Betts v. State

1 Ohio App. 1, 15 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 501, 1913 Ohio App. LEXIS 258
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 14, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by73 cases

This text of 1 Ohio App. 1 (Betts v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Betts v. State, 1 Ohio App. 1, 15 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 501, 1913 Ohio App. LEXIS 258 (Ohio Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

[2]*2The case in the court of appeals was submitted on an agreed statement of facts, which shows that on August 10, 1912, the plaintiff in error, William Betts, was a bartender in the employ of the proprietor of a certain saloon located in the city of Nelsonville, Ohio, where intoxicating liquors were sold as a beverage, and that between 5.30 a. m. and 6 o’clock a. m. of said day said Betts entered the room in which said saloon was situated for the sole purpose of cleaning out said room, to have it in readiness at 6 a. m. to receive any customers that might apply for admission, and locked the door after him; that the plaintiff in error, besides cleaning out, chipped ice for the purpose of placing it upon his liquors for sale, which was also done prior to 6 o’clock a. m. on said morning; that said plaintiff in error did not, prior to 6 o’clock a. m. on said day, sell, offer for sale, furnish, or give away any liquor or other goods, nor did said Betts ■ permit any person to enter said place of business prior to 6 o’clock a. m. except a police officer, who entered upon official business.

Section 2 of the ordinance of said city reads as ' follows: “That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to cause, permit or allow any place where any intoxicating liquors are sold as a beverage, furnished or given away as a beverage, to be open or remain open between the hours of 10 p. m. of any day and 6 o’clock of the next succeeding day.”

This ordinance adopts the language of the statute in relation to Sunday closing and therefore any decisions upon the subject of Sunday closing wouid equally apply to this ordinance.

[3]*3The court is only required, therefore, to determine whether this section of the ordinance was violated, and we are called upon to give a construction to the same in the light of the agreed facts.

The learned counsel for plaintiff in error cites the case of Munsebrock v. State, 10 Dec. Re., 277 (19 Bull., 389), and seems to rely greatly upon it. It was decided in 1886 by Judge Robertson of the Hamilton county common pleas in the second syllabus as follows: “In the law against selling liquor on Sunday (85 O. L., 260) the prohibition against keeping ‘open’ means open in such a manner as to induce the public to enter, as on other days, and does not make penal the opening of the door under any and all circumstances.”

In the opinion, the following language is found: “The word [open] is to be construed reasonably in view of all the circumstances; and so construing the words in this statute, it would seem that keeping open such places on Sunday in such manner as to induce or permit the public to enter on Sunday as on other days of the week, or opening the place so as by implication to hold out that the place was open for the conducting of business or the sale of liquor, is within the prohibition of the act.”

This statement of the law was held to be incorrect by Noble, J., in Molitor v. State, 10 Dec. Re., 324 (20 Bull, 323), common pleas court, Cuyahoga county, the court holding that the offense is complete, irrespective of any inducement offered to the public to enter or any intention whatever on the part of the person so entering. This case was affirmed by both the circuit court and the supreme [4]*4court, the latter without opinion (3 O. C. D., 445, 6 C. C., 263).

Effinger v. State, 6 O. C. D., 417, 9 C. C., 376. In this case, Effinger, some members of his family and others, not members of his family, went into his saloon on Sunday to abate a nuisance which had been committed by his dog. No liquors were either drank or given away. It was held that the fact that he and others were in the saloon was prima facie a violation of the statute and it was not necessary to show sales or an intention to make sales and that the existence of a nuisance and the necessity for its removal must be shown by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. This case would seem to be indirect authority for the proposition that opening and entering is a violation of the statute.

People v. Waldvogel, 49 Mich., 337. This was decided by the supreme court of Michigan and the syllabus is as follows: “Act 259 of 1881 requiring saloons to be kept closed on Sunday is violated if a saloon is allowed to be open whether for the sale of liquor, for cleaning up, or for any other business purpose; and the question of the proprietor’s intent is immaterial.”

The defendant below in this case was in his saloon on Sunday and he and others assisting him were engaged in washing and cleaning the saloon. No liquor was sold nor was there any intention of selling any. The court was requested to instruct the jury that unless they found the defendant was in his place of business for the purpose of carrying-on his business of liquor selling, they must acquit; also that if they found he was there for the purpose [5]*5of cleaning out his saloon and not for dealing in liquor selling, the criminal intent is wanting and the defendant must be acquitted. These requests were refused, and the court instructed the jury that if the defendant kept his saloon open, or had it open so that the public could enter if they chose, he would be guilty. In the opinion the supreme court says: “The question of intent is wholly immaterial under the statute. The legislature, in order to guard against the danger of sales being made, has directed that the place where liquors are kept should be closed, so that no opportunity to violate, by making sales, should be afforded. The person who engages in the business of carrying on a saloon must at his peril see that no necessity exists for keeping the same open, by carrying on any other business therein, which would require the doors to be open or for persons to enter therein. * * * The places named must be closed and cannot by the proprietor thereof be kept open for any business purpose of any kind.”

This case was affirmed in People v. Higgins, 56 Mich., 159. In this case the court uses the following language in the opinion: “We held in People v. Waldvogel, 49 Mich., 337, that keeping a saloon open on Sunday, although for the purpose of cleaning or scrubbing it out, was a violation of the statute. There are no qualifying words in the statute, and no exceptions in favor of any business, whether foreign to the business of saloon keeping or not, the object of the statute being to cut off all subterfuges or excuses for violation of this statutory inhibition.”

[6]*6People v. Lundell, 136 Mich., 303. This was also a Michigan case and the syllabus of the same was as follows: “A person engaged in business in a building in which there was a saloon entered the saloon during prohibited hours to remedy a defeet in a water pipe, and prevent water from escaping into the basement. After being in, he, without request, * * * swept out the saloon, and then remained a few'minutes, talking with the barkeeper. Held, that the barkeeper, in permitting him to remain in the saloon after the time required to repair the water pipe, was keeping the saloon open contrary to law.”

In State v. Mathis, 20 Ind. App., 699, the court held that under Acts of 1895, page 248, Sections 3 and 10, providing for the regulation of sales of liquor, the permitting a person, not a member of the saloon proprietor’s family, to be in his place of business on Sunday is of itself an offense.

People v. Cummerford, 58 Mich., 328.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1 Ohio App. 1, 15 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 501, 1913 Ohio App. LEXIS 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/betts-v-state-ohioctapp-1913.