(Wines&Vines) - A provincial court judge in Canada’s eastern province of New Brunswick has ruled in favor of a consumer intercepted bringing beer and spirits across provincial lines, something not permitted under Canada’s 88-year-old liquor laws.

Gérard Comeau, a retired steelworker, purchased 14 cases of beer and three bottles of spirits in Quebec in October 2012 and attempted bringing them home. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, legendary for always getting their man, intercepted him and confiscated the beverages because New Brunswick legislation lets consumers import just 12 pints of beer or a single bottle of wine or liquor.

Notably, the provincial limit is even tighter than federal importing rules, which allow Canadians to bring home 24 bottles (8.5 liters) of beer or two bottles (1.5 liters) of wine or a single 1.14-liter bottle of spirit from other countries.

Rather than pay the $300 (Canadian) fine (about $250 U.S.), Comeau, backed by a team of lawyers led by Ontario’s Arnold Schwisberg, challenged the law with the support of the Canadian Constitution Foundation. Schwisberg has long maintained that a legal challenge was the only way to put the law to the test, and have its validity in the current market assessed.

Schwisberg and other critics of the liquor law, enacted in 1928, argue that it violates section 121 of a much older piece of legislation, the British North America Act of 1867, which established Canada as a country. Section 121 provides for the free movement of goods between provinces, an activity that Canada’s liquor laws impede.

Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories are responsible for regulating liquor sales, and right now, that means that all alcoholic beverages must move through the hands of government and/or be subject to provincial markups. Consumers are technically not allowed to receive alcohol through the mail, unless provincial legislation provides for a personal use exemption, which, as the Comeau case illustrates, is typically severely limited.