City of Montpelier v. Mills

85 N.E. 6, 171 Ind. 175, 1908 Ind. LEXIS 112
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJune 12, 1908
DocketNo. 21,099
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 85 N.E. 6 (City of Montpelier v. Mills) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Montpelier v. Mills, 85 N.E. 6, 171 Ind. 175, 1908 Ind. LEXIS 112 (Ind. 1908).

Opinions

Montgomery, J.

Appellee was charged before the mayor of the city of Montpelier with selling intoxicating liquors without a license, in violation of a city ordinance. A trial resulted in a judgment in favor of appellee, from which [176]*176the city appealed to the circuit court, where a retrial was had with the same result.

It is alleged that the circuit, court erred in overruling appellant’s demurrer to the fourth, eighth and ninth paragraphs of answer, and also erred in the conclusions of law stated- upon the special finding of facfe.

The questions raised by appellant’s demurrers to the fourth, eighth and ninth paragraphs of answer are covered by its exception to the conclusions of law announced upon the special finding of facts, and the merits of the controversy can best be determined upon the special findings and conclusions of law stated.

The facts specially found by the court were, in substance, as follows: On July 17, 1906, the common council of the city of Montpelier passed an ordinance to regulate and license the sale of intoxicating liquors, the first section of which defined the business district and prohibited the sale of intoxicating liquors in the residence and suburban parts of the city. Sections two and three were as follows:

“Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any person directly or indirectly, to sell, barter or give away, any spirituous, vinous or malt liquors, or to suffer the same to be drunk in his business room, house, outhouse, yard, garden, or the appurtenances thereto belonging in said city or within two miles of the corporate limits thereof without having first procured from the common council of said city a license to sell such liquor, as hereinafter provided.
Section 3. Every person desiring to make application for a license to sell spirituous, vinous or malt liquors to be drunk on the premises where sold, in said city or within two miles of the corporate limits thereof, shall give notice that he will make such application to the common council of said city, by publication of said notice for twenty days in some newspaper of general circulation printed and published in said city, which notice may be combined with the notice required by law to be given of intention to make application to'the board of county commissionex’s for a county license to sell such liquors; he shall present his application to the common [177]*177council at a regular session thereof and shall offer and present the same proof required by law to be made before the board of county commissioners on application-for a county license to sell such liquors, and he shall conform to and comply with all rules, regulations, requirements, resolutions and ordinances’of such common council, concerning the application for and granting of such licenses, which are now in force or which may hereafter be adopted by it. ’ ’

Section four provided that upon the granting of such license the applicant should pay to the city treasurer $250 as a fee therefor, and on presenting a receipt for such payment the city clerk should issue a license, to be signed by the mayor and clerk, authorizing the licensee to sell intoxicating liquors for one year at the place described in his application, and for issuing the license the clerk should charge and collect a fee of $1.

Section five made it unlawful to permit any game of chance or skill in such place, or in any room connected therewith, or to keep any wine-rooms, or to suffer any female of bad repute for virtue to loiter in any room where intoxicating liquors were sold, or in any room connected therewith.

Section six was as follows:

“Any person viojating any of the provisions of this, ordinance shall be fined in any sum not less than $10, nor more than $50.”

Section seven provided that the ordinance should take effect from and after its passage and approval,'and publication for two weeks in the Evening Herald.

The ordinance was duly passed, approved by the mayor and published as provided, and no part of the same had been repealed.

On February 9, 1907, appellee, in the city of Montpelier, sold one gill of whisky to Pat Whalen, at and for the price of ten cents, and suffered the same to be drank on the prem[178]*178ises where sold; and at that time appellee had no license from said city to sell intoxicating liquors in less quantity than five gallons, to be drank on the premises where sold, as required by said ordinance. Appellee is a male inhabitant of said city, over thirty years of age, and not in the habit of becoming intoxicated, and for five years last past has been a bona fide resident and taxpayer of the city of Montpelier, Blackford county, Indiana. On January 9, 1907, and more than twenty days before the regular February term of the Board of Commissioners of the County of Black-ford, appellee caused notice to be published in the Hartford City Telegram, a weekly newspaper of general circulation, printed and published in said county, of his intention to make application to said board of commissioners at the February term, 1907, for a license to sell intoxicating liquors in a less quantity than five gallons at a time, with the privilege of allowing the same to be drank on the premises where sold, and, combined therewith, he gave notice of his intention to make application to the common council of the city of Montpelier, at its regular meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in February, 1907, for a license to sell such liquors in like quantities and with the privilege of allowing the same to be drank on the premises, which were specifically described. On February 4, 1907, pursuant to said notice, appellee appeared before the board of commissioners, submitted his proofs, and was duly granted, a license for one year to sell intoxicating liquors in accordance with his application. • He paid the license fee, and a license was regularly issued to him. On January 31, 1907, he filed his application for license with the city clerk of the city of Montpelier, accompanied by said notice and proof of publication of same, and on February 5, 1907, pursuant to said application and notice, appellee appeared before the common council of said city, while in regular session, and offered to introduce evidence of his qualifications for, and right to, a license to sell intoxicating liquors in accordance with his application, and [179]*179further offered proof that the room and premises described were within the business district of the city of Montpelier as defined by section one of the license ordinance, but the common council refused to permit appellee to submit his proofs and evidence, and refused to hear his said application. On February 6, 1907, and before the commencement of this action, appellee tendered to the treasurer, the clerk and the mayor of said city $250 in gold coin of the United States, as a fee for a city license to retail intoxicating liquors in accordance with the terms of his application, and tendered the sum of $1 as a clerk’s fee for the issuance of such license, and demanded that the same be issued to him, but said treasurer, clerk and mayor each refused to accept the money so. tendered or to give a receipt for the same, and refused to deliver, or cause such license to be delivered, to him. Thereupon he deposited said money with the cashier of the First National Bank of Montpelier, subject to the order of said city or its officials, and notified said - treasurer of such deposit.

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Bluebook (online)
85 N.E. 6, 171 Ind. 175, 1908 Ind. LEXIS 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-montpelier-v-mills-ind-1908.