Maine Disorderly Conduct Laws: Penalties, Trespass and Purple Paint

Maine makes disorderly conduct a Class E crime under 17-A MRSA 501-A, punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, and every form of the offense carries that same grade. Criminal trespass under 17-A MRSA 402 is a Class E crime in most forms and Class D for entering a dwelling place, and aggravated criminal trespass under section 402-A is Class C, punishable by up to 5 years.

Maine is also a purple paint state: a landowner can post land with paint marks instead of signs. For other states, see our guide to disorderly conduct and trespass laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-18. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Maine's state criminal statutes on disorderly conduct (17-A MRSA 501-A), related offenses in chapter 21 of the Criminal Code (Offenses Against Public Order), public drinking (17 MRSA 2003-A), and criminal trespass (17-A MRSA 402, 402-A and 404), with the Title 12 hunting trespass rules and the Title 17 vehicle-trespass rules. It does not cover local noise ordinances and quiet hours (see Maine noise laws), the procedure for removing squatters (see Maine squatters' rights), use of force against an intruder (see Maine self-defense laws), civil trespass lawsuits, local ordinances, or rules for federal property.

What counts as disorderly conduct in Maine

Section 501-A has four clauses, each with its own place and mental-state requirement.

A. Noise, odors or fighting in a public place. In a public place, the person "intentionally or recklessly causes annoyance to others by intentionally" making loud and unreasonable noise (including noise from consumer fireworks), activating a device or exposing a substance that releases noxious and offensive odors, or "engaging in fighting, without being licensed or privileged to do so."

B. Fighting words, in public or private. "In a public or private place, the person knowingly accosts, insults, taunts or challenges any person with offensive, derisive or annoying words, or by gestures or other physical conduct, that would in fact have a direct tendency to cause a violent response by an ordinary person in the situation of the person so accosted, insulted, taunted or challenged."

C. Noise from a private place after an officer's order. In a private place, the person makes loud and unreasonable noise that can be heard by another person, who may be a law enforcement officer, as unreasonable noise in a public place or another private place, "after having been ordered by a law enforcement officer to cease the noise."

D. Taunting mourners. On or near property where a funeral, burial or memorial service is being held, the person knowingly accosts, insults, taunts or challenges any person in mourning and in attendance with unwanted, obtrusive communications by offensive, derisive or annoying words, gestures or other physical conduct "that would in fact have a direct tendency to cause a violent response by an ordinary person in mourning." The clause sets no distance or time window.

The noise clauses are covered in more depth on our Maine noise laws page.

Public and private places

For section 501-A only, a "public place" is "a place to which the public at large or a substantial group has access," including public ways as defined in section 505, schools and government-owned custodial facilities, and "the lobbies, hallways, lavatories, toilets and basement portions of apartment houses, hotels, public buildings and transportation terminals." A "private place" is "any place that is not a public place" (17-A MRSA 501-A(2)).

Is disorderly conduct a misdemeanor? The penalty

"Disorderly conduct is a Class E crime." (17-A MRSA 501-A(3))

Maine's Criminal Code grades crimes by class, A through E. A Class E crime carries up to 6 months (17-A MRSA 1604(1)(E)) and a fine of up to $1,000 (17-A MRSA 1704(5)). Section 501-A has no violation tier and no higher-class form, so every clause carries the same maximum.

Related public-order offenses in Maine

Chapter 21 of the Criminal Code (sections 501 to 517) contains no loitering, prowling, affray or breach of the peace offense; the former section 501 was repealed in 2007. Among the offenses it does contain are the following.

Failure to disperse, riot and unlawful assembly

• Failure to disperse (17-A MRSA 502): "When 6 or more persons are participating in a course of disorderly conduct likely to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm," an officer may order the participants and others in the immediate vicinity to disperse. Knowingly failing to comply is a Class D crime for a participant and a Class E crime for a person in the immediate vicinity.
• Riot (17-A MRSA 503): together with 5 or more other persons, engaging in disorderly conduct with intent imminently to commit or facilitate a crime involving physical injury or property damage against non-participants, or when the person or another participant, to the person's knowledge, uses or intends to use a firearm or other dangerous weapon. Riot is a Class D crime; the section has no higher grade.
• Unlawful assembly (17-A MRSA 504): assembling with 5 or more others with intent to engage in conduct constituting a riot (or remaining at an assembly that develops that purpose with intent to advance it), and knowingly failing to comply with an officer's order to disperse. It is a Class E crime.

A Class D crime carries "less than one year" of imprisonment (17-A MRSA 1604(1)(D)) and a fine of up to $2,000 (17-A MRSA 1704(4)).

