Massachusetts Statutes

§ 39 — Construction of certain words used in indictment

Massachusetts § 39
JurisdictionMassachusetts
Part IVCRIMES, PUNISHMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES
Title IIPROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES
Ch. 277INDICTMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS BEFORE TRIAL

This text of Massachusetts § 39 (Construction of certain words used in indictment) 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, § 39 (2026).

Text

Section 39. The words used in an indictment may, except as otherwise provided in this section, be construed according to their usual acceptation in common language; but if certain words and phrases are defined by law, they shall be used according to their legal meaning.The following words, when used in an indictment, shall be sufficient to convey the meaning herein attached to them:Adultery.—Sexual intercourse by a married person with a person not his spouse or by an unmarried person with a married person.Affray.—Fighting together of two or more persons in a public place to the terror of the persons lawfully there.Aggravated Rape.—Sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse by a person with another person who is compelled to submit by force and against his will or by threat of bodil

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Bluebook (online)
Massachusetts § 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/statute/ma/277/39.