Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 160, § 76

No railroad corporation shall take by eminent domain or enter upon or use, except for making surveys, land or other property for the construction of its railroad or any branch or extension thereof until a sworn estimate of the total cost of constructing the same, prepared by its chief engineer, has been submitted to the department and approved by it; nor until the department is satisfied that an amount of the capital stock of the corporation equal to at least fifty per cent of such estimated cost has been actually subscribed by responsible parties without any condition which invalidates the subscription, and that twenty per cent of the par value of each share has been actually paid in, and that the authority and consent required by the preceding section have been obtained; nor until the clerk of the department, upon its order, has filed a certificate with the state secretary that this section has been complied with; nor until the corporation has paid to the state secretary a fee of fifty dollars for filing such certificate. The certificate of a master in chancery or a justice of a court of record for the county where a subscriber resides that he owns property in his own name equal in value, above all encumbrances, to the amount of his subscription shall be conclusive evidence of his responsibility. If the department refuses its approval to an estimate or a subscription list so submitted, it shall in writing state its reasons therefor in detail at the time and shall include them in its next annual report.