Obstructing public ways

Under 17-A MRSA 505, a person is guilty of obstructing public ways if the person "unreasonably obstructs the free passage of foot or vehicular traffic on any public way and refuses to cease or remove the obstruction upon a lawful order to do so given to that person by a law enforcement officer." Both elements are required. It is a Class E crime.

False public alarms and reports

Under 17-A MRSA 509(1), knowingly giving false information to law enforcement officers or to 9-1-1 or emergency communications centers, false information about a fire, explosive or similar substance, or a false report of an emergency to an ambulance service or emergency agency is a Class D crime. It becomes aggravated false public alarm or report, a Class C crime, if "the violation causes the evacuation, shutdown or lockdown of a building, school, public square or park, place of assembly or public transportation facility" (509(3)). A Class C crime carries up to 5 years and a fine of up to $5,000 (sections 1604(1)(C) and 1704(3)).

Threats are a separate crime. Terrorizing under 17-A MRSA 210 is intentionally, knowingly or recklessly communicating a threat to commit a crime of violence dangerous to human life, consciously disregarding a substantial risk that the natural and probable consequence of the threat, "whether or not such consequence in fact occurs," is to put the person in reasonable fear that the crime will be committed (Class D) or to cause the evacuation of a building, place of assembly or facility of public transport, or the moving or keeping of a building's occupants in a designated secured area (Class C, up to 5 years and up to $5,000).

Police standoffs and emergency orders

• Creating a police standoff (17-A MRSA 517): a person who is barricaded by the person's own actions, is or claims to be armed with a dangerous weapon, is instructed by law enforcement to leave, and fails to leave within half an hour commits a Class E crime.
• Emergency orders (37-B MRSA 786(1)): during an emergency, "failure to comply with any just or reasonable order relative to enforcement from a duly appointed law enforcement officer is a Class E crime."

Cemeteries and memorials

Intentionally or knowingly destroying, defacing or removing a memorial or cemetery enclosure is a Class D crime under 17-A MRSA 507-A, and possessing or selling illegally removed gravestones is a Class C crime under section 507-B. Desecration of a public monument, place of worship or burial is a Class D crime under section 507, as is abuse of a corpse under section 508.

Public intoxication and public drinking

Being intoxicated in public is not itself a crime in Maine: the former public intoxication section of Title 17, section 2001, is repealed, and section 2005 now defines "public intoxication" only for record-keeping by law enforcement agencies. The remaining offense is public drinking:

"A person is guilty of public drinking if the person drinks liquor in any public place within 200 feet of a notice posted conspicuously in the public place by the owner or authorized person that forbids drinking in the public place or after being forbidden to do so personally by a law enforcement officer, unless the person has been given permission to do so by the owner or authorized person." (17 MRSA 2003-A(2))

Public drinking is a Class E crime (17 MRSA 2003-A(4)).

Chapter 21 also contains harassment offenses (sections 506 and 506-A) and violation of a protective order (section 506-B). For assault offenses, see Maine assault laws.

Criminal trespass in Maine

Section 402 has no numbered degrees. A person commits criminal trespass if, "knowing that that person is not licensed or privileged to do so," the person does one of six things, and each paragraph sets its own class (17-A MRSA 402(1)):

1. Enters any dwelling place: Class D.
2. Enters any structure that is locked or barred: Class E.
3. Enters posted or fenced land: enters any place from which the person may lawfully be excluded and that is posted under subsection 4, "or in a manner reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders," or is fenced or otherwise enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders: Class E.
4. Stays after being told to leave: "Remains in any place in defiance of a lawful order to leave that was personally communicated to that person by the owner or another authorized person": Class E.
5. Enters after being told not to enter: enters any place in defiance of a lawful order not to enter that was personally communicated by the owner or another authorized person: Class E.
6. Cemeteries at night: enters or remains in a cemetery or burial ground between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise, unless visitors are permitted at those hours by municipal ordinance or, for a privately owned cemetery, by posting: Class E.

Aggravated criminal trespass

Under 17-A MRSA 402-A, a person who, knowing he or she is not licensed or privileged to do so, enters a dwelling place and either (A) "while in the dwelling place violates any provision of chapter 9 or chapter 11" (the assault and sexual assault chapters) or (B) has 2 or more prior convictions for any combination of the listed offenses, burglary in a dwelling place or criminal trespass in a dwelling place, commits aggravated criminal trespass, a Class C crime (up to 5 years and $5,000). It is the highest grade of trespass in the code.

What counts as notice: signs and purple paint

Notice can come from signs, paint, fencing, any posting "reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders," or an order to leave or not to enter that the owner or another authorized person communicates personally (17-A MRSA 402(1)(C) to (E)). Signs or paint marks indicate that access is prohibited, prohibited without permission, or prohibited for a particular purpose.

