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

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 138, § 56 (2026)

Arrest without warrant of persons found in act of illegally manufacturing or selling alcoholic beverages; seizures

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

Section 56. A deputy sheriff, chief of police, deputy chief of police, city marshal, deputy or assistant marshal, police officer including a state police officer, or constable, or, in the county of Dukes or Nantucket, the sheriff anywhere within his county, or any investigator of the commission, may without a warrant arrest any person whom he finds in the act of illegally manufacturing, selling or exposing or keeping for sale, storing, transporting, importing or exporting alcoholic beverages or alcohol, and seize the said beverages or alcohol and any vessels and implements of manufacture or sale in the possession of such person, and detain them until warrants can be procured against such person, and for the seizure of said beverages or alcohol, vessels and implements, under this chapter. Such officers shall enforce or cause to be enforced the penalties provided by law against every person who is guilty of a violation of this chapter of which they can obtain reasonable proof, and shall make all needful and appropriate investigations for the said purpose.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1960–1997 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Howe, 540 N.E.2d 677 (Mass. 1989).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Commonwealth v. Howe, 540 N.E.2d 677 (Mass. 1989). · cites it 2× “) (deputy sheriff may, with warrant, arrest person whose assessed taxes remain unpaid after fourteen days); G.”
Commonwealth v. Baez, 678 N.E.2d 1335 (Mass. App. Ct. 1997). “Ill, §§ 96, 99, & 131 (under warrant, sheriffs may remove infected persons and goods to protect public health); G. L. c. 138, § 56 (1994 ed.) (deputy sheriff may arrest for “illegally manufacturing, .”
Commonwealth v. Ficksman, 166 N.E.2d 726 (Mass. 1960). “” G. L. c. 138, § 56. The commission or its agents may enter the premises of a licensee to ascertain the manner in which he conducts the business and to take samples for analysis.”
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.