Mass. Gen. Laws » Part IV Title II Chapter 278
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, § 4 (2026)

Oaths of jurors

✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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Section 4. The following oath shall be administered to the jurors for the trial of all criminal cases which are not capital:

You shall well and truly try the issue between the commonwealth and the defendant, (or the defendants, as the case may be,) according to your evidence; so help you God.

The following oath shall be administered to the jurors for the trial of capital cases:

You shall well and truly try, and true deliverance make, between the commonwealth and the prisoner at the bar, whom you shall have in charge, according to your evidence; so help you God.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1974–2019 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Tiscione, 124 N.E.3d 690 (Mass. 2019).
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Commonwealth v. Tiscione, 124 N.E.3d 690 (Mass. 2019). “" G. L. c. 278, § 4. If, as in this case, it appears that emotions in the jury room are heated, a judge might **492 direct the jury to take a break to allow for a cooling off period.”
Commonwealth v. McAlister, 313 N.E.2d 113 (Mass. 1974). “G. L. c. 278, § 4. *459 The questions put by the trial judge to the veniremen in this case dealt not with their general attitudes toward capital punishment but with the influence of those attitudes on their ability to appraise the evidence fairly.”
Commonwealth v. Carleton, 629 N.E.2d 321 (Mass. App. Ct. 1994). “The defendant claims that the judge mischaracterized the juror’s oath as set forth in G. L. c. 278, § 4, by instructing the jury, “You may not like the law as I am required to give it to you, but each one of you has taken a solemn oath to abide by the law as I tell it to you.”
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