Maine's paint rule is in section 402(4)(B-1):

"Paint markings made pursuant to this paragraph mean that access is prohibited without permission of the landowner or the landowner's agent. Paint markings made pursuant to this paragraph must consist of a conspicuous vertical line at least one inch in width and at least 8 inches in length and must be placed so that the bottoms of the marks are not less than 3 feet from the ground or more than 5 feet from the ground at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching the property and no more than 100 feet apart. Paint markings may be placed on trees, posts or stones as described in this paragraph."

Section 402(4)(C) adds that "signs or paint must mark the property at intervals no greater than 100 feet and at all vehicular access entries from a public road." Signs or paint are required only on the portion of the property where access is prohibited or limited (402(4)(D)). A landowner who posts with paint and intends to bar access without permission, or for a particular purpose, may state that by one or more qualifying signs in a prominent place, which need not be posted at 100-foot intervals (402(4)(D-1)). Under section 402(4), proof that an intruder actually saw a sign or paint mark "gives rise to a permissible inference" under Maine Rule of Evidence 303 that it was posted in a manner reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders. The statute leaves the color to the Bureau of Forestry. Maine Forest Service Rule 01-669, chapter 24 (Boundary Paint Marking Standards, effective April 9, 2012) requires paint "of a quality sufficient for long term exterior exposure" in "the color OSHA Safety Purple, or a close match thereto," and provides that "paint markings must be maintained so as to be conspicuous at all times."

Posting someone else's property with a sign or paint mark without the owner's permission, or removing, mutilating, defacing or destroying a sign or paint mark placed under section 402, is criminal mischief subject to prosecution under 17-A MRSA 806 (section 402(4)(E)).

Trespass by motor vehicle

Under 17-A MRSA 404, a person who, knowing there is no right to do so, intentionally or knowingly permits a motor vehicle belonging to or controlled by that person to enter or remain on the residential property of another, on nonresidential property of another for a continuous period of more than 24 hours, or on nonresidential property that is posted under section 402(4), posted against motor vehicles, or posted in a manner reasonably likely to come to an intruder's attention, commits trespass by motor vehicle, a Class E crime. Title 17's trespass chapter adds three vehicle rules, separate from the crime in section 404. Parking that blocks or interferes with the free passage of other vehicles on a private drive or way without the owner's permission, or parking on a public highway so as to block the entrance to a private driveway, gate or barway, is a civil violation with a fine of not less than $500 (17 MRSA 3853-C). Operating a motor vehicle, including an all-terrain vehicle but not a snowmobile, on farmland, forest land or a public easement and in fact damaging or destroying crops, forest products, personal property or roads there is a Class E crime; the section does not apply to the landowner or to people the landowner permits, among other listed exceptions (17 MRSA 3853-D). Willfully permitting motor vehicles, motor-driven cycles or livestock onto a public beach, shore or bank without a municipal permit is trespass punishable by a fine of up to $20, up to 30 days, or both (17 MRSA 3853-A).

Hunting, fishing and wildlife preserves

Title 12 has its own trespass rule for people engaged in activities regulated under its Part 13, such as hunting. Under 12 MRSA 10657, such a person may not, knowing they are not licensed or privileged, enter or cause a projectile to enter posted or fenced land, or enter or remain in defiance of a personally communicated order not to enter or to vacate. A person who violates the section "commits a civil violation for which a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500 may be adjudged"; after 3 or more adjudicated civil violations under that Part within the previous 5 years, it is a Class E crime. An administrative penalty under 12 MRSA 10902-A may be imposed instead, and a person who receives one is not also convicted or adjudicated under section 10657 for that violation (10657(4)).

A separate section, 12 MRSA 10657-A, makes it a civil violation to turn a hunting dog loose in pursuit of a bear, coyote, bobcat, fox or raccoon onto another's property when the landowner or agent has personally told a dog handler that hunting dogs are not wanted there, or when the property is posted (unless a handler has the landowner's express permission), or in a way that lets the dog onto property where a hunting dog was previously found and a handler was notified in writing by a law enforcement officer within the previous 365 days that the landowner does not permit hunting dogs. The fine is $250 to $500, or $500 to $1,000 for a violation within 365 days after a prior adjudication. On conviction or adjudication, the commissioner must revoke the person's dog training and hunting permit (12 MRSA 10902(7-D)).

Under 17 MRSA 3859, willfully and knowingly hunting on unimproved land devoted to wildlife preservation and owned by a Title 13, chapter 81 corporation, with all boundaries posted with signs at least every 50 feet, is punishable by a fine of not more than $50.

