No real estate shall be taken for public use by the formal vote or order of any board of officers except under this chapter or chapter eighty A, and no damages shall be assessed for the taking or seizure of property for a public purpose or for injury thereto by authority of law, except under this chapter or chapter eighty A, notwithstanding any general or special act hitherto enacted; provided, that nothing contained in this chapter or in chapter eighty A shall be construed as amending or in any way affecting chapter two hundred and fifty-three.
Massachusetts Legal Code