Title 11, Title 11 Offenses

(a) Whoever, without lawful authority, forcibly or secretly confines or imprisons another person within this state against his or her will, or forcibly carries or sends another person out of this state, or forcibly seizes or confines or inveigles or kidnaps another person with in…

(a) Any person who intentionally removes, causes the removal of, or detains any child under the age of eighteen (18) years, whether within or without the state of Rhode Island, with intent to deny another person’s right of custody under an existing decree or order of the family c…

(a) Any parent, or any person acting pursuant to directions from the parent, who shall, after being served with process in an action affecting the family, but prior to the issuance of a temporary or final order determining custody of a minor child, take or entice a child away fro…

Whenever a parent notifies a local or state police department that his or her minor child and the child’s other parent have been missing for at least one week and that their whereabouts are unknown, the police department shall immediately conduct an investigation to ascertain the…

Whoever, without lawful authority, forcibly or secretly confines or imprisons any child under the age of sixteen (16) years within this state against the child’s will, or forcibly carries or sends the child out of this state, or forcibly seizes, confines, inveigles, or kidnaps th…

(a) A person shall be guilty of a felony if that person attempts to persuade, or persuades a minor child under the age of sixteen (16) years, whether by words or actions or both, with intent to engage in felonious conduct against that child to either: (1) Leave the child’s home o…

Whoever commits any of the offenses mentioned in this chapter with intent to extort money or other valuable thing shall be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment for life or for any term not less than five (5) years.

Any violation of the provisions of this chapter may be alleged to have been committed, and the offender may be prosecuted and punished, in any county from, through, or into which he or she has transported or carried or caused to be transported or carried another, or in which the …

(a) An attempt to commit the crime of kidnapping of a minor means doing any act toward the commission of the offense of kidnapping of a minor, as set forth in § 11-26-1.4, but failing in the perpetration of the offense of kidnapping of a minor. (b) Whoever attempts to commit the …

(a) “Hold himself or herself out” as used in this chapter includes the following: the assumption, use, or advertisement of the title of lawyer, attorney, attorney at law, counselor, counselor at law, solicitor, or any term or terms conveying the idea that the person in connection…

No person or persons, except members of the bar, either in his, her or their own name or names or under any firm or trade name, shall furnish or agree to furnish legal advice, service or counsel, nor furnish or agree to furnish an attorney at law, nor advertise in any manner that…

Nothing in §§ 11-27-5 — 11-27-11 shall be construed to limit or prevent: (1) Clerks of court and recorders of deeds from the drafting of any legal instruments that may be necessary for the proper conduct and discharge of their respective offices and duties. (2) Clerks or register…

No person, except a duly admitted member of the bar of this state, whose authority as a member to practice law is in full force and effect, shall assume to be an attorney or counselor at law or hold himself or herself out in any manner to the public or to another person as being …

The provisions of §§ 11-27-1, 11-27-2, and 11-27-5 — 11-27-14 shall not apply to visiting attorneys at law, duly authorized to practice law before the courts of record in another state, while temporarily in this state on legal business, or while permitted to conduct or argue any …

Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon a first conviction, be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year, or fined not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or both. Any firm, corporation, or other entity violating any of the provisions of this …

(a) Nothing in §§ 11-27-2 — 11-27-11 or §§ 11-27-16 — 11-27-18 shall be construed to limit or prevent: (1) Any corporation, or its officers or agents, lawfully engaged in the insuring of titles to real property from conducting its business, and the drawing of deeds, mortgages, an…

Any corporation violating any of the provisions of §§ 11-27-3, 11-27-4, and 11-27-16 — 11-27-18 shall be fined not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), and every officer, director, trustee, agent, or employee of any corporation or association who, directly or indirectly, eng…

Nothing in §§ 11-27-1 — 11-27-17 shall be deemed to apply to the Legal Aid Society of Rhode Island, or be construed in any way as an attempt to affect or as affecting the right of the supreme court to regulate and discipline members of the bar for breach of their duties.

(a) There is established an unauthorized practice of law committee to be appointed by the supreme court consisting of any number that shall be determined by the supreme court. (b) It shall be the duty of the attorney general and the unauthorized practice of law committee to enfor…

“Practice law” as used in this chapter means the doing of any act for another person usually done by attorneys at law in the course of their profession, and, without limiting the generality of the definitions in this section, includes the following: (1) The appearance or acting a…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), any person, partnership, corporation, or association that receives any fee or any part of a fee for the services performed by an attorney at law shall be deemed to be practicing law contrary to the provisions of this chapter. (b) A lawyer…

The sending of a claim of a nonresident by a nonresident collection agency to an attorney at law in this state, who is to act solely as agent of the creditor and who is not to be subject to the direction or control of the collection agency, and who does not divide with the collec…

No person, except a duly admitted member of the bar of this state, whose authority as a member to practice law is in full force and effect, shall practice law in this state.

