Chapter 139

Section 1. The aldermen or selectmen in any city or town may, after written notice to the owner of a burnt, dilapidated or dangerous building or other structure, or his authorized agent, or to the owner of a vacant parcel of land, and after a hearing, make and record an order adj…

Section 10. For removing and selling the movable property in accordance with the decree of the court the officer shall be entitled to the same fees as for levying upon and selling like property on execution, and for closing the premises and keeping them closed, a reasonable sum s…

Section 11. If the owner of any such premises shall pay all costs of the proceedings, and file with the court a bond with sureties approved by the clerk in the full value of such premises as ascertained by the court, or, when the court is not in session, by the clerk, payable to …

Section 12. No action commenced under section six shall be dismissed, except upon a sworn statement made and filed by the plaintiff and by his attorney setting forth the reasons for dismissal thereof and upon approval of such dismissal by the court in open court. If the court is …

Section 13. All persons found in or upon premises used for prostitution, assignation or lewdness may be required by a justice of a court of record to recognize, with or without sureties, to appear as witnesses at any hearing in an action to punish a person for keeping or maintain…

Section 14. Every building, place or tenement which is resorted to for illegal gaming, or which is used for the illegal keeping or sale of alcoholic beverages, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and thirty-eight, shall be deemed a common nuisance.

Section 15. Whoever keeps or maintains such common nuisance shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars and by imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than one year.

Section 16. Upon an information filed by the district attorney for the district, or upon the petition of the board or officer having control of the police of a town or of not less than ten legal voters of a town, stating that a building, place or tenement therein is resorted to f…

Section 16A. Upon a civil action brought in the name of the commonwealth by the attorney general, or district attorney for the district, or the chief of police, or the board or officer having control of the police of the state, or of a town or city, or by not less than ten legal …

Section 18. The aldermen or the selectmen, upon complaint made to them under oath that the complainant has reason to believe and does believe that a booth, shed or other temporary erection, situated within one mile of a muster field, cattle show ground, or other place of public g…

Section 19. If a tenant or occupant of a building or tenement, under a lawful title, uses such premises or any part thereof for the purposes of prostitution, assignation, lewdness, illegal gaming, or the illegal keeping or sale of alcoholic beverages, as defined in section one of…

Section 2. A person aggrieved by such order may appeal to the superior court for the county where such building or other structure is situated, if, within three days after the service of such attested copy upon him, he commences a civil action in such court. Trial by jury shall b…

Section 20. Whoever knowingly lets premises owned by him, or under his control, for the purposes of prostitution, assignation, lewdness, illegal gaming, or the illegal keeping or sale of alcoholic beverages, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and thirty-eight, or th…

Section 3. The aldermen or selectmen shall have the same power to abate and remove any such nuisance as is given to the board of health of a town under sections one hundred and twenty-three to one hundred and twenty-five, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and eleven.

Section 3A. If the owner or his authorized agent fails to comply with an order issued pursuant to section three and the city or town demolishes or removes any burnt, dangerous or dilapidated building or structure or secures any vacant parcel of land from a trespass, a claim for t…

Section 3B. No insurer shall pay any claims (1) covering the loss, damage, or destruction to a building or other structure, amounting to one thousand dollars or more, or (2) covering any loss, damage or destruction of any amount, which causes the condition of a building or other …

Section 4. Every building, part of a building, tenement or place used for prostitution, assignation or lewdness, and every place within or upon which acts of prostitution, assignation or lewdness are held or occur, shall be deemed a nuisance.

Section 5. Whoever keeps or maintains such a nuisance shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars and by imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than three years.

Section 6. Whenever there is reason to believe that such a nuisance is kept or maintained or exists in any town, either the district attorney for the district, or the attorney general, in the name of the commonwealth, or a citizen in his own name, may bring a civil action perpetu…

Section 7. The complaint shall join the owner of record of the premises as a party defendant and shall be filed in the superior court for the county where the nuisance is believed to exist, and shall be verified by oath of the plaintiff unless filed by the attorney general or a d…

Section 8. If upon a hearing, after at least two days' notice to the respondents of the time and place assigned therefor, the existence of such a nuisance is shown to the satisfaction of the court or justice, either through verified complaint or through evidence in the form of af…

Section 9. If upon subsequent hearing the existence of the nuisance shall be established, the court shall enter a decree permanently enjoining the maintenance thereof, including in such decree an order of abatement directing the sheriff of the county or his deputy to enter the bu…