Chapter 253

Section 1. A person may, as hereinafter provided, erect and maintain a water mill and a dam to raise water for working it, upon and across any stream not navigable.

Section 10. They shall also determine by their verdict what amount, if any, to be paid annually to the plaintiff, would be a just and reasonable compensation for the damages that may be thereafter caused by the dam, so long as it is used in conformity with the verdict; and also w…

Section 11. The plaintiff may, within three months after the verdict has been recorded elect, by a writing filed in the clerk's office, to take the amount so awarded in gross, instead of such annual compensation.

Section 12. The owner or occupant of the mill or dam shall, within three months after such election, pay to the plaintiff or secure to his satisfaction said amount with interest from the date of the verdict. After the expiration of said three months, and until payment of said dam…

Section 13. If the plaintiff does not file an election, as aforesaid, he and all persons claiming under him shall, so long as the dam is kept up and maintained, be entitled to receive from the owner or occupant of the mill the annual compensation so established by the jury, unles…

Section 14. The person who is entitled to receive said annual compensation or gross damages shall have a lien therefor, from the time of the commencement of the original action, on the mill and mill dam with their appurtenances and on the land under and adjoining the same and use…

Section 15. Such person may recover, in contract in the superior court from the person who owns or occupies the mill when the action is brought, the whole amount due and unpaid for the three years last preceding, and costs, although the amount recovered is less than one hundred d…

Section 16. The execution issued on such judgment, if not otherwise satisfied, may, within thirty days after judgment, be levied on the land so subject to the lien; and the officer may thereupon sell, in the manner provided for the sale of land on execution, such land or so much …

Section 17. A person who is entitled to the land so sold may redeem the same within one year after the sale, upon paying to the purchaser or to the person holding under him the amount paid therefor, with interest at the rate of twelve per cent a year.

Section 18. The party prevailing upon such action shall be entitled to costs, except as otherwise provided.

Section 19. No action shall be maintained at common law for the recovery of damages for the erection, maintenance or use of a mill or mill dam, if a remedy therefor is provided in this chapter.

Section 2. Such dam shall not be erected to the injury of a mill lawfully existing above or below it on the same stream, nor to the injury of a mill site on the same stream on which a mill or mill dam has been lawfully erected and used, unless the right to maintain a mill on such…

Section 20. This chapter shall not, except as herein expressly provided, affect the right to keep up, maintain and use any lawfully existing water mill and mill dam; but if the owner or occupant thereof makes any material change by raising the dam or by altering the machinery or …

Section 21. If either party is dissatisfied with the annual compensation established by proceedings upon a civil action under this chapter or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, a new action may be commenced for the increase or diminution of such compensation or for ascerta…

Section 22. Such new action may be maintained by and against either of the parties to the original action or by and against a person lawfully holding under either of them, but it shall not be brought until the expiration of one month after the payment of the year last preceding w…

Section 23. The owner of the mill or dam may, within said month, offer in writing to the owner of the land any increase of said annual compensation; and if the owner of the land does not agree to accept it, but brings an action to obtain an increase, he shall pay the costs, unles…

Section 24. The owner of the land may, within said month, offer in writing to the owner of the mill or dam to accept a smaller amount than that established as said annual compensation; and if the owner of the mill or dam does not agree to pay such reduced compensation, but brings…

Section 25. Such offers may be made by or to the respective tenants or occupants of the land and of the mill or dam, in like manner and with like effect as if made by or to the respective owners, except that no agreement founded thereon shall bind said owners unless made with the…

Section 26. If the offer so made by either party is accepted by the other, it shall establish the annual compensation to be thereafter paid, as if it had been established by a judgment in a civil action, if a memorandum of such offer and acceptance and of the agreement, signed by…

Section 27. If, upon an action by the owner of the land, the jury return a verdict that he is not entitled to any annual compensation, the judgment thereon shall not bar a new action for damages alleged to have arisen after such verdict and for compensation for damages thereafter…

Section 28. In every civil action brought by the owner of land alleged to be injured by a mill dam, the defendant may bring into court and there tender any amount which he considers proper to be paid to the plaintiff for the damages incurred up to the time of such tender, and may…

Section 29. If the plaintiff accepts the amount so offered for the past damage and for future annual compensation, he shall have judgment therefor and for costs to that time; or the plaintiff may accept either the amount tendered for past damages or the offer for future annual co…

Section 3. The height to which the water may be raised and the period of time for which it may be kept up in each year may be determined by jury.

Section 30. Two or more persons who are jointly or separately interested in the land injured may join in a civil action, and the jury may assess joint or several damages as the interest and title of the plaintiffs may require; and judgment and execution shall conform thereto.

Section 32. If a judgment for the plaintiff is reversed for error, the plaintiff, or any person claiming under him, may commence a new action for the same cause within one year after the reversal of the judgment, and recover all damages sustained during the three years last prece…

Section 33. If a person who owns, erects or maintains a water mill or a dam to raise water for working such mill upon or across a stream not navigable desires to raise, erect or maintain a dam at such a height or in such a manner as to overflow or otherwise injure an existing pub…

Section 34. Notice of the hearing upon such petition shall be given to the towns where the ways are situated, and to the owners or occupants of the land affected thereby, in like manner as notice of the laying out of highways is given.

