Massachusetts General Laws
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 233, § 5 (2026)
Penalty for nonattendance; contempt
✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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Section 5. Such failure to attend as a witness before a court, justice of the peace, master in chancery, master or auditor appointed by a court, or the county commissioners, shall also be a contempt of the court, and may be punished, in case of such failure to attend as a witness in a criminal prosecution, by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one month or both, or, in case of any other such failure to attend as aforesaid, by a fine of not more than twenty dollars.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1979–2023 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Clegg, 808 N.E.2d 818 (Mass. App. Ct. 2004).
Commonwealth v. Clegg, 808 N.E.2d 818 (Mass. App. Ct. 2004). “See G. L. c. 233, §§ 5, 6; Mass.R. Crim.P. 17(e), 378 Mass.”
Commonwealth v. Rollins, 803 N.E.2d 1256 (Mass. 2004). “See G. L. c. 233, §§ 5, 6; Mass. R. Crim. R 17 (e), 378 Mass.”
Application of a Grand Jury of the St. of Ny, 397 N.E.2d 686 (Mass. App. Ct. 1979). “), and those sanctions *767 include fine or imprisonment for the contempt of court (see G. L. c. 233, § 5) implicit in their violation.”
Celester v. Rodriguez, 699 F. Supp. 3d 146 (D. Mass. 2023). “See G. L. c. 233, § 5; Commonwealth v. Delaney, 425 Mass.”
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