Chapter 213

Section 1. In case of a vacancy in the office of chief justice of the supreme judicial or the superior court, or of his illness or absence, his duties shall be performed by the senior justice present and qualified to act.

Section 10. If public business requires, either court may adjourn an established sitting in one shire town to another in the same county. Persons, recognizances and processes required to appear at or to be returned to the established sitting shall appear at, be returnable to and …

Section 11. If no justice is present at the time and place appointed for holding a court at the beginning of a sitting or at an adjournment thereof, the sheriff of the county or any of his deputies may adjourn the court from day to day or from time to time, as circumstances requi…

Section 12. In such case, any justice may by a written order require the sheriff or his deputy to adjourn the court without day or to the time expressed in the order; and the officer shall adjourn the court accordingly by public proclamation in the court house.

Section 13. Each court may establish a seal and appoint all officers necessary for the transaction of its business.

Section 1A. Unless otherwise specifically provided, the superior court shall have original jurisdiction, concurrently with the supreme judicial court, of all proceedings, cases and matters of which the supreme judicial court has jurisdiction, excepting those within the appellate …

Section 1B. Questions of law arising in any proceeding of which jurisdiction is vested in the superior court by section one A may be reserved and reported to the appeals court for the consideration of that court in the manner provided in section one hundred and eleven of chapter …

Section 2. If, in the opinion of a justice of either court, it is important that a writ or other process should be speedily issued in a cause pending in the court of which he is a justice, he may order it to be issued by the clerk of the courts in the county in which he is sittin…

Section 3. The courts shall, respectively, make and promulgate uniform codes of rules, consistent with law, for regulating the practice and conducting the business of such courts in cases not expressly provided for by law, for the following purposes: First, Simplifying and shorte…

Section 3A. Copies of the rules, as provided for in section three, shall be printed at the expense of the commonwealth from such sums as may be appropriated therefor and expended under the direction of the chief justices. There may be included such notes and annotations, if any, …

Section 4. The courts shall always be open in every county and the business thereof, or of the justices thereof, may be transacted at any time; but such business shall not, except as provided in section six of chapter two hundred and twenty, be transacted on Saturday or Sunday or…

Section 5. The courts and the justices thereof, respectively, may in any county transact any business of such courts and direct the entry of any order, judgment or decree in an action, suit or proceeding pending in the same court in another county.

Section 6. Regular sittings of the courts for the transaction of civil or criminal business shall commence on the day appointed therefor and end on the day preceding the day appointed for the commencement of the next regular sitting in such county for the transaction of the same …

Section 7. Two or more simultaneous sessions of the court may be held in the same shire town or in different shire towns in the same county, if public convenience requires; and the business may be so divided as to secure its speedy and convenient disposal.

Section 8. The courts shall, respectively, receive, examine and allow accounts for services and expenses incident to their sittings and order payment thereof out of the state treasury.

Section 9. The justices of each court, except as otherwise provided, shall make such arrangements for the attendance of a justice at the several times and places appointed for holding their court as will be most convenient and as will insure the prompt performance of their duties…