“Appellate division”, in the case of the district and Boston municipal court departments, the appellate divisions of such departments established by section one hundred and eight of chapter two hundred and thirty-one; in the case of the juvenile court department, those justices appointed by the chief justice to sit in one or more districts in panels of three justices in order to fulfill within such department the functions assigned by this chapter to the appellate division.

“Audit sheet”, a list of consecutive numbers assigned to the citations in a particular citation book or books, in such form as the registrar shall determine.

“Automobile law violation”, any violation of any statute, ordinance, by-law or regulation relating to the operation or control of motor vehicles other than a violation (1) of any rule, regulation, order, ordinance or by-law regulating the parking of motor vehicles established by any city or town or by any commission or body empowered by law to make such rules and regulations therein, or (2) of any provision of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine B. A recreation vehicle and a snow vehicle, both as defined in section 20 of chapter 90B, a motorized bicycle and motorized scooter, both as defined in section 1 of chapter 90, shall be considered a motor vehicle for the purposes of this chapter. A motor boat, as defined in section one of chapter ninety B, shall not be considered a motor vehicle for purposes of this chapter.

“Citation”, a notice upon which a police officer shall record an occurrence involving all automobile law violations by the person cited. Each citation shall be numbered consecutively and shall be in such form and such parts as determined jointly by the administrative justice of the district court department and the registrar.

“Citation book”, not less than twenty citations, stapled or bound together in book form. Each such book shall be consecutively numbered.

“Civil Motor Vehicle Infraction”, an automobile law violation for which the maximum penalty does not provide for imprisonment, excepting: (a) operation of a motor vehicle in violation of the first paragraph of section ten of chapter ninety; (b) a violation of section twenty-five of chapter ninety; and (c) any automobile law violation committed by a juvenile under the age of seventeen who does not hold a valid operators license.

“Criminal” shall include a delinquency matter under chapter one hundred and nineteen.

“District court”, a division of the district court department or a session thereof for holding court or a division of the Boston municipal court department or a session thereof for holding court. It shall also include the divisions of the juvenile court department with respect to automobile law violations that are treated as a delinquency matter in such department and with respect to civil motor vehicle infractions that are recorded in conjunction with and that arise from the same occurrence as automobile law violations that are treated as a delinquency matter in such department.

“Division”, a division of the district court department or juvenile court department or a division of the Boston municipal court department.

“Magistrate”, the clerk-magistrate of a district court, or an assistant clerk who has been designated as a magistrate pursuant to section sixty-two B of chapter two hundred and twenty-one. With the approval of the administrative justice of the department, in a particular division the term “magistrate” may include a justice.

“Police chief”, the chief or the head of the organized police department of a city or town, the commissioner of public safety, the colonel of state police, the state superintendent of buildings, the chairmen of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, such person as the trustees of the University of Massachusetts shall appoint as chief of the police officers appointed under section thirty-two A of chapter seventy-five, such persons as the commissioner of mental health may designate at each institution of the department of mental health, or as the commissioner of mental retardation may designate at each institution of the department of mental retardation as chief of the special police officers thereat appointed under section fifty-nine of chapter twenty-two C or the chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police department.

“Police officer”, any officer, other than an investigator or examiner of the transportation division of the department of telecommunications and energy, authorized to make arrest or serve criminal process, any person appointed by the registrar under section twenty-nine of chapter ninety, any person appointed by the trustees of the University of Massachusetts under section thirty-two A of chapter seventy-five, any person appointed by the trustees of Southeastern Massachusetts university under section seventeen of chapter seventy-five B and any person appointed by the colonel of state police under section fifty-nine of chapter twenty-two C.

“Registrar”, the registrar of motor vehicles.

“Scheduled assessment”, the amount of the civil assessment for a particular civil motor vehicle infraction, as established jointly by the chief justice of the district court department and the registrar. A scheduled assessment shall not exceed the maximum assessment or fine established by law for each such violation. A schedule of such assessments shall be visibly posted in each office of the registry of motor vehicles and in the clerk-magistrate’s office of each district court.

“Violator”, a person, corporation, society, association or partnership accused of an automobile law violation.

Last modified: March 27, 2006