Open Containers in Public
The vast majority of U.S. states and localities prohibit possessing and/or consuming an open container of alcohol in public places, such as on the street. However, the definition of "public place" is not always clear. California is unique in that it does have a state law on the books, but similar to states that have no law, the state law only applies to areas that the "city, county, or city and county have enacted an ordinance" in.
Open container restrictions are not always rigorously enforced, and open containers may in fact be legally permitted in nominally private events which are open to the public. This is especially true in downtown districts and during holidays and sporting events; see tailgate party.
Read more about this topic: United States Open Container Laws
Famous quotes containing the words open and/or public:
“A more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue. Then he is instructed in what is set above him. He learns that his being is without bound; that to the good, to the perfect, he is born, low as he now lies in evil and weakness.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
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—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910)