BOSTON — The state’s highest court ruled yesterday that it had no authority to force lawmakers to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but it still criticized them for not acting.

Opponents of same-sex marriage had collected 170,000 signatures to get an amendment on the 2008 ballot that would define marriage in Massachusetts as between a man and a woman, but their effort still needed the support of a quarter of the Legislature.

When lawmakers failed to vote on the question in November, the governor and angry opponents sued.

They asked the court to clarify whether the state’s constitution required lawmakers to vote on a proposal that was sent to the legislature by a voter petition drive. The Supreme Judicial Court determined it could not force a vote.

“Beyond resorting to aspirational language that relies on the presumptive good faith of elected representatives, there is no presently articulated judicial remedy for the Legislature’s indifference to, or defiance of, its constitutional duties,” the court wrote.

The same court had ruled in 2003 that the state constitution guaranteed gays the right to marry.

In the lawsuit, gay marriage opponents, including Governor Romney, argued that the people’s will was being thwarted and that lawmakers were violating their right to petition for a constitutional amendment.

They argue that it should be left to the people to define something as important to society as marriage. Supporters say the civil rights of a minority shouldn’t be put to a popular vote.