Squatting and evictions

Squatter removal in Maine runs through the civil forcible entry and detainer chapter of Title 14 (chapter 709), and 14 MRSA 6014 bars a landlord from denying a tenant access to rented premises "other than through proper judicial process." See Maine squatters' rights for that procedure. Questions about removing an intruder or defending property are covered on the Maine self-defense laws page.

Trespass versus burglary

Burglary under 17-A MRSA 401(1)(A) requires entering or surreptitiously remaining in a structure, knowing the person is not licensed or privileged to do so, "with the intent to commit a crime therein." That base form is a Class C crime.

Maine disorderly conduct and trespass penalties at a glance

Imprisonment limits come from 17-A MRSA 1604 and fine limits from section 1704. For the full class table, see Maine felony and misdemeanor classes.

Federal law separately governs conduct on federal property and at the U.S. Capitol; the disorderly conduct and trespass laws by state hub covers that layer.

Recent changes

• Public Law 2025, chapter 167 amended section 509, the false public alarm or report statute; its current text covers false information given to 9-1-1 or emergency communications centers.
• Public Law 2023, chapter 430 also amended section 509.
• Public Law 2023, chapter 519 amended section 210 (terrorizing).
• Public Law 2021, chapter 510 amended section 501-A; the current noise clauses expressly include noise from consumer fireworks.
• The trespass sections have not been amended recently: section 402 was last amended in 2013 (the paint-marking rules were added by Public Law 2011, chapter 432), section 402-A in 2007 and section 404 in 2001.

Related Maine laws

• Disorderly conduct and trespass laws by state
• Maine noise laws
• Maine felony and misdemeanor classes
• Maine squatters' rights
• Maine self-defense laws
• Maine assault laws
• New Hampshire disorderly conduct and trespass laws

This article provides general legal information about Maine's disorderly conduct, public-order and criminal trespass statutes as of 2026-10-18. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Maine.

Last updated: 2026-10-18.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is disorderly conduct in Maine?

Under 17-A MRSA 501-A, it covers intentionally or recklessly annoying others in a public place by loud and unreasonable noise, noxious odors or fighting; fighting words or gestures; loud private-place noise after an officer orders it stopped; and taunting mourners at a funeral, burial or memorial service.

Is disorderly conduct a misdemeanor in Maine?

Maine grades crimes by class. Disorderly conduct is a Class E crime in every form (17-A MRSA 501-A(3)), punishable by up to 6 months (section 1604) and a fine of up to $1,000 (section 1704).

Can you get disorderly conduct for swearing in Maine?

Section 501-A(1)(B) reaches knowingly accosting, insulting, taunting or challenging a person with offensive, derisive or annoying words or gestures that would in fact have a direct tendency to cause a violent response by an ordinary person in that person's situation, in a public or private place.

Is public intoxication illegal in Maine?

Being intoxicated in public is not itself a crime; the former public intoxication section, 17 MRSA 2001, is repealed. Public drinking under 17 MRSA 2003-A is a Class E crime when it happens within 200 feet of a conspicuously posted no-drinking notice or after an officer personally forbids it, unless the owner gave permission.

Is trespassing a felony in Maine?

Ordinary criminal trespass is Class E, or Class D for a dwelling place. Aggravated criminal trespass (17-A MRSA 402-A) is a Class C crime, punishable by up to 5 years and $5,000, when a person enters a dwelling place and commits a chapter 9 or chapter 11 offense inside, or has 2 or more prior dwelling burglary or trespass convictions.

Does Maine have a purple paint law?

Yes. Under 17-A MRSA 402(4)(B-1), paint marks are vertical lines at least 1 inch wide and 8 inches long, with the bottom 3 to 5 feet above the ground, no more than 100 feet apart. Maine Forest Service Rule 01-669 chapter 24 requires OSHA Safety Purple or a close match, and section 402(4)(C) requires marks at all vehicle entries from a public road.

What happens if a store or owner tells me to leave in Maine?

Remaining in any place in defiance of a lawful order to leave that was personally communicated by the owner or another authorized person is criminal trespass under 17-A MRSA 402(1)(D), a Class E crime. Entering after a personally communicated order not to enter is a Class E crime under 402(1)(E).

Is parking on someone else's property trespassing in Maine?

Under 17-A MRSA 404, a person who, knowing there is no right to do so, intentionally or knowingly lets a vehicle the person controls enter or remain on another's residential property, on nonresidential property for more than 24 hours, or on posted nonresidential property commits trespass by motor vehicle, a Class E crime. Title 17 also makes it a civil violation, with a fine of not less than $500, to park so as to block a private drive or way without the owner's permission or to block the entrance to a private driveway, gate or barway from a public highway (17 MRSA 3853-C).