Massachusetts General Laws
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 253, § 4 (2026)
Overflow or injury to land; action for compensation; limitation; venue
✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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Section 4. The owner or occupant of land which has been overflowed or otherwise injured by such dam may bring a civil action to obtain compensation therefor. Such action shall be commenced within three years next after the event complained of in the superior court for the county where the land or any part thereof lies; but if the land overflowed or injured is outside the commonwealth such action shall be brought in the superior court for the county where the dam or any part thereof is maintained.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2
cases, 1926–1996 · leading case: Doe v. Weld, 954 F. Supp. 425 (D. Mass. 1996).
Doe v. Weld, 954 F. Supp. 425 (D. Mass. 1996). “G.L. c. 253, § 4. 3 . Section 178J(c) requires the police to disseminate to the inquirer the following: the name of the offender, his home and work address if within the geographic area which is the subject of the permitted inquiry, the offense, certain descriptive information…”
Dickinson v. New England Power Co., 153 N.E. 458 (Mass. 1926). “The parties who were the plaintiffs in that suit or their successors in title, thereupon brought in 1923 a petition for compensation as provided in G. L. c. 253, § 4. It alleged in substance that the petitioners’ lands had been "overflowed or otherwise injured” as a result of…”
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