ANNOTATED LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS
Copyright (c) 2004 Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.,
*** THIS DOCUMENT IS CURRENT THROUGH CHAPTER 390, 11/02/04 ***
PART IV. CRIMES, PUNISHMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES
TITLE I. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
CHAPTER 264. CRIMES AGAINST GOVERNMENTS

GO TO MASSACHUSETTS CODE ARCHIVE DIRECTORY
ALM GL ch. 264, § 11 (2004)
§ 11. Promotion of Anarchy Prohibited.
Whoever by speech or by exhibition, distribution or promulgation of any written or printed document, paper or pictorial representation advocates, advises, counsels or incites assault upon any public official, or the killing of any person, or the unlawful destruction of real or personal property, or the overthrow by force or violence or other unlawful means of the government of the commonwealth or of the United States, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years, or in jail for not more than two and one half years, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars; provided, that this section shall not be construed as reducing the penalty now imposed for the violation of any law. It shall be unlawful for any person who shall have been convicted of a violation of this section, whether or not any sentence shall have been imposed, to perform the duties of a teacher or of an officer of administration in any public or private educational institution, and the superior court, in a suit by the commonwealth, shall have jurisdiction in equity to restrain and enjoin any such person from performing such duties thereafter; provided, that any such restraining order or injunction shall be forthwith vacated if such conviction shall be set aside.
HISTORY:
1919, 191, § 1; 1948, 160, § 1; 1954, 584, § 1
NOTES:

EDITORIAL NOTE
The 1948 amendment broadened the section so as to penalize the use of any unlawful means in attempting the overthrow of government, state or federal; and forbade the performance of teaching and other duties in any educational institution by a person convicted of violation of the section.
The 1954 amendment changed the penalty in this section.

CROSS REFERENCES
Issuance of search warrants for books, etc., used for purposes specified in this section, see ALM GL c 276 § 1A.

FEDERAL ASPECTS—
Riots, 18 USCS § 2101.

TOTAL CLIENT-SERVICE LIBRARY REFERENCES—
70 Am Jur 2d, Sedition, Subversive Activities, and Treason §§ 101-109.
22 Am Jur Proof of Facts 563, Dismissal of Teachers for Cause.

ANNOTATIONS—
Pardon as restoring public office or license or eligibility therefor. 58 ALR3d 1191.
Supreme Court’s development of the "clear and present danger" rule and the related rule concerning advocacy of unlawful acts as limitations on the constitutional right of free speech and press. 38 L Ed 2d 835.

CASE NOTES

Admission that one is Communist may furnish "link in the chain of evidence" needed in prosecutions for conspiracy to violate statute of this type. Jones v Commonwealth (1951) 327 Mass 491, 99 NE2d 456.
Petition for writ of mandamus brought by five members of bar against members of commission established by General Court, praying that respondents be commanded to refrain from including in any report name of any individual concerning whom commission determined that it had received "credible evidence" that such individual was member of Communist Party, communist or subversive (on grounds that such disclosure would be tantamount to alleging violation of this section or of §§ 16-19, or §§ 21-23, and would be unconstitutional legislative determination of felony) was dismissed on ground that petitioners having disclaimed that they either had or would suffer any wrong peculiar to themselves had no standing, as members of general public, which entitled them to writ sought. Kaplan v Bowker (1956) 333 Mass 455, 131 NE2d 372.