Mass. Gen. Laws » Part IV Title II Chapter 277
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 277, § 1 (2026)

Issuance of writs of venire facias for grand jurors; attendance at sittings of court

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 1. The clerk of the courts for each county, except Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, Hampden, Norfolk, Plymouth and Worcester shall, not less than twenty-eight days before the commencement of the first sitting of the superior court for criminal business in each year, issue writs of venire facias for forty-five veniremen, from whose numbers the court shall select twenty-three grand jurors who shall serve in said court until the first regular sitting in the year next after they have been impanelled and until another grand jury has been impanelled in their stead. In counties where sittings of the court are established for the transaction of criminal business, they shall be required to attend only at such sittings.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1980–2002 · leading case: Hadfield v. Commonwealth, 439 N.E.2d 279 (Mass. 1982).
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Hadfield v. Commonwealth, 439 N.E.2d 279 (Mass. 1982). · cites it 2× “The defendants seek relief on the basis that (1) the grand jury that returned *253 the indictments sat at a time prohibited by G. L. c. 277, § 1; (2) the grand jury was not called by the Administrative Justice for the Superior Court Department, as required by Mass.”
Commonwealth v. Wilcox, 767 N.E.2d 1061 (Mass. 2002). “See G. L. c. 277, §§ 1, 2A-2G (twenty-three grand jurors shall be selected to serve); Mass.”
Corsetti v. Commonwealth, 411 N.E.2d 466 (Mass. 1980). “G. L. c. 277, § 1. We allow the motion. Thus the dispute between the parties as to whether Corsetti must appear before the grand jury to testify is moot.”
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