Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-609

Opinion No. 609 Beer-Resiaurant-Public Place -Licenses. HELD; The drinking of beer ill a public place, such as a restaurant, which has no license to sell heer, is in no. manner forbidden. September 2, 1934. You ask whether or not it. is legal for a person to buy beer from a licensed dealer and take same into restaurant which does not have a license and con- sume same with meals purchased at said restaurant. Such a procedure does not violate any provision of the Montana law and is entirely permissible. Under the law as originally enacted (Chapter 106, Laws of 1933) it wus provided that it was unlawful for any person to drink beer in any public place, with certain exceptions. (Section 39.) But Section 20 of Chapter 46, Laws of Extraordi- nary SeSSion, 1933-34, repealed this Section 39 of said Chapter 106. As the sale of beer for consumption off the premises is e.,"l)fessly authorized by Section 10 of Chapter 46, Laws of Extraordina 1'y Session, 1933-34, and as the same statute expressly repeals that provision forbidding its public con- sumption, the conclusion is clear that drinking of beer in a public place such as a restaurant which has no license to sell beer. is in no manner forbidden. The bee I', of course, must have heen purchased from a licensed dealer.