The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Massachusetts
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Massachusetts Constitution, Part II, c. 1, s. 1, art. 4 and the emergency-law provisions of amend. art. 48
- Issued
- 1950-07-20 July 20, 1950
- Effective
- 1950-07-20 (emergency law); standing as amended (read as 1950-07-20)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since July 20, 1950 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Emergency declarationStay-at-homeBusiness closureGathering capStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally; owners or persons in control of property; all businesses and organizations addressed by the Governor's orders
- Character
- order penalty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Massachusetts DUT-MA
Operative words
Whoever violates any provision of any such executive order or general regulation issued or promulgated by the governor, for the violation of which no other penalty is provided by law, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or both.
Penalty
Imprisonment up to one year, fine up to $500, or both, for violating any executive order or general regulation under the Act (s. 8), recited in COVID-19 Order No. 13 (Ex. MA-008)
What it required
Section 7: during a declared state of emergency the Governor 'shall have and may exercise any and all authority over persons and property, necessary or expedient for meeting said state of emergency,' including 'policing, protection or preservation of all property, public or private, by the owner or person in control thereof' and 'regulating the sale of articles of food'; section 8: violation of any executive order or general regulation is a crime; section 8A: 'Any provision of any general or special law or of any rule, regulation, ordinance or by-law to the extent that such provision is inconsistent with any order or regulation issued or promulgated under this act shall be inoperative while such order or such last-mentioned regulation is in effect.' Section 1 defines civil defense to reach disasters caused 'by fire, flood, earthquake or other natural causes.'
Retrieval noteThe exhibit is the Act as enacted in 1950; the Act was amended afterward and the operative text of ss. 7, 8 and 8A relied on in 2020 was quoted by the Supreme Judicial Court in Desrosiers (DUT-MA-020), whose quotation of s. 8 matches the enacted text. Executive Order No. 591 (Ex. MA-001) recites ss. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 8A; all sixty-nine COVID-19 Orders issued under ss. 7, 8 and 8A.