Commonwealth v. Eakin

The defendants appealed from their convictions of 1991 violations of the State Building Code with respect to a house in Newton. The Appeals Court reversed those convictions because, in its view, the building inspector had not given the defendants adequate notice under G. L. c. 143, § 51, for many alleged code violations, setting forth “what changes are necessary to meet the requirements” of the building code. Commonwealth v. Eakin, 43 Mass. App. Ct. 693, 697-698 (1997), quoting § 51.

The case was presented to the trial court and to the Appeals Court on the assumption that the notice…