Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 221, § 48 (2026)

Prosecution or defense of own suits; restriction

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 48. Parties may manage, prosecute or defend their own suits personally, or by such attorneys as they may engage; but not more than two persons for each party shall, without permission of the court, be allowed to manage any case therein.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 14 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1979–2026 · leading case: Borman v. Borman, 393 N.E.2d 847 (Mass. 1979).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Borman v. Borman, 393 N.E.2d 847 (Mass. 1979). · cites it 2× “G. L. c. 221, § 48. Cf. 28 U.S.C. 1654 (1976); W.”

Rental Prop. Mgmt. Servs. v. Hatcher, 97 N.E.3d 319 (Mass. 2018). “6 Consequently, even if Basile had identified the true owner of the property in the summary process complaint, his act of signing the complaint as the "Plaintiff or Attorney" and then filing the complaint would have been sufficient to warrant dismissal based on the unauthorized…”

Zabin v. Picciotto, 896 N.E.2d 937 (Mass. App. Ct. 2008). “G. L. c. 221, § 48.” LoCicero v. Hartford Ins.”

Gorovitz v. Plan. Bd. of Nantucket, 475 N.E.2d 377 (Mass. 1985). · cites it 2× “We conclude that, under Rule 3:07 of the Rules of the Supreme Judicial Court (1981) and G. L. c. 221, § 48, 2 he may do so. *247 The case is submitted on a statement of agreed facts.”

LAS Collection Mgmt. v. Pagan, 858 N.E.2d 273 (Mass. 2006). “See G. L. c. 221, § 48. Legal claims can be assigned as long as the assignment is not created to conceal an illegal attempt to practice law.”

Varney Enter., Inc. v. WMF, INC., 520 N.E.2d 1312 (Mass. 1988). “We recognize that G. L. c. 221, § 48 (1986 ed.), provides that “[pjarties may manage, prosecute or defend their own *82 suits personally, or by such attorneys as they may engage.”

LoCicero v. Hartford Ins. Grp., 518 N.E.2d 530 (Mass. App. Ct. 1988). “The same judge reheard Hartford’s motion for summary judgment and allowed it. LoCicero’s notice of appeal specified that he was aggrieved by the denial of his lawyer’s motion to withdraw and the striking of the “response,” as well as the judgment.”

R.G. v. Hall, 640 N.E.2d 492 (Mass. App. Ct. 1994). · cites it 2× “Hall argues that, unless the court releases some of his funds or sources of funds from which he can pay his lawyer, he is effectively deprived of the right to be assisted by competent counsel, a right afforded by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and G. L.…”

Burnham v. Justices of the Superior Court, 792 N.E.2d 987 (Mass. 2003). “See G. L. c. 221, § 48 (“Parties may manage, prosecute or defend their own suits personally .”

Verizon Yellow Pages Co. v. Sims & Sims, PC, 15 Mass. L. Rptr. 734 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2003). “7 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (“Lawyer as Witness”) Implicit in G.L.c. 221, §48 is every litigant’s “right to counsel of his choice.”

Adoption of Doretta (Mass. App. Ct. 2026). · cites it 2× “Moreover, although a parent in a care and protection case has the same statutory right of self-representation applicable to all Massachusetts civil cases, G. L. c. 221, § 48,6 the father has not shown, or even argued, that he was unlawfully deprived of his statutory right or…”

Wilbur v. Tunnell (Mass. App. Ct. 2020). “221, § 48 ("Parties may manage, prosecute or defend their own suits personally, or by such attorneys as they may engage").7 A person appearing pro se, however, may not represent another person or entity, as doing so would constitute the unauthorized practice of law.”

Show all 14 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.