Section 3. The justices of the supreme judicial court and of the superior court, justices and special justices of district courts, by virtue of their offices, and justices of the peace shall be conservators of the peace throughout the commonwealth and as such may, upon view of an affray, riot, assault or battery, without a warrant in writing, command the assistance of every sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable and police officer and of all other persons present for its suppression and for the arrest of all persons concerned therein as provided in chapters two hundred and seventy-five and two hundred and seventy-six. Persons so arrested shall be taken before a district court or trial justice for examination.
Structure Massachusetts General Laws
Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases
Title I - Courts and Judicial Officers
Chapter 220 - Courts and Naturalization
Section 1 - Flags; Display in Courts
Section 3 - Conservators of Peace; Powers of Justices
Section 4 - First Day of Sitting; Designation
Section 5 - Change of Time and Place of Court; Notice
Section 6 - Business Days; Exceptions
Section 8 - Purchase of Claims by Attorney and Court Officers, etc., Prohibited; Penalty
Section 10 - Judge, etc.; Interest of Town in Suit or Proceeding
Section 11 - United States Judicial Officer; Ineligibility for Certain Offices
Section 12 - Referee in Bankruptcy; Ineligibility for Certain Offices
Section 13 - Exclusion of Minors as Spectators From Court Room
Section 13a - Contempt Cases; Rights of Defendant
Section 13b - Contempt Cases; Demand for Retirement of Justice Sitting
Section 14 - Commitment for Contempt; Service of Process
Section 14a - Time Within Which Certain Decisions to Be Rendered