Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XIV Chapter 92
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 92, § 79 (2026)

Taking or acquisition of lands for reservations

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Section 79. For the purposes set forth in section thirty-three, the commissioner, acting so far as may be in consultation with the proper local boards, on behalf of the commonwealth, may take in fee or otherwise, by purchase, gift, devise, or eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, lands and rights in land for reservations within the urban parks district, or take bonds for the conveyance thereof; and may take by eminent domain under said chapter, or acquire by agreement or otherwise, the right forever, or for such period of time as the commissioner deems expedient, to plant, care for, maintain or remove trees, shrubs and growth of any kind within certain spaces regulated by the division along or near rivers and ponds within said district; and may take or impose by eminent domain under said chapter, or acquire the benefit of, by agreement or otherwise, such restrictions upon such regulated spaces as it deems expedient; provided, that no private property shall be taken or restrictions imposed by eminent domain hereunder without the concurrence of a majority of the stewardship council and of the board of park commissioners, if any, of the town where said property is situated.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 1930–1984 · leading case: Codex Corp. v. Metro. Dist. Comm'n, 392 Mass. 245 (Mass. 1984).
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Codex Corp. v. Metro. Dist. Comm'n, 392 Mass. 245 (Mass. 1984). · cites it 10× “The plaintiffs claimed in the Superior Court, and argue here, that the commission was required by G. L. c. 92, § 79, to obtain the concurrence of a majority of the board of selectmen of the town before it could take by eminent domain the corporation’s land located in the town.”
Merrymount Co. v. Metro. Dist. Comm'n, 172 N.E. 593 (Mass. 1930). “It was provided by said chapters 229 and 59 that the city of Quincy should convey to the Commonwealth a “strip of land sixty feet in width” and might acquire “such lands or interests therein as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of” the acts.”
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.