Massachusetts Statutes
§ 37 — Negativing excuses, exceptions or provisos
Massachusetts § 37
JurisdictionMassachusetts
Part IVCRIMES, PUNISHMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES
Title IIPROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES
Ch. 277INDICTMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS BEFORE TRIAL
This text of Massachusetts § 37 (Negativing excuses, exceptions or provisos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Bluebook
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 277, § 37 (2026).
Text
Section 37. An excuse, exception or proviso not stated in the enacting clause of a statute creating a crime or stated only by reference to other provisions of the statute need not be negatived in the indictment unless necessary for a complete definition of the crime. If any statute shall prescribe a form of indictment in which an excuse, exception or proviso is not negatived, it shall be taken that it is not necessary to a complete definition of the crime that they should be negatived. If a statute creating a crime permits an act, therein declared to be criminal, to be performed without criminality under stated conditions, such conditions need not be negatived.
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Bluebook (online)
Massachusetts § 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/statute/ma/277/37.