Massachusetts General Laws Part III. Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases (Ch. 211-262) Ch. 218, § 60

Within the territorial limits prescribed in section fifty-seven, the divisions of the juvenile court department shall have and exercise jurisdiction, exclusive of all municipal and district courts, over cases of juvenile offenders under age seventeen and cases of neglected or delinquent children, and over proceedings referred to it under the provisions of section four A of chapter two hundred and eleven. In addition to the powers conferred in section ten of chapter two hundred and eleven B, the chief justice for the juvenile court department may, from time to time, provide procedural forms and make general rules and issue standing orders in reference to practice and procedure for the conducting of business in the juvenile court department, subject to the approval of the supreme judicial court. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, said chief justice may make and promulgate rules providing for the transfer of petitions brought in the Boston court of the Suffolk county division of the juvenile court department under sections thirty-nine E to thirty-nine I of chapter one hundred and nineteen for hearing in other courts of the Suffolk county division of the juvenile court department as may be appropriate.