Chapter 185

Section 1. The land court department established under section one of chapter two hundred and eleven B shall be a court of record, and wherever the words ''land court'', or wherever in this chapter the word ''court'' is used in that context, they shall refer to the land court dep…

Section 10. The register of deeds in each district where land has been registered shall have the same authority as the recorder to make memoranda affecting the title of such land, and to enter and issue new certificates of title, and to affix the seal of the court to such certifi…

Section 100. All money received by the recorder under the preceding section shall be paid to the state treasurer, who shall keep it invested, with the advice and approval of the governor and council, and shall make an annual report of the condition and income thereof.

Section 101. A person who, without negligence on his part, sustains loss or damage by reason of any error, omission, mistake or misdescription in any certificate of title or in any entry or memorandum in a registration book, or a person who, without negligence on his part, is dep…

Section 102. If such action of contract is brought to recover for loss or damage or for deprivation of land or of any estate or interest therein arising wholly through fraud, negligence, omission, mistake or misfeasance of the recorder, assistant recorder or of any of the examine…

Section 103. If there are defendants other than the state treasurer and judgment is entered for the plaintiff against the state treasurer and against any of the other defendants, execution shall issue against such other defendants and be levied upon them. If the execution is retu…

Section 104. If the assurance fund at any time is not sufficient to meet the amount called for by such certificate of the comptroller the state treasurer shall make up the deficiency from any funds in the treasury not otherwise appropriated; and, in such case, any amounts thereaf…

Section 105. In every case where payment has been made by the state treasurer under section one hundred and three, the commonwealth shall be subrogated to the rights of the plaintiff against any other parties or securities, and the state treasurer shall enforce the same, and the …

Section 106. The income of the assurance fund shall be added to the principal and invested; except that whenever said fund amounts to two hundred thousand dollars the income thereof shall be used to defray, as far as may be, the expenses of the administration of this chapter.

Section 107. The assurance fund shall not be liable for any loss, damage or deprivation occasioned by a breach of trust, whether express, implied or constructive, by any registered owner who is a trustee, or by the improper exercise of any power of sale in a mortgage, nor shall a…

Section 108. Actions of contract for compensation under this chapter by reason of any loss or damage or deprivation of land or any estate or interest therein shall be begun within six years after the cause of action accrued; but the plaintiff in an action for the recovery of the …

Section 109. In any action to recover damages for loss or damage or deprivation of land, or of any estate or interest therein, by the registration of another person as owner of such land, or of any estate or interest therein, the assessed valuation for taxation of the land, or of…

Section 10A. The assistant recorder in any registry, with the approval of the chief justice of the land court department, may appoint one or more technical assistants who shall perform such duties as the court may from time to time assign to them and whose compensation shall be t…

Section 11. The recorder and all assistant recorders shall be sworn before the chief justice of the land court, and a record thereof shall be made. They shall give bond in a sum to be fixed by the court, for the faithful performance of their official duties, before entering upon …

Section 110. Any person may, by attorney, procure land to be registered and convey or otherwise deal with registered land, but the letters of attorney shall be acknowledged and filed with the recorder or the assistant recorder of the proper registry district and registered. Any i…

Section 112. Whoever claims any right or interest in registered land adverse to the registered owner arising after the date of original registration may, if no other provision is made in this chapter for registering the same, make a written statement setting forth fully his alleg…

Section 114. (a) No erasure, alteration or amendment shall be made upon the registration book after the entry of a certificate of title or of a memorandum thereon and the attestation of the same by the recorder or an assistant recorder without court order, except in an instance i…

Section 115. Petitions and motions filed under this chapter after original registration shall be filed and entitled in the original case in which the decree of registration was entered.

Section 116. All notices required by or given under this chapter by the recorder or any assistant recorder, after original registration, shall be mailed to the person to be notified at the residence and post office address stated in the certificate of title, or in any registered …

Section 117. The court may make sectional plans showing registered lands, and in so doing may employ competent draftsmen and assistants.

Section 118. Whoever, with intent to defraud, sells and conveys registered land, knowing that an undischarged attachment or any other encumbrance exists thereon, without informing the grantee of such attachment or other encumbrance before the consideration is paid, shall be punis…

Section 12. The chief justice of the land court department may appoint one or more examiners of title who shall be attorneys at law and he may also appoint a chief title examiner who shall perform all the duties of an examiner of title and such other duties in connection with the…

Section 13. Upon request of the chief justice, the sheriff of any county other than Suffolk shall assign a deputy to attend the sittings of the land court department in that county. The court administrator, in consultation with the chief justice of the trial court, shall appoint …

Section 13A. At the trial of any issue of fact in the land court department the first justice may appoint a stenographer, who shall be sworn and shall attend the trial or such part thereof as the first justice may direct, and perform like duties and receive the same compensation …