No person, who is not a member of the bar under § 11-27-5, shall receive any pay or compensation, directly or indirectly, except any forwarding fee of an attorney at law of another state, for any services of any legal nature that are usually done by attorneys at law pertaining to…

No attorney at law shall sell any writ of judicial process to any person, except to a member of the bar under § 11-27-5, nor shall he or she deliver any writ or judicial process to another person, and authorize him, her, or it to fill out and issue the writ or judicial process wi…

No person, partnership, corporation, or association shall act in any manner or in any capacity as an agent for an attorney at law in the solicitation or procurement of any law business, and every contract for professional services secured by an attorney at law through the service…

No insurance claim adjuster or claim agent of any insurance company or public utility corporation shall advise any claimant, who has suffered injury or damage to his or her person or property, or his or her parent, guardian, next friend or other personal representative in respect…

Every officer or other person receiving or having in his or her hands money belonging to the state that should be paid into the state treasury, shall pay that money to the general treasurer within seven (7) business days after he or she shall receive it or at any other times that…

Every officer who shall receive any fines, forfeitures, or penalties shall immediately pay them into the proper office where by law they ought to be paid. Every judicial, executive, or ministerial officer who shall refuse or neglect for three (3) months to pay over any fine, forf…

The presiding officer of any city council or town council who shall refuse or neglect, when acting as the presiding officer, to put to a vote of the body over which he or she presides any appeal made by a member of the body from any ruling of the presiding officer, or who, when t…

A deputy sheriff, town sergeant, city sergeant or constable, who shall receive from any defendant or any other person any money or other valuable thing as a consideration, reward, or inducement for omitting or delaying to perform any duty pertaining to his or her office, shall be…

Every person who shall voluntarily, maliciously or of purpose put out an eye, slit the nose, ear, or lip, or cut off, bite off, or disable any limb or member of another, shall be imprisoned not exceeding twenty (20) years nor less than one year.

For the purpose of this chapter and chapter 1 of title 10, the terms “nuisance or common nuisance”, “person”, or “place” are defined as follows: (1) “Nuisance” or “common nuisance” means and includes any place as defined in this section in or upon which lewdness, assignation, or …

All buildings, places, or tenements located within any town or city used by any club or other association, whether incorporated or not, for the purpose of selling, distributing, or dispensing intoxicating liquors to its members or others for beverage purposes, shall be deemed to …

Any person who shall use, occupy, establish, or conduct a nuisance, or aid or abet in it, either as principal or as the agent of any other person, shall be guilty of maintaining a nuisance and shall be enjoined as provided in chapter 1 of title 10.

All buildings, places, or lands used as slaughterhouses, rendering establishments, garbage plants, or brick kilns, and located within three hundred (300) feet of any public park or public hospital, are declared to be common nuisances. This section shall not apply to any slaughter…

No owner, lessee, or occupant of any land used or suffered to be used as a dumping ground shall burn or suffer to be burned on it, and no other person shall ignite or burn on it, any refuse or decaying animal, fish or vegetable substances, or any waste materials or substances of …

(a) All buildings, places, tenements, vehicles, or vessels used for the manufacture for sale, the transportation for sale, the sale, or the keeping for sale, of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes are declared to be common nuisances unless it shall be used, manufactured, ke…

Every person keeping or maintaining any common nuisance enumerated in § 11-30-1 shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), and be imprisoned not less than thirty (30) days nor more than three (3) years.

Every person keeping or maintaining any common nuisance enumerated in § 11-30-2, or aiding in so doing, shall for the first offense be punished by a fine of not more than six hundred dollars ($600), and for a second and each subsequent offense shall be fined not more than one tho…

It shall not be necessary to prove an actual sale of intoxicating liquors in any building, place, or tenement, in order to establish the character of such premises as a common nuisance as provided in § 11-30-2 The notorious character of any premises, the notoriously bad or intemp…

If any person, being a tenant or occupant under any lawful title of any building or tenement not owned by him or her, shall use the premises or any part for any of the purposes enumerated in §§ 11-30-1 and 11-30-2, that use shall annul the lease or other title under which the occ…

Every person who shall let any building or tenement owned by him or her or under his or her control, for any of the purposes enumerated in §§ 11-30-1 and 11-30-2, or who shall knowingly permit any building, tenement, or part of one to be so used while under his or her control, or…

The sheriffs of the several counties and their deputies, and the town sergeants, constables, and chiefs of police of the several towns and cities may, within their respective towns and counties, enter any house or building that they have cause to suspect to be inhabited for purpo…

Any of the officers referred to in § 11-30-8 may command aid in the execution of the authority conferred to them by that section.

(a) Every person who willfully or knowingly promotes for the purpose of commercial gain within the community any show, motion picture, performance, photograph, book, magazine, or other material which is obscene shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than one hu…