Section 35. The commissioner may, after a hearing, order such alteration, repairs or change of grade of such ways as will in his judgment enable the petitioner to raise, erect and maintain such dam without overflowing or otherwise injuring such ways, and they may give written dir…

Section 36. The commissioner shall assess and order the petitioner to pay all damages sustained by any person or town by reason of the alterations, changes of grade or repairs ordered by him, and any person or town aggrieved by such assessment may, on application within one year …

Section 37. The costs of proceedings under the preceding four sections shall be paid by the petitioners, who may be required by the commissioner to give bond with sufficient sureties for the payment thereof.

Section 38. The order of the commissioner, duly issued under section thirty-five, shall authorize the petitioner to do all acts necessary to be done in compliance therewith; and if it is shown that the petitioner has substantially complied with such order, no indictment shall be …

Section 39. An owner or lessee of land appropriated or which he desires to appropriate to the cultivation and growth of cranberries may erect and maintain a dam upon and across a stream to flow and irrigate said land, subject to this chapter so far as applicable; but he shall not…

Section 4. The owner or occupant of land which has been overflowed or otherwise injured by such dam may bring a civil action to obtain compensation therefor. Such action shall be commenced within three years next after the event complained of in the superior court for the county …

Section 40. If a dam has been so erected or maintained or if a person has at his own expense made, kept open or repaired any ditches or drains for the improvement or cultivation of such tract of land, any owner or lessee of a like tract, who uses such dam, ditches or drains or wh…

Section 41. An owner or lessee of land used for an ice pond may erect and, between November first and March first, maintain a dam across a stream not navigable, for the purpose of making an ice pond by flowing adjoining land, subject to this chapter so far as applicable, if he an…

Section 42. A domestic reservoir corporation may flow the land of other persons by its reservoir dam, and a person whose land or property has been flowed or injured by such dam, unless compensation has been otherwise made, may obtain compensation therefor as provided in this chap…

Section 43. The court in which an action for such compensation is pending shall, if requested by the plaintiff, require such corporation to give satisfactory security for the payment of all damages and costs which may be awarded thereon, and if the court finds that the security h…

Section 44. For the purposes of sections 44 to 48B, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings:— ''Abandoned dam'', a dam that has no identifiable owner or a dam in which the owner fails to respond to the owner's obligations under sections 44 to 48, inclusiv…

Section 45. The owner of any dam shall file with the commissioner on or before July 1, 2003, and before operating any dam constructed thereafter, on such form or forms prescribed by the commissioner, a dam registration form containing the name of the owner, the location and the d…

Section 45A. No person shall construct or materially alter a dam without applying for and receiving permit approval from the department. The approved permit shall be recorded at the registry of deeds in the county where the dam lies prior to commencement of construction. The appl…

Section 46. The owner of any dam shall cause to be filed with the commissioner, on or before January 1, 2004, and periodically thereafter, as required by regulation, in accordance with the hazard potential classification of the dam, as noted in the certificate of the registration…

Section 46A. When a dam has been deemed safe, removed, repaired or constructed pursuant to an order of the commissioner; or a dam has been evaluated, constructed, repaired or altered to the satisfaction of the commissioner under a properly issued permit, the commissioner shall is…

Section 47. (a) If the owner fails to take corrective action or fails to file an evaluation report, within the time specified in the order, as required in section 46, or if the owner of the dam cannot be determined, the commissioner may take such action as he deems necessary to r…

Section 48. The commissioner shall make such orders as he may deem just as to the payment by the owner to the commonwealth or other party of the costs and expenses incurred by them under the preceding 4 sections, with interest, from the time they were paid by the commonwealth. No…

Section 48A. During each fiscal year, the department of environmental management shall prepare a report on the overall effectiveness of the dam inspection and regulation program under sections 44 to 48, inclusive, including, but not limited to, the number of inspections conducted…

Section 48B. The owner of a dam shall be responsible for liability for damage to property of others or injury to persons, including but not limited to loss of life, resulting from the operation, failure of or misoperation of a dam. The provisions of sections 44 to 48, inclusive, …

Section 49. No order, approval, request or advice of the commissioner shall impair the legal duties and obligations of the owners of reservoirs, reservoir dams or mill dams or their liability for the consequences of their illegal acts or of the neglect or mismanagement of their s…

Section 50. The supreme judicial and the superior courts shall have jurisdiction to enforce the six preceding sections.

Section 50A. The department of environmental management shall, subject to the appropriation of funds for such purpose, erect signs in the vicinity of all roll dams owned or under the control of the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions to warn boaters of the location …

Section 51. If a mill which is owned by joint tenants or tenants in common, or the dam or appurtenances of such mill, require repairs or rebuilding in whole or in part, and all the proprietors do not agree to join therein, a majority in interest of the proprietors may cause the w…