Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XX Chapter 138
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 138, § 34B (2026)

Liquor purchase identification cards

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 34B. Any person who shall have attained age twenty-one and does not hold a valid operator's license issued by the registry of motor vehicles, pursuant to section eight of chapter ninety, may apply for a liquor purchase identification card. Such cards shall be valid for five years and shall be issued by the registry of motor vehicles pursuant to regulations prescribed by the registrar with the advice of the commission and shall bear the name, signature, date of birth, address and photograph of such person. The registry of motor vehicles shall require payment of a twenty-five dollar fee for any card issued pursuant to this section. A liquor purchase identification card issued by the registrar shall be labeled as ''Not for Federal Identification.

Any licensee, or agent or employee thereof, under this chapter who reasonably relies on such a liquor purchase identification card or motor vehicle license issued pursuant to section eight of chapter ninety, or on an identification card issued under section 8E of chapter 90, or on a valid passport issued by the United States government, or by the government, recognized by the United States government, of a foreign country, or a valid license to operate a motor vehicle issued by another state, or a Global Entry card issued by the United States Customs and Border Protection, or a valid United States issued military identification card, for proof of a person's identity and age shall not suffer any modification, suspension, revocation or cancellation of such license, nor shall he suffer any criminal liability, for delivering or selling alcohol or alcoholic beverages to a person under twenty-one years of age. Any licensee, or agent or employee thereof, under this chapter, who reasonably relies on such identification permitted under this section, for proof of a person's identity and age shall be presumed to have exercised due care in making such delivery or sale of alcohol or alcoholic beverages to a person under twenty-one years of age. Such presumption shall be rebuttable; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall affect the applicability of section sixty-nine.

Any person in a licensed premises shall, upon request of an agent of the commission or the local licensing authorities, state his name, age, and address. Whoever, upon such request, refuses to state his name, age or address, or states a false name, age, or address, including a name or address which is not his name or address in ordinary use, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.

Any person who transfers, alters or defaces any such card or license, or who makes, uses, carries, sells or distributes a false identification card or license, or uses the identification card or motor vehicle license of another, or furnishes false information in obtaining such card or license, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three months.

Any person who is discovered by a police officer or special police officer in the act of violating the provisions of this section may be arrested without a warrant by such police officer or special police officer and held in custody, in jail or otherwise, until a complaint is made against him for such offense, which complaint shall be made as soon as practicable and in any case within twenty-four hours, Sundays and legal holidays excepted.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1977–2021 · leading case: Howard Johnson Co. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm'n, 510 N.E.2d 293 (Mass. App. Ct. 1987).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Howard Johnson Co. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm'n, 510 N.E.2d 293 (Mass. App. Ct. 1987). · cites it 9× “The licensee based its defense on the provisions of G. L. c. 138, § 34B, as amended by St. 1979, c.”
Juliano v. Simpson, 461 Mass. 527 (Mass. 2012). “138, § 34A (imposing penalties on persons under age twenty-one years who purchase or attempt to purchase alcohol, including $300 fine and suspension of driver’s license for 180 days) 3 ; *541 G. L. c. 138, § 34B (imposing penalties on persons altering drivers’ licenses or liquor…”
Michnik-Zilberman v. Gordon's Liquor, Inc., 453 N.E.2d 430 (Mass. 1983). “G. L. c. 138, § 34B. A vendor may protect itself by maintaining a record of the identification card numbers, as well as the name, address, and age of any person with a youthful appearance to whom it sells liquor.”
Olde Towne Liquor Store, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm'n, 360 N.E.2d 1057 (Mass. 1977). “Nor need we consider the effect of a bona fide reliance on a liquor purchase identification card, G. L. c. 138, § 34B, as proof of age. Since these matters are not properly before us, we intimate no opinion on their resolution.”
Nunez v. Carrabba's Italian Grill, Inc., 859 N.E.2d 801 (Mass. 2007). “138, § 34A (persons under twenty-one years of age who attempt to purchase alcohol by misrepresenting their age shall be fined $300); G. L. c. 138, § 34B (persons who have reached age of twenty-one years may apply for liquor purchase identification card); G.”
eVineyard Retail Sales-Massachusetts, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm'n, 882 N.E.2d 334 (Mass. 2008). “To the extent that the safe harbor provisions would have protected Federal Express from liability under G. L. c. 138, § 34B, we see no reason why that protection would not ordinarily extend to the Internet seller (here, eVineyard), at least in the circumstances of this case.”
Murray's Liquors, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Comm'n, 717 N.E.2d 1035 (Mass. App. Ct. 1999). “As here relevant, the second paragraph of G. L. c. 138, § 34B, as amended by St. 1994, c.”
Thomas v. Ralph v. Civil Serv. Comm'n & Another., 100 Mass. App. Ct. 199 (Mass. App. Ct. 2021). “64C, § 8 (special police officer may make warrantless arrest for violation of laws regarding cigarette sales); G. L. c. 138, § 34B (special police officer may conduct warrantless arrest of person violating liquor purchase identification law); G.”
Commonwealth v. Jones, 483 N.E.2d 1117 (Mass. App. Ct. 1985). “See G. L. c. 138, § 34B. 3 Once the *912 defendant was lawfully in the police cruiser, the timing of the discovery of the gun was insignificant.”
Worcester Main South, Inc. v. Delgado, 14 Mass. L. Rptr. 425 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2002). · cites it 2× “at 11 ; see G.L.c. 138, §34B; see also Murray’s Liquors, Inc.”
Restivo v. Bd. of Appeal on Motor Veh. Liab. Policies & Bonds, 29 Mass. L. Rptr. 273 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2011). · cites it 4× “The plaintiff, Jessee Restivo, brings this action to appeal a decision by the Board of Appeal on Motor Vehicle Liability Policies and Bonds (the “Board") finding that the plaintiff violated G.L.c. 138, §34B. The Board ordered that the plaintiffs license would be restricted for a…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.