Home › Massachusetts › Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 270, § 14
Massachusetts · Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 270, § 14
Quote checked October 14, 2026 Text match only; current legal status and enforcement not verified.
“Whoever expectorates or spits upon any public sidewalk, or upon any place used exclusively or principally by pedestrians, or, except in receptacles provided for the purpose, in or upon any part of any city or town hall, any court house or court room, any public library or museum, any church or theatre, any lecture or music hall, any mill or factory, any hall of any tenement building occupied by five or more families, any school building, any ferry boat or steamboat, any railroad car or elevated railroad car, except a smoking car, any street railway car, any railroad or railway station or waiting room, or on any track, platform or sidewalk connected therewith, and included within the limits thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars.”
This section doesn't print a penalty of its own. Other parts of the General Laws of Massachusetts may set one; we haven't looked them up, so we don't state one here.
We didn't find a history note for this section on the official page, so we don't give a year.
Our reading
The list of places where you can't spit reads like a tour of an older Massachusetts: ferry boats and steamboats, elevated railroad cars, street railway cars, mills, music halls and the halls of tenement buildings occupied by five or more families. Railroad cars are covered with one exception, the smoking car. For the listed buildings, vehicles and other locations following the sidewalk and pedestrian-place clause, the text excepts receptacles provided for spitting. The fine is up to twenty dollars.
Written by Silly Rules from the quoted text above. It's a plain reading, not legal advice. We haven't researched how courts read this section or how often anyone enforces it.
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Every quote on this site was matched against its official page on October 14, 2026. Text match only; current legal status and enforcement not verified.