It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth.

Any person seeking to get elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives must meet the following qualifications:[2] Originally,[when?]

The 5-foot-long (1.5 m) pine carving of the cod was offered by Representative John Rowe in 1784 in commemoration of the state's maritime economy and history.

Two previous carvings of the cod existed during the legislature's colonial era; the first destroyed in a fire in 1747, and the second during the American War of Independence.

The theft sparked a large statewide search by the Boston and Massachusetts State Police.