Section 14. The salary of the recorder of the land court department shall be 81.57 per cent of the salary of the chief justice of said department and shall be paid, subject to appropriation, by the commonwealth. The salaries of the deputy recorder and the chief title examiner of …

Section 15. Except as provided in section sixteen, all cases in the land court shall be tried and all questions of fact finally determined by the court, unless a timely demand for jury trial is made. In actions which are governed by the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure such…

Section 16. At any time before the expiration of thirty days from the entry of a judgment in a case, any party aggrieved by such judgment who files an affidavit in court that he has not received notice of the proceedings by registered mail and that any signature of his appearing …

Section 17. The clerk of the superior court, after the determination of issues from the land court, shall certify to the land court such determination, which shall be conclusive upon said court as to such issues; but the land court may hear evidence upon other material questions …

Section 2. The land court department shall consist of 7 justices, including the chief justice, appointed to the land court department. The justice as provided under section 1 of chapter 211B as the chief justice for the land court department, in addition to his judicial powers an…

Section 21. Costs shall be taxed and the collection enforced as in the superior court unless a different provision is made.

Section 22. Writs, complaints, bills and pleadings in proceedings in the land court may be filed with the recorder of the land court, or with the register of deeds for the district where the land or any part thereof lies, who shall immediately index the proceedings in the general…

Section 23. The recorder shall transmit copies of all final judgments and executions in proceedings mentioned in section twenty-two to the register of deeds for the district where the land or any part thereof lies, who shall file and index the same in the manner provided in said …

Section 24. The court may refer any such proceeding to one of the examiners appointed under section twelve, who shall examine and report on whatever matters of title or fact the court shall designate in its order of reference. Such reference, if made immediately upon the filing o…

Section 25. In all matters within its jurisdiction, the court shall have all the powers which the superior court has including power to grant injunctions and restraining orders in accordance with the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure as justice and equity may require, except…

Section 25A. The court shall have like power and authority for enforcing orders, sentences, judgments and decrees made or pronounced in the exercise of any jurisdiction vested in it, and for punishing contempts of such orders, sentences, judgments or decrees and other contempts o…

Section 26. Complaints for registration of title may be made by the following persons: First, Persons who claim, singly or collectively, to own the legal estate or easements or rights in land held and possessed in fee simple. Second, Persons who claim, singly or collectively, to …

Section 26A. Complaints for the confirmation of title without registration may be made by the following persons: First, Persons who claim, singly or collectively, to own a legal estate or easement or right in land held and possessed in fee simple. Second, Persons who claim, singl…

Section 27. The petition may be filed with the recorder, or with the assistant recorder at the registry of deeds for any district where the land, or any part thereof, lies. Upon filing his petition, the petitioner shall forthwith cause to be filed in the registry of deeds for eac…

Section 28. The complaint shall be in writing, signed and sworn to by each plaintiff or by a person duly authorized in his behalf. It shall contain a description of the land. It shall also state the name in full and the address of the plaintiff, and the names and addresses of the…

Section 29. If the complaint describes the land as bounded on a public or private way, it shall state whether or not the plaintiff claims any and what land within the limits of the way, and whether the plaintiff desires to have the line of the way determined.

Section 3. The court may be held by one judge and simultaneous sessions may be held, either in the same county or in different counties, and shall be so arranged as to insure a prompt discharge of its business.

Section 30. If a complaint is made subject to an existing recorded mortgage, the holder of which has consented thereto, or subject to a recorded lease for a term exceeding seven years, or if the registration is to be made subject to such a mortgage or lease executed after the tim…

Section 31. A complaint may include two or more contiguous parcels of land, or two or more parcels which constitute one holding under one and the same title, within the same registry district. But two or more persons, who claim in the same parcels different interests which collec…

Section 32. Amendments to the complaint, including joinder, substitution, or discontinuance as to parties, shall be allowed by the court at any time upon just and reasonable terms; but all amendments shall be in writing, signed and sworn to, like the original.

Section 33. The plaintiff shall file with the complaint a plan of the land, and all original muniments of title within his control. Such original muniments as affect land not included in the complaint may be withdrawn upon filing certified copies thereof. If a complaint is dismis…

Section 34. The court may by general rule require additional facts to be stated in the complaint and may require the filing of additional papers.

Section 35. If the plaintiff is not a resident of the commonwealth, he shall file with his complaint a paper appointing an agent residing in the commonwealth, giving his name in full and post office address, and shall therein agree that the service of any legal process in proceed…

Section 36. After the filing of a complaint and before registration, the land therein described may be dealt with, and instruments relating thereto shall be recorded in the same manner, as if no such complaint had been filed; but all instruments left for record which relate to su…

Section 37. Immediately after the filing of a complaint, the court shall enter an order referring it to one of the examiners of title, who shall search the records and investigate all facts stated in the complaint or otherwise brought to his notice, and shall file in the case a r…