Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 46 - Return and Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Section 19 - Use of Records as Evidence

Section 19. The record of the town clerk relative to a birth, marriage or death shall be prima facie evidence of the facts recorded, but nothing contained in the record of a death which has reference to the question of liability for causing the death shall be admissible in evidence. A certificate of such a record, signed by the town clerk or assistant clerk, or a certificate of the copy of the record relative to a birth, marriage or death required to be kept in the department of public health, signed by the commissioner of public health or the registrar of vital records and statistics, shall be admissible as evidence of such record. Upon request for an abbreviated record of a birth, marriage or death, the clerk or assistant clerk, commissioner of public health or registrar of vital records and statistics, shall make an abstract of the record of the same without notation thereon of the name of the parent or parents, except by request of the applicant. Upon the written request of the person to whom the record relates or of either of his parents, the clerk or assistant clerk, commissioner of public health or registrar of vital records and statistics, shall issue a certified copy of a birth record containing no reference to the color of said person or his parents.

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