Commonwealth v. Harrar

12 Pa. D. & C.2d 341, 1957 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 284
CourtBucks County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedJune 28, 1957
Docketno. 4
StatusPublished

This text of 12 Pa. D. & C.2d 341 (Commonwealth v. Harrar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Bucks County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Harrar, 12 Pa. D. & C.2d 341, 1957 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 284 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1957).

Opinion

Biester, P. J.,

In this case defendant was convicted before a justice of the peace for failure to comply with the terms of an ordinance of Bensalem Township, this county, regulating soliciting and peddling within the township and requiring such solicitors and peddlers to obtain a license.

The conviction having been appealed, a hearing de novo was had by this court, at which the following facts were adduced: Defendant is an employe and divisional sales manager of C. W. Stewart and Company, a corporation of the State of New York with its principal office in the City of Newark, N. Y. At the time of his arrest, he, together with two other men, in furtherance of the business of C. W. Stewart and Company, were engaged in' visiting various homes in Bensalem Township, attempting to obtain orders for the sale of nursery stock. Such stock was not ready for immediate delivery, the purpose of the sales personnel being to obtain an appointment with a prospective customer, usually in the evening, so that both husband and wife would be available for the purpose of discussing possible purchases.

The language of the ordinance in question distinguishes between the terms “peddling” and “soliciting”. As to the former, it is defined as meaning “the selling or offering for sale of any goods, wares or merchandise for immediate delivery, which the person selling or offering for sale carries with him in travelling, or has in his possession or control.” From the above recited facts, it appears clear that defendant did not fall within this category.

The word “soliciting” as used in the ordinance is defined as meaning “the seeking or taking of contracts or orders for any goods, wares or merchandise for future delivery.”

Without detailing, the evidence presented, it appears clear that defendant was in violation of the sections of [343]*343the ordinance relating to soliciting and there is no serious contention on his part that his conduct was not violatory of the ordinance, since no license had been procured from the chief of police as required therein. The attack of defendant is not devoted to. a factual denial of the violation of the ordinance, but rather an attack upon the ordinance itself. Defendant’s first contention is that the ordinance constituted an unreasonable and unconstitutional interference with, and burden upon, interstate commerce in which defendant was admittedly engaged.

Although we must agree that the law on this question was for some time in a state of flux, there appears to now be reasonable certainty, especially since the decision of the District Court of the United States for the District of Wyoming in the case of Town of Green River v. Fuller Brush Co., 65 F. 2d 112 (1933). In that case the ordinance proscribed solicitors, peddlers, itinerant merchants and transient vendors of merchandise from going in and upon private residences in the town of Green River, Wyo., unless requested or invited to do so by the owner or occupant, declared such practice to be a nuisance and provided for a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100 in case of violation. The court held this ordinance to be an appropriate exercise of police power and was of the opinion that the ordinance and its enforcement did not interfere directly or indirectly with defendant’s rights, nor with interstate commerce. It cites with favor the case of Sligh v. Kirkwood, 237 U. S. 52, 35 S. Ct. 501, 503, in which it is said:

“Nor does it make any difference that such regulations incidentally affect interstate commerce, when the object of the regulation is not to that end, but is a legitimate attempt to protect the people of the'State-. .- .
“So it may be taken as established that the mere fact [344]*344that interstate commerce is indirectly affected will not prevent the State from exercising its police power, at least until Congress, in the exercise of its supreme-authority, regulates the subject. Furthermore, this regulