Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XXII Chapter 166
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 166, § 38 (2026)

Intentional injury or destruction of property; penalty

✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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Section 38. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures, molests or destroys any line, wire, pole, pier or abutment, or any of the materials or property of any street railway company, of any electric railroad company, or of any city or town engaged in the manufacture and sale of electricity for light, heat or power or of any company, owner or association described in sections twenty-one and forty-three shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both; and whoever does any act prohibited by this section between the hours of four o'clock in the afternoon and seven o'clock in the forenoon shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than four years, or both.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 1974–1984 · leading case: Casey v. Massachusetts Elec. Co., 467 N.E.2d 1358 (Mass. 1984).
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Casey v. Massachusetts Elec. Co., 467 N.E.2d 1358 (Mass. 1984). · cites it 2× “” The companies within § 39 are defined in G. L. c. 166, § 38, to include “any company, owner or association described in sections twenty-one and forty-three.”
Town of Shrewsbury v. Munro, 312 N.E.2d 219 (Mass. App. Ct. 1974). · cites it 8× “The words “any such company” which appear near the outset of the first sentence of § 39 refer to the immediately preceding provisions of G. L. c. 166, § 38, 2 where “any city or town engaged in the manufacture and sale of electricity for light, heat or power” is referred to…”
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