Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 46, § 6

Parents, within forty days after the birth of a child, and every householder, within forty days after a birth in his house, shall cause notice thereof to be given to the clerk of the town where such child is born. The commissioner of children and families, within forty days after the delivery or commitment of an abandoned child or foundling to the department of children and families, shall cause notice of the birth of such child or foundling to be given to the clerk of the town wherein such child or foundling was found. Every householder in whose house a death occurs and the oldest next of kin of a deceased person in the town where the death occurs shall, within five days thereafter, cause notice thereof to be given to the board of health, or, if the selectmen constitute such board, to the town clerk. The keeper, superintendent or person in charge of a house of correction, prison, reformatory, hospital, infirmary or other institution, public or private, which receives inmates from within or without the limits of the town where it is located shall, when a person is received, obtain a record of all the facts which would be required for record in the event of the death of such person, and shall, on or before the fifth day of each month, give notice to the town clerk of every birth and death among the persons under his charge during the preceding month. The facts required for record by section one or section one A, as the case may be, shall, so far as obtainable, be included in every notice given under this section.