RSA 179:2 · Seizure

179:2 Seizure. – Any beverage or liquor possessed, kept for sale, or transported in violation of the provisions of this title or any law of the state, together with the casks, bottles, or other paraphernalia used in such illegal possession, keeping, or transportation, shall be subject to seizure either upon a warrant issued upon a complaint against the person charged with violating the law, and containing a command for such seizure, or upon a libel directed against the property, filed in accordance with the provisions of RSA 617, and upon due proceedings may be adjudged forfeited. When any sheriff or deputy sheriff, duly appointed police officer or constable of any city or town, or other duly appointed law enforcement officer, shall discover any person in the act of transporting beverages or liquor in violation of this chapter or any other law of this state, in any wagon, buggy, automobile, watercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle, or any other conveyance, it shall be his duty to seize all beverage and liquor found therein being transported contrary to law. No officer shall, without a warrant, cause any automobile or other vehicle traveling upon a public highway in this state to be stopped for the purpose of searching the same for beverages or liquor unless he has reasonable cause to believe that such automobile or other vehicle is, at the time of said stopping or search, being used for the illegal transportation of beverage or liquor. Whenever beverage or liquor being illegally transported shall be seized by an officer he shall take possession of any vehicle, team, automobile, boat, aircraft, watercraft, or any other conveyance engaged in such illegal transportation, and shall arrest any person or persons in charge of such transportation. Such officer shall at once proceed against the person or persons arrested under the provisions of this chapter in any court having competent jurisdiction, and the vehicle or conveyance, on due proceedings in accordance with the provisions of RSA 617, may be adjudged forfeited, unless by intervention or otherwise at hearing, or in some other proceeding brought for the purpose, a lien or liens shall be established to have been created without notice that such vehicle was being used or was to be used for the illegal transportation of beverage or liquor. The vehicle may be ordered sold by the court, and the proceeds of the sale, after deducting the expenses of keeping and sale, used for the purpose of paying such liens in the order of their priority, and the balance disposed of as provided in RSA 179:3. If a lien or liens shall be established in excess of the value of such vehicle, the court shall order its surrender to the first lienholder upon payment of costs of seizure, but subsequent lienholders shall have the right of redemption in the order of their liens upon satisfaction of prior liens and charges, provided such right is asserted within such time as the court shall fix in its order of surrender. Source. 1990, 255:1, eff. July 1, 1990.

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