Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-84 Page: 3 of 5
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Honorable Doyle Willis - Page 3
the dissent quoted above and by the following language, which Attorney General
Opinion C-421 also relied on:
The purchase of a meal includes all the articles that go to
make up the meal. It is wholly immaterial that no specific price
is attached to those articles separately. If the meal included
intoxicating liquors, the purchase of the meal would be a
purchase of the liquors. It would be immaterial that other
articles were included in the purchase, and all were charged in
one collective price. If a dealer should undertake to present a
glass of liquor to everybody who should purchase some small
article of him, it would be considered a mere evasion of the law
prohibiting the unlicensed sale of intoxicating liquors ....
Attorney General Opinion C-421 at 4 (quoting Commonwealth v. Albert W
Worcester, 126 Mass. 256 (1879)) (emphasis in opinion); see also Annot., 89 A.L.R.
3d 551, 15, 21(c) (1979) (sale of liquor).
Attorney General Opinion C-421 is dispositive of your first question. A
restauranteur whose premises are in a dry area would violate section 101.31 of the
Alcoholic Beverage Code by giving wine to patrons during meals at his restaurant.'
You next ask whether a restauranteur would violate section 101.31 of the
Alcoholic Beverage Code by possessing alcoholic beverages in a dry area for the
purpose of use in cooking or preparation of meals sold to patrons. Section 1.04(1)
defines alcoholic beverage as follows:
In this code:
(1) "Alcoholic beverage" means alcohol, or any beverage
containing more than one-half of one percent of alcohol by
1We note that there is now an express statutory exception to the general prohibition found in
section 101.31 that authorizes the furnishing of alcoholic beverages in dry areas. In 1979, the
legislature amended the private club provisions of the code, found in chapter 32, to allow the "pool
system" of alcoholic beverage storage to be "used in any area" in private clubs. Acts 1979, 66th Leg., ch.
777, 8, at 1968; see now Alco. Bev. Code 32.06(a). A private club registration permit authorizes
alcoholic beverages to be stored and served on private club premises. Alco. Bev. Code 32.01. The
use of the pool system of storage allows a private club to be located in a dry area.p. 418
(DM- 8 4)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-84, text, January 30, 1992; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth273893/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.