Definitions applicable to Secs. 81D to 81T
M.G.L. c. 112, § 81D
in effectc. 112, § 81D. Definitions applicable to Secs. 81D to 81T
Section 81D. The following words and phrases as used in sections eighty-one D to eighty-one T, inclusive, hereinafter referred to as said sections, shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:—
''Board'', the board of registration of professional engineers and of land surveyors, established by section forty-five of chapter thirteen.
''Professional engineer'', a person who, by reason of his special knowledge of the mathematical and physical sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design acquired by professional education and practical experience, is qualified to practice engineering, as attested by his registration as a professional engineer; provided, however, that registration as a professional engineer shall not qualify a person to practice as an engineer licensed under chapter one hundred and forty-six.
''Practice of engineering'', any professional service or creative work requiring engineering education, training and experience and the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences to such professional services or creative work as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, design and supervision of construction for the purpose of assuring compliance with specifications and design, in connection with any public or private utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, works or projects, but it shall not include the practice of architecture, as defined in section sixty A, except that a registered professional engineer may do such architectural work as is incidental to his work, nor shall it include the practice of land surveying, except that a registered professional engineer qualified in the branch of civil engineering may perform land surveying incidental to his engineering work for locating or relocating any of the fixed works embraced within the practice of civil engineering excluding property line determination.
A person shall be construed to practice or to offer to practice engineering who practices any branch of the profession of engineering; or who, by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card, or in any other way represents himself to be a professional engineer, or through the use of some other title implies that he is a professional engineer; or who holds himself out as able to perform, or who does perform any engineering service or work or any other professional service designated by the practitioner or recognized by educational authorities as engineering. The practice of engineering shall not include the work ordinarily performed by persons who operate, maintain or install machinery or equipment.
''Professional land surveyor'', a professional specialist in the technique of measuring land, educated in the basic principles of mathematics, the related physical and applied sciences, and the relevant requirements of law for adequate evidence and all requisite to the surveying of real property and engaged in the practice of land surveying.
''Practice of land surveying'', any service or work, the adequate performance of which involves the application of special knowledge of the principles of mathematics, the related physical and applied sciences, and the relevant requirements of law for adequate evidence to the act of measuring and locating lines, angles, elevations, natural and manmade features in the air, on the surface of the earth, within underground workings, and on the beds of bodies of water for the purpose of determining areas and volumes, for the monumenting of property boundaries, for locating or relocating any of the fixed works embraced within the practice of civil engineering, and for the platting, and layout of lands and subdivisions thereof, including the topography, alignment and grades of streets, and for the preparation and perpetuation of maps, record plats, field note records and property descriptions that represent these surveys.
A person shall be construed to practice or to offer to practice land surveying who engages in land surveying, or who by verbal claim, sign, letterhead, card or in any other way represents himself to be a land surveyor, or through the use of some other title implies that he is a land surveyor, or who represents himself as able to perform, or who does perform any land surveying service or work, or any other service designated by the practitioner which is recognized as land surveying.
Source: Massachusetts General Court (malegislature.gov)URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXVI/Chapter112/Section81DFetched: 10/20/2026