our Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law, as well as MCLE Onlinepass subscriptions. We also have some in print in the library (search Hollis).
Harvard Law Affiliates may also access online continuing education program webcasts via MCLE Online Pass by registering with their HLS e-mail address through Harvard's access.
Treatises and encyclopedias listed further below might also contain forms. A search in Hollis for Massachusetts and forms in the subject will yield additional resources.
See Forms section of guide.
See Cases and Administrative Decisions section of guide for Land Court, Housing Appeals Committee, etc..
Massachusetts adopted the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 1997. Court rules are promulgated in the Mass. Reports. (Mass.)
For additional books in our collection that contain forms, search for Massachusetts and forms in the subject fields with your search in Hollis and look at treatises on Lexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg Law and MCLE OnlinePassTM.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly is the leading legal newspaper for Massachusetts and is well known for its coverage of the business and practice of law in Massachusetts. It covers a wide range of topics of interest to the Massachusetts legal community including political and judicial developments, legislative activities, administrative actions, verdicts & settlements, and notable opinions, as well as attorney, firm and judicial profiles and legal commentary.
Access is available to current HLS affiliates and controlled by HarvardKey.
Use this resource to find diverse global perspectives from current and retrospective news media including newspapers, newswires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, videos and web-only content including the Boston Herald and USA Today.
Access is available to current HLS affiliates and controlled by HarvardKey.
Use this resource to find diverse global perspectives from current and retrospective news media including newspapers, newswires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, videos and web-only content including the Boston Herald and USA Today.
For historical Massachusetts directories and biographical sources, check Hollis and bibliographies.
sample Hollis searches
Lawyers-Massachusetts-Directories
Lawyers-Massachusetts-Biographies
Check Hollis for print editions.
You can also look at Hollis for Archival Discovery, ArchiveGrid, ArchiveFinder and other sources for personal papers. Check with research librarian about judicial papers in particular.
Finding Massachusetts historical materials has become easier with the proliferation of digitization projects that provide full-text searching. It is sometimes easier to start with a research guide or a bibliography so one can look for particular publications. Using products that have bibliographic records also make it easier for searching on a particular author, entity, title, etc.. Historical sources for specific types of primary law are also mentioned also elsewhere in the guide with the type of material.
You might also want to consult the following research guides:
See State Documents under Other resources in guide.
Massachusetts state and local data might be included in larger multistate or specialized sources.
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