Chapter 223

Section 1. A transitory action shall, except as otherwise provided, if any one of the parties thereto lives in the commonwealth, be brought in the county where one of them lives or has his usual place of business; provided, however, that if the instrument of the crime is a forged…

Section 10. The defendant in an action brought in Suffolk county by the city of Boston or by its collector may, if the action is brought in the supreme judicial or superior court, within thirty days after the day for appearance, file a motion in writing for the removal of the act…

Section 100. No creditor whose cause of action on such bond accrued more than one year before the commencement of the action shall have judgment or execution.

Section 101. If property which has been sold, or appraised and delivered to the debtor, in the manner before provided is attached by several creditors, any one of them may demand and receive satisfaction of his judgment, notwithstanding a prior attachment, if he is otherwise enti…

Section 102. If personal property of two or more part owners is attached in an action against one or more of them, it shall, upon the request of any other part owner, be examined and appraised in the manner provided in sections eighty-eight to ninety-two, inclusive, except that t…

Section 103. The property so appraised shall be delivered to the part owner at whose request it was appraised, upon his giving bond to the attaching officer in a sufficient sum, with two sufficient sureties, conditioned to restore such property in like good order or to pay to the…

Section 104. If such appraised value or any part thereof is so paid, the defendant's share of the property shall thereby become pledged to the party to whom it was delivered, and he may sell it, if not redeemed, and shall account to the defendant for the remaining proceeds of the…

Section 105. If the attachment is dissolved, the party to whom the defendant's share was delivered shall restore it to the defendant, or to the officer, to be by him delivered to the defendant.

Section 106. If real or personal property has been attached in an action, any person, other than the parties, who claims title or interest therein by a subsequent attachment, purchase, mortgage or other title, may dispute the validity and effect of such prior attachment on the gr…

Section 107. The petitioner, or a person in his behalf, shall make oath that his claim is just and legal and that all the other facts stated in the petition are true or are believed by the deponent to be true; and, upon filing the petition, the petitioner, or a person in his beha…

Section 108. If the court finds that a part of the amount demanded in the prior action is not justly due, or was not payable when the action was commenced, it shall order the attachment dissolved in whole or in part as justice requires; but such order shall have no other effect o…

Section 109. The proceedings between the adverse claimants or plaintiffs shall not be affected by any pleading or other act of the defendant in the prior action nor by the judgment rendered therein.

Section 11. A transitory action by or against an executor or administrator may be brought in a county in which it might have been brought by or against the testator or intestate at the time of his decease.

Section 110. No attachment shall be dissolved as aforesaid by reason of a defence to the action which is founded on the laws for the limitation of actions or requiring certain contracts to be made in writing, or by reason of any other like defence, if the court finds that the dem…

Section 111. The court may, upon such inquiry, award to either party reasonable costs and, if the prior attachment is maintained, may award to the attaching creditor reasonable damages.

Section 112. If, during the pendency of the proceedings, the action in which the attachment was made is transferred to another court, the inquiry concerning the attachment shall be transferred to the same court and be there heard and determined.

Section 113. The judgment of the court upon such an inquiry, whether the attachment is thereby vacated or held to be valid and effectual, shall be a bar to any action which may be brought by the petitioner against the party who made the attachment for any supposed fraud or deceit…

Section 113A. Attachments in all cases in law, equity or probate courts of the commonwealth shall be dissolved, discharged or reduced in whole or in part without order of court by any method provided in this chapter.

Section 114. If an excessive or unreasonable attachment, by trustee process or otherwise, is made, the defendant or person whose property has been attached may submit a written motion, in any county, to a justice of the court to which such process is returnable, for a reduction o…

Section 114A. An attachment of land, or of a right or interest therein, shall, unless otherwise dissolved, expire by operation of law at the end of six years from the date of filing the same in the office of the register of deeds in the county or district where said land or some …

Section 115. If the judgment in a civil action is for the defendant, the attachment shall be dissolved upon the exhaustion of all possible appellate review of such judgment if it is upheld. The provisions of this section shall apply to property attached upon a counterclaim when j…

Section 115A. If real property of the defendant is attached in any action and no service is made upon him, the attachment shall be dissolved unless it appears of record that notice of such action has been given to him, in such manner as the court orders, within sixty days after t…

Section 116. An attachment of real or personal property shall be dissolved if the debtor dies before it is taken or seized on execution and administration of his estate is granted in the commonwealth upon an application therefor made within one year after his decease. The attachi…

Section 117. If the officer has, before such demand, sold on execution the personal property attached or a right of redeeming land attached as aforesaid, he shall not be a trespasser, but shall be liable only for the proceeds of the sale after deducting his legal fees and charges…

Section 118. If the officer in such case has, before such demand, paid over the proceeds of the sale to the judgment creditor, he shall not be liable therefor, but the executor or administrator, if appointed as before provided, may recover in a civil action from the judgment cred…

Section 119. The defendant, in an action founded on either of the three preceding sections, shall not be allowed to counter-claim for a demand against the executor or administrator, or against the estate of the deceased.

Section 12. If a tract of land lies in two or more counties, an action relative to it, to which neither a county, the city of Boston nor any corporation named in section eight is a party, may be brought in any of said counties, and the complaint shall be so drawn as to include th…

Section 120. A defendant whose property has been attached in a civil action may at any time dissolve the attachment by giving a bond with sufficient sureties, who shall be approved by the plaintiff or by his attorney in writing, by a master in chancery, or by a justice of a court…

Section 121. Before such bond is approved, the defendant, or a person in his behalf, shall make application in writing to the magistrate, specifying therein the names and residences of the proposed sureties and, except in case the proposed surety is a surety company qualified to …

Section 122. If the attachment is dissolved and the defendant prevails, his costs shall include the fees of the magistrate and the premium or premiums paid for the bond dissolving such attachment, if it be a surety company bond.

Section 123. Such bond and the bond required by section one hundred and twenty-seven shall be filed by the defendant with the clerk of the court to which the writ is returnable, or in which the action is pending, within ten days after its approval, and the attachment shall not be…

Section 124. If, within four months after an attachment of property has been made on mesne process in a civil action founded on a claim which would, if proved, be barred by a discharge in insolvency of the defendant and after such attachment has been dissolved as provided in the …

Section 125. A defendant may, at any time before execution, issue upon a judgment, release from attachment the property attached, or such part thereof as he may elect, by giving bond to the plaintiff with sufficient sureties, who shall be approved by the plaintiff or by his attor…

Section 126. The magistrate may adjourn such hearing from time to time. He shall determine the fees of the appraisers. The applicant shall pay the fees of the magistrate and the appraisers; but if final judgment is in his favor, they shall be taxed as a part of his costs. The mag…

Section 127. If an attachment of real property is made under sections sixty-seven and sixty-eight, the person in whose name the record title of the property attached stands, or a person in his behalf, may, before final judgment, dissolve the attachment by giving bond to the plain…

Section 128. A defendant may dissolve an attachment by depositing with the attaching officer an amount of money equal at least to the amount of the attachment, which the officer shall hold in place of the property attached and which shall be subject to be disposed of in the same …

Section 129. A defendant whose individual property has been attached in an action against several defendants may dissolve such attachment, or any part thereof, in any of the modes provided in the nine preceding sections. But the bond to dissolve such attachment shall be so condit…

Section 129A. The officer shall not be liable for the release of personal property attached by him if he receives a certificate from the clerk of the court to which the writ is returnable, stating that a bond purporting to dissolve such attachment has been filed in the office of …

Section 13. If the supreme judicial or superior court finds that a party to an action or proceeding pending therein cannot, by reason of local prejudice or other cause, have an impartial trial in the county where the action or proceeding was commenced, it may, upon the applicatio…

Section 130. An attachment of property shall be dissolved by the appointment by any court of competent jurisdiction in the commonwealth of a receiver to take possession of such property if the complaint seeking the appointment of such receiver is filed in said court within four m…

Section 131. If an attachment has been dissolved in the manner provided in the preceding section, the proceedings for the appointment of a receiver shall not thereafter be dismissed and the receiver discharged until all the assets which have come into his hands as receiver have b…

Section 132. An attachment of real estate shall be dissolved by a release signed and acknowledged by the plaintiff or by his executor, administrator or attorney of record and recorded in the registry of deeds, or by a certificate from the clerk of court in which the action was pe…

Section 133. A bond which is required to be given by a party to a civil action or proceeding may be executed by any person other than the party to the action or proceeding, and may be approved in the same manner as if executed by such party, if it appears to the magistrate who ap…

Section 14. A civil action for the recovery of a forfeiture, except an action in which the commonwealth is plaintiff, or in which money is sought to be recovered for the commonwealth, shall be brought in the county where the offence was committed, unless the statute imposing the …

Section 15. If an error in venue is discovered at any stage of the proceedings of a civil action in the supreme judicial or superior court, the court may, upon motion of either party, order the action, with all papers relating thereto, to be removed to the proper county upon term…

Section 19. In a civil action if the name of the defendant is not known to the plaintiff, the defendant may be designated in the summons and complaint by a fictitious name. The use of a fictitious name shall not be grounds for dismissal of the complaint if sufficient service has …

Section 2. Except as provided in section twenty-one of chapter two hundred and eighteen, a transitory action in a district court shall be brought in a court in the judicial district where one of the parties lives or has his usual place of business or in a court, the judicial dist…

Section 20. Process in the supreme judicial and superior court shall be signed, by hand or by electronic means, and may be issued, by the clerk, shall bear teste of the first justice of the court who is not a party to the action, may be returnable to the same court in any other c…

Section 2A. Whenever cross actions between the same parties or two or more actions, including for the purposes hereof other court proceedings and actions transferred under section one hundred and two C of chapter two hundred and thirty-one, arising out of or connected with the sa…

Section 2B. Whenever cross actions between the same parties or two or more actions, including for the purposes hereof other court proceedings, arising out of or connected with the same accident, event or transaction are pending, one or more in the superior court and also one or m…