The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 9: Commerce and Trade

Chapter 089: Oils and Gasoline Receptacles

• Subchapter 001: Oils

• § 3341. Sale of certain illuminating oils prohibited

  A person shall not mix for sale naphtha and illuminating oils or sell or offer for sale such mixture, or sell or offer for sale, except for purposes of remanufacture, illuminating oils made from coal or petroleum products that have a flash point of less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. (Amended 1985, No. 65, eff. May 16, 1985.)

• § 3342. Penalties

  A person who violates a provision of section 3341 of this title shall be imprisoned not more than one month or fined not more than $100.00, or both. Such person shall also be liable to a person suffering damage from the explosion or ignition of such oil thus unlawfully sold, in a civil action on this statute.

• § 3343. Forfeiture of unlawful oils

  Such oil thus unlawfully sold, kept, or offered for sale, with the casks or packages containing the same, shall be forfeited and sold for the purposes of remanufacture. Half of the proceeds of such sale shall go to the State and the other half to the informer.

• § 3344. Sale of naphtha as illuminating oil

  A person who keeps or sells or offers for sale naphtha, under the name of oil, shall be liable to the penalties and subject to the liabilities contained in section 3342 of this title.

• § 3345. Inspectors

  The selectboard members of a town, or the trustees of a village, where oils are sold, upon the petition of five or more inhabitants, shall annually appoint one or more suitable persons, not interested in the sale of such oils, as inspectors thereof and fix their compensation, which shall be paid by the parties requiring their services.

• § 3346. Oath, duties, and liabilities of inspector

  Before entering upon the duties of his or her office, an inspector shall be sworn, and when called upon by a vendor, purchaser, or by any officer mentioned in section 3348 of this title, to test such oils, shall do so with reasonable dispatch by applying the fire test as indicated and determined by Tagliabue’s pyrometer, or some instrument equally accurate.

• § 3347. Fraud or negligence of inspector

  An inspector found guilty of fraud, deceit, or culpable negligence in inspecting such oils shall be imprisoned not more than one month or fined not more than $100.00, or both.

• § 3348. Prosecutions

  A selectboard member or a police officer of a town or trustee or a police officer of a village, in which such inspectors are appointed, shall cause persons violating the provisions of this chapter to be prosecuted therefor.

• Subchapter 002: Gasoline Receptacles

• § 3381. Labels and color of cans

  (a) A receptacle containing gasoline or benzol of capacity not more than five gallons, except a motor vehicle, motor boat, gasoline engine, gasoline stove or lamp, shall be painted red and be labeled “gasoline” or “benzol,” as the case may be, in letters of a contrasting color and of a height of not less than one-half inch, or shall bear a red label similarly lettered of sufficient size to be conspicuous. A person shall not keep gasoline or benzol in a receptacle not conforming to the requirements of this section.

  (b) A person who violates a provision of subsection (a) of this section shall be fined not more than $50.00. (Amended 2021, No. 20, § 31.)