R.I. Gen. Laws
Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 3-12-3 (2026)

Entry on licensed premises — Arrest without warrant — Evidence of unlawful sales

✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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The mayor and council of any city, or the town council, or either member, or the chief of police of any city or town, or any police officer, or any town constable specially authorized by that city or town council, or any member of the division of state police, or agent of the department of business regulation and the division of taxation, may at any time enter upon the premises of any person licensed under this title to ascertain the manner in which that person conducts his or her business and to preserve order; and every chief of police, police officer, town constable or member of the division of state police, has the power to arrest, without a warrant, all persons found actually engaged, in the premises entered, in the commission of any offense in violation of any of the provisions of this title and to keep those persons arrested in custody until they can be brought before some magistrate (but for a period not to exceed twenty-four (24) hours) having the proper jurisdiction of that offense in that city or town to be dealt with according to law; and whenever any person is seen to drink any beverage in those premises, or in any part of those premises, on any days or hours prohibited, under this title, it is evidence that those beverages were sold and kept for sale by the occupant of those premises or his or her authorized agent.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 1958–1983 · leading case: Bd. of License Commissioners of Tiverton v. Pastore, 463 A.2d 161 (R.I. 1983).
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Bd. of License Commissioners of Tiverton v. Pastore, 463 A.2d 161 (R.I. 1983). · cites it 3× “1956 (1977 Reenactment) §§ 3-12-3 and 3-2-6 in support of this proposition.”
Kmiec v. Liquor Control Hearing Bd., 140 A.2d 133 (R.I. 1958). “1956, §3-12-3, and chap. 164, §6, as amended, now §3-3-2.”
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.