Chapter 138

Section 1. The following words as used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, shall have the following meanings:— ''Alcohol'', all alcohol other than denatured alcohol or alcohol described in section three hundred and three A of chapter ninety-four. ''Alcoholic b…

Section 10. The following cities shall be exempt from the operation of the six preceding sections: First, cities having a licensing board or commission created by special statute or under the provisions of a charter. Second, other cities not having a board appointed under the ear…

Section 10A. The local licensing authorities shall file with the commission, on or before February fifteenth next following a license year in which the granting of licenses for the sale of any alcoholic beverage was authorized, a full report of their action during said license ye…

Section 10B. The commission shall have authority to declare the office of any member of a licensing board vacant regardless of how he was appointed, if he engages directly or indirectly in the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages in the event the local authority fails to ac…

Section 11. Except as hereinafter provided, the state secretary shall cause to be placed on the official ballot used in the cities and towns at each biennial state election the following subdivided question: If a majority of the votes cast in a city or town in answer to subdivisi…

Section 11A. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the city council of any city and the selectmen of any town shall, upon the filing with the city or town clerk of a petition signed by registered voters of such city or town equal in number to at least one per cent of the …

Section 12. A common victualler duly licensed under chapter one hundred and forty to conduct a restaurant, an innholder duly licensed under said chapter to conduct a hotel, a pub brewer, a continuing care retirement community and a keeper of a tavern as defined by this chapter, i…

Section 12A. No license issued under section twelve to conduct a restaurant shall be renewed unless and until the holder thereof shall satisfy the licensing authority that he is in good faith operating a restaurant and that such restaurant is provided with proper equipment for th…

Section 12B. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, no licensee, licensed under the provisions of section twelve, shall suffer or permit any person to appear on said licensed premises in any manner or attire as to expose to public view any portion of th…

Section 12C. (a) The commission may issue an annual caterer's license to an operator of a catering business for the sale and service of alcoholic beverages to be served and drunk on the premises where the operator caters a private event that is not open to the public; provided, h…

Section 12D. (a) In any city or town that accepts this section, the local licensing authority may allow any licensee that is licensed to sell only wines and malt beverages pursuant to section 12 to trade in said license and be issued a license to sell all alcoholic beverages purs…

Section 13. A railroad or car corporation operating any line of railroad or furnishing refreshments upon railroad cars within the commonwealth may sell, in any dining, club, buffet or lounge car, alcoholic beverages to be drunk in the cars, if the commission sees fit to issue a l…

Section 14. In a city or town wherein the granting of licenses to sell all alcoholic beverages or wines and malt beverages only is authorized under this chapter, special licenses for the sale of wines and malt beverages only, or either of them, may be issued by the local licensin…

Section 14A. The licensing authority in any city or town wherein the granting of licenses to sell all alcoholic beverages or wines and malt beverages only may grant licenses for the sale of wine, malt beverages and distilled spirits at auctions, not to be drunk on the premises, t…

Section 15. The local licensing authorities in any city or town which votes to authorize the granting of licenses for the sale of all alcoholic beverages, and such authorities in any city or town which votes to authorize the granting of licenses for the sale of wines and malt bev…

Section 15A. All applications for an original license under sections twelve and fifteen shall be made on a form or forms to be prescribed by the commission and shall include a sworn statement by the applicant giving the names and addresses of all persons who have a direct or indi…

Section 15F. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the local licensing authority of any city or town in which the granting of licenses to sell alcoholic beverages is authorized in this chapter may issue to an applicant a special license to sell at an indoor or …

Section 16. Any person holding a license under section twelve, thirteen, fourteen or fifteen who, directly or through any agent, employee or other person, dilutes or changes or in any manner tampers with any alcoholic beverage authorized to be sold under such license so as to cha…

Section 16A. Licenses issued under section twelve or fifteen shall be automatically renewed for the next annual license period upon application by the holder thereof during the month of November and shall be automatically renewed for a renewal of a seasonal license for the next s…

Section 16B. Applications for licenses or permits authorized to be granted by the commission shall be granted or dismissed not later than thirty days after the filing of the same, and, except as provided in section sixteen A, applications for licenses authorized to be granted by …

Section 16C. Premises, except those of an innholder and except such parts of buildings as are located ten or more floors above street level, located within a radius of five hundred feet of a school or church shall not be licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages unless the loc…

Section 17. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the number of licenses issued in any city or town under sections twelve and fifteen and in force and effect at any one time during any license year shall be limited as hereinafter provided: The local licensing authorities …

Section 17A. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, a local licensing authority which granted seasonal all alcoholic beverage or wine and malt beverage licenses as set forth in section twelve, on or before June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-fou…

Section 17B. In any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section, a local licensing authority which granted seasonal all alcoholic beverage or wine and malt beverage licenses as set forth in section fifteen, on or before June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-fo…

Section 17C. Any city or town, which has accepted the provisions of section seventeen A of chapter one hundred and thirty-eight of the General Laws, as appearing in section two of chapter three hundred and seventy-seven of the acts of nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, prior to …

Section 18. The commission may issue to any individual who is both a citizen and resident of the commonwealth, and to any ship chandler licensed under the provisions of section thirteen and to partnerships composed solely of such individuals, and to corporations organized under t…

Section 18A. The commission may issue to any individual who is both a citizen and resident of the commonwealth, or to any partnership composed solely of such individuals, or to any corporation organized under the laws of the commonwealth or organized under the laws of any other s…

Section 18B. The commission shall issue a certificate of compliance to a licensee having a place of business located, and a license granted, outside the commonwealth and whose license authorizes the exportation or sale of alcoholic beverages to licensees in this commonwealth; pro…

Section 18C. (a) The commission may issue to an individual who is both a citizen and resident of the commonwealth or to a corporation organized under the laws of the commonwealth whose directors are all citizens of the United States and a majority of them residents of the commonw…

Section 19. (a) The commission may issue to any individual who is both a citizen and resident of the commonwealth and to partnerships, composed solely of such individuals, and to corporations organized under the laws of this commonwealth or organized under the laws of any other s…

Section 19A. The commission may annually grant to individual citizens of the commonwealth employed as salesmen for licensees under section 18, 18A, 19B, 19C, 19D or 19E and to any individual employed as a salesman for a licensee under section eighteen who is also an officer, shar…

Section 19B. (a) For the purpose of encouraging the development of domestic vineyards, the commission shall issue a farmer-winery license to any applicant who is both a citizen and resident of the commonwealth, and to applying partnerships composed solely of such individuals, and…

Section 19C. (a) For the purpose of encouraging the development of domestic farms, the commission shall issue a farmer-brewery license to any applicant who is both a citizen and resident of the commonwealth and to applying partnerships composed solely of such individuals, and to …

Section 19D. (a) The commission shall issue a pub brewery license to an applicant who is a citizen or permanent legal resident of the commonwealth and to applying partnerships and to applying corporations organized under the laws of the commonwealth or organized under the laws of…

Section 19E. (a) For the purpose of encouraging the development of domestic farms, the commission shall issue a farmer-distillery license to an applicant who is both a citizen and resident of the commonwealth and to applying partnerships composed solely of such individuals, and t…

Section 19F. (a) For the purposes of this section, the term ''brand name'' shall include any wine exclusively produced by or for the winery and marketed under a different label owned by or registered to the winery. (b)(1) The commission may issue a direct wine shipper license pur…

Section 19G. (a) The commission may issue a tenant brewer license which authorizes the licensee to manufacture or package malt beverages on the premises of a host brewer to any individual applicant who is a resident and citizen of the commonwealth or to a corporation, partnership…

Section 19H. Notwithstanding section 17, a local licensing authority, subject to the approval of the commission, may grant a license under this section to any person that holds any combination of a farmer-winery license under section 19B, a farmer-brewery license under section 19…

Section 2. No person shall manufacture, with intent to sell, sell or expose or keep for sale, store, transport, import or export alcoholic beverages or alcohol, except as authorized by this chapter; but the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to sales, storage or transport…

Section 20. The commission may grant to any holder of a manufacturer's, farmer-winery, farmer-brewery or wholesaler's and importer's license under this chapter a permit to store in any city or town those alcoholic beverages which the licensees are authorized to manufacture, produ…

Section 20A. The commission may annually grant to a person or corporation licensed as a public warehouseman under section one of chapter one hundred and five, or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, a permit to store and warehouse alcoholic beverages, subject, however, to su…

Section 21. Every licensed manufacturer of alcoholic beverages or alcohol as defined in this chapter, and every winegrower under section nineteen B, and every farmer-brewer under section 19C, and every pub brewer under section 19D, and every holder of a wholesaler's and importer'…

Section 22. Any person may, but only for his own use and that of his family and guests, transport alcoholic beverages or alcohol, without any license or permit, but not exceeding in amount, at any one time, twenty gallons of malt beverages, three gallons of any other alcoholic be…

Section 22A. Upon payment of a fee to be fixed by the commission in each case and subject to such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, it may grant any permit referred to in section two or may grant to any holder or former holder of a license issued by the local licensing au…

Section 23. The terms licenses and permits, wherever employed as substantives in this chapter, are used in their technical sense of a license or permit, transferable only as provided in this chapter, and revocable by the granting authority, the commonwealth, acting through the sa…

Section 23A. Whenever the commission makes a finding that a holder of a license or permit issued under this chapter has violated any of the provisions of sections fourteen E to fourteen K, inclusive, of chapter ninety-three, the commission, for the first violation shall suspend s…

Section 23B. Any holder of a license issued under this chapter to do business on certain premises which are subsequently taken by public authority and who is required to remove his business from such premises shall not thereby be deprived of his license. Such licensee may apply t…

Section 24. The commission shall, in accordance with chapter thirty A and with the approval of the treasurer, make regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter for clarifying, carrying out, enforcing and preventing violation of, all and any of its provisions f…

Section 25. It shall be unlawful for any licensee under this chapter to lend or borrow money, directly or indirectly, to or from any other licensee under this chapter. It shall be unlawful for any licensee under this chapter to receive or extend credit, directly or indirectly, fo…

Section 25A. No licensee authorized under this chapter to sell alcoholic beverages to wholesalers or retailers shall— (a) Discriminate, directly or indirectly, in price, in discounts for time of payment or in discounts on quantity of merchandise sold, between one wholesaler and a…