City of St. Louis v. Liessing

89 S.W. 611, 190 Mo. 464, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 134
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 20, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 89 S.W. 611 (City of St. Louis v. Liessing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of St. Louis v. Liessing, 89 S.W. 611, 190 Mo. 464, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 134 (Mo. 1905).

Opinion

GANTT, J.

This is a prosecution by the city of St. Louis against the defendant, for violation of section 18 of ordinance 20808 of said city. The defendant was fined and appealed to the St. Louis Court of Criminal Correction. The third count in the information is as follows: “It is further charged that T. Liessing, the defendant aforesaid, on the 14th day of January, 1903, and on divers other days and times prior thereto, did, opposite 3027 S: Broadway, in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, then and there control, carry and expose for sale milk, which said milk did show on analysis less than seven-tenths of one per cent ash, the said ash being estimated by weighing the residue after incineration of the total solids at a dull red heat until all' the organic matter had been destroyed. Contrary to the ordinance in such cases made and provided.” A motion was made by the defendant to quash this information on twelve different grounds as follows:

[475]*475“1. Because the statement filed herein against the defendant charges the defendant with no violation of the city ordinance.
“2. Because the charge herein contained in said statement is so indefinite, vague and uncertain that no valid judgment can he rendered under the same against the defendant.
“3. Because the ordinance upon which the prosecution is based and predicated- is unconstitutional and void in that it is repugnant to the provisions of section 28, article 4, of the Constitution of the State-, and also of section 13, article 3, of the charter of the city of St. Louis in that said ordinance contains more than one subject and the subject-matter of said ordinance is not clearly expressed in the title to the same.
“4. Because. said ordinance is unconstitutional and void for the reason that the same is unreasonable in the provisions and it is practically impossible to comply with and enforce the same.
“5. Because said ordinance is unconstitutional and void for the reason that it is repugnant to section 4, article 2, and section 30, article 2, of the Constitution of this State, in that it deprives the defendant of his natural rights to liberty and enjoyment of the gains of his own industry and of his property and liberty without due process of law.
“6. Because the ordinance is unconstitutional and void in that it is inconsistent with the statutes of this State.
“7. Because said ordinance is unconstitutional and void in that it is beyond the power of the Municipal Assembly of the city to enact the same.
“8. Because said ordinance is unconstitutional and void in that the charter of the city of St. Louis contains no express grant to the Municipal Assembly of the city to enact the same.
“9. Because said laws and ordinance on which [476]*476this prosecution is based are void and unconstitutional in that they were enacted under and contain an unlawful delegation of power.
“10. Because the laws and ordinance in question are void and unconstitutional in that they are class legislation and provide for taxation under the form and name of a license.
“11. Because said ordinance as a whole- is void and in violation of section 28, article 3, of the charter of St. Louis, in that section 27 and 29 of said ordinance are in conflict with the general ordinance of a prior date, to-wit, article 9, chapter 11, of Ordinance 19991, which ordinance has not been repealed in express terms by the ordinance under which this prosecution is brought.
‘‘12. Because said ordinance is void and unconstitutional for the reason that it is repugnant to section 1, article 14, of the amendments of the Constitution of the United States in that it deprives the defendant of his liberty and property without due process of law and denies him the equal protection of the law. ’ ’

Section 18, of Ordinance 20808 of the city of St. Louis is as follows:

“Section 18. No milk shall be sold, kept, offered or exposed for sale, stored, exchanged, transported, conveyed, carried or delivered, or with such intent as afore.said be in the care, custody, control.or possession of anyone, unless it show on analysis not less than three per cent by weight of butter fat, eight and five-tenths per cent solids not fat, and seven-tenths of one per cent ash, of which fifty per cent shall be insoluble in hot water. Provided, however, that in contested analysis of milk condensed under this ordinance, butter fat shall be estimated gravimetrically by the Adams Paper Coil process; total solids by evaporation, and non-fatty solids by difference between total solids and butter fat, [477]*477and ash by weighing the residue after incineration of total solids at á dull red heat until all the organic matter is destroyed. Anyone violating any one of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each and every offense. ’ ’

The testimony of Milk Inspector Comer showed that the defendant was on the day charged in the information delivering milk in his regular milk wagon at 1227 South Broadway, St. Louis; the inspector “took a sample of milk from his wagon, ’ ’ or rather in his presence from the customer to whom he had just sold the same, and gave as a reason why he did not take it from the can in the defendant’s wagon was because the defendant dumped some cream into the can before the inspector could get a chance to take a sample out of the can. This sample, with proper precaution to preserve same in proper condition, was turned over to the city chemist for analysis on the same day within an hour or two. City Chemist Walter Bernays testified as to the identity of the sample, and that it was received by him on the same day it was taken by the inspector. About twelve o’clock he made the analysis, and testified that this milk contained ‘ ‘ sixty-five one hundredths per cent of ash.” Doctor Bernays described the method used to determine the ash as follows: “Weigh accurately a platinum dish, add approximately five cubic centimeters of milk, weigh the platinum dish plus the milk accurately; that gives the weight of the milk; evaporate in water both to apparent dryness brought to constant weight, thus determining the total solids. The dish containing the total solids is placed in a larger nickel dish and the whole heated at a low heat somewhat less than a dull red until all the organic matter is destroyed and the ash perfectly white. I tested the heat to see that there was no chloride of sodium and potassium. [478]*478I did this hy heating a weighted quantity of pure sodium chloride and potassium in the same manner and ascertained there was no loss of weight. ... In other words the method used for determining the ash is accurate; there is no loss.” He further testified that there was another method known, which, however, “is a modification of the same method in which before incineration some nitric acid is added to facilitate incineration” and that with this exception, “it is the same identical method.” On cross-examination he defined “ash” to be the mineral constituent of milk left after all the organic matter is destroyed by incineration.

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Bluebook (online)
89 S.W. 611, 190 Mo. 464, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-st-louis-v-liessing-mo-1905.