R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-1-12

This is the official text of R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-1-12, part of Rhode Island’s Gen. Laws — part of the compiled statutory law of Rhode Island, published by the state as "Gen. Laws." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 4-1-12. Entry of premises where bird or animal fights are conducted €” Arrest €” Seizure of birds or animals.

Official statutory text

Any deputy sheriff, town sergeant, town constable, police officer, or any officer authorized to serve criminal process may enter any place, building, or tenement anywhere within the state where there is an exhibition of the fighting of birds or animals, or where preparations are being made for that exhibition, and, without a warrant, arrest all persons present and take possession of the birds or animals engaged in fighting and all birds or animals found there and intended to be used or engaged in fighting. Those persons shall be kept in custody in jail or other convenient place not more than twenty-four (24) hours, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, at or before the expiration of which time those persons shall be brought before a district court or the superior court and proceeded against according to law.

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.