CHAPTER 95
FORMERLY HOUSE BILL NO. 192
AS AMENDED BY HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 1
AND SENATE AMENDMENT NO. 1
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 73, TITLE 16, DELAWARE CODE, BY CREATING A NEW SUBCHAPTER TO COVER THE OWNERSHIP, USE AND FILLING OF LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS CONTAINERS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware ( two-thirds of all Members elected to each branch thereof concurring therein):
Section 1. Chapter 73, Title 16, of the Delaware Code, is hereby amended by adding thereto a new subchapter, to be designated as Subchapter 11, to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER 11. LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS
CONTAINERS
§7310. Definitions
(a) The term "person" as used in this subchapter means any person, firm, or corporation.
() The term "owner" as used in this subchapter means any person who holds a written bill of sale under which title or ownership to a container was transferred to such person, or any manufacturer of a container who has not sold or transferred ownership thereof by written bill of sale.
(a) The term "liquefied petroleum gas" as used in this subchapter means any material which is composed predominately of any of the following hydrocarbons or mixtures of the same: propane, propylene, butanes (normal butane and isobutane) and butylenes.
§ 7311. Unlawful use, filling, refilling, etc. of containers
No person except the owner thereof or person authorized in writing by the owner shall fill or refill with liquefied petroleum
gas, or any other gas or compound, a liquefied petroleum gas container; or buy, sell, offer for sale, give, take, loan, deliver or permit to be delivered, or otherwise use, dispose of, or traffic in a liquefied petroleum gas container or containers if the container bears upon the surface thereof in plainly legible characters the name, initials, mark or other device of the owner; nor shall any person other than the owner of a liquefied petroleum gas container or a person authorized in writing by the owner deface, erase, obliterate, cover up, or otherwise remove or conceal any name, mark, initial or device thereon.
§ 7312. Presumptive evidence of unlawful use
The use of a liquefied petroleum gas container or containers by any person other than the person whose name, mark, initial or device is on the liquefied petroleum gas container or containers, without written consent, or purchase of the marked and distinguished liquefied petroleum gas container for the sale of liquefied petroleum gas or filling or refilling with liquefied petroleum gas, or possession of the liquefied petroleum gas containers by any person other than the person having his name, mark, initial or other device thereon, without the written consent of such owner, shall be presumptive evidence of the unlawful use, filling, or refilling, or trafficking in of such liquefied petroleum gas containers.
§ 7313. Arrest for violation
If any person or the president, secretary, treasurer, or other officer of any corporation mentioned in Section 7310 of this subchapter, or his duly authorized agent who has personal knowledge of the facts, makes oath in writing before any Justice of the Peace that the party making such affidavit believes that any of his liquefied petroleum gas containers marked with the name, initials, mark or any other device of the owner, are in the possession of or being used by or being filled or refilled by any person who is not the owner or agent of the owner, and who is in the possession of filling or refilling, or using any such containers without the written consent of the owner of the name, initials or trademark, the Justice of the Peace, when satisfied that there is probable cause, may issue a warrant and cause the person designated to be brought into court for the purpose of discovering and obtaining the container, and if the Justice of the Peace finds
that the person has been guilty of a violation of Section 7311 of this subchapter, he may impose the punishment herein prescribed, and he shall also award the possession of property acquired by such warrant to the owner thereof.
§ 7314. Penalty and jurisdiction
Any person who violates any of the foregoing provisions of this Section 7311 shall be guilty of a misdeameanor and upon conviction thereof may be punished by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or by a fine not exceeding $300, or by both such fine and imprisonment for each separate offense. Justices of the Peace shall have original jurisdiction over any such offense.
§ 7315. Disposition of fines and costs
The costs incurred in the enforcement of this subchapter shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as in other criminal cases, and all fines collected by virtue of this subchapter shall be turned over in the same manner and for the same purposes as criminal and misdeameanor fines are disposed of by law.
§7316.
Non applicability to small containers
Nothing in this subchapter shall apply to or shall be construed to affect a liquefied petroleum gas container having a total capacity of thirty pounds or less.
Approved May 27, 1971.