dram-shop act

dram-shop act. A statute allowing a plaintiff to recover damages from a commercial seller of alcoholic beverages for the plaintiff’s injuries caused by a customer’s intoxication. — Also termed civil-liability act; civil-damage law. [Cases: Intoxicating Liquors 282–324. C.J.S. Intoxicating Liquors §§ 428–463.] “Largely at the behest of the temperance movement, statutes (called ‘dram shop acts’) […]

A statute allowing a plaintiff to recover damages from a commercial seller of alcoholic beverages for the plaintiff’s injuries caused by a customer’s intoxication. — Also termed civil-liability act; civil-damage law. [Cases: Intoxicating Liquors 282–324. C.J.S. Intoxicating Liquors §§ 428–463.]