Md. Code, Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis § 4-905

This is the official text of Md. Code, Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis § 4-905, part of Maryland’s Code, Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis — regulates the sale and licensing of alcohol and cannabis.

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§4–905.

Official statutory text

(a) On the hearing of a petition under this subtitle, the court shall presume that the action of the local licensing board was proper and best served the public interest.

(b) A petitioner has the burden of proof to show that the decision of the local licensing board being reviewed was:

(1) against the public interest; and

(2) (i) not honestly and fairly arrived at;

(ii) arbitrary;

(iii) procured by fraud;

(iv) unsupported by substantial evidence;

(v) unreasonable;

(vi) beyond the powers of the board; or

(vii) illegal.

(c) A review of a decision of a local licensing board under this subtitle shall be heard by the court without a jury.

(d) The court may hear additional testimony to the extent and in the manner that is necessary if, in the opinion of the court:

(1) it is impracticable to determine the question presented to the court without the hearing of additional evidence;

(2) a qualified litigant has been deprived of the opportunity to offer evidence; or

(3) the interests of justice require that further evidence should be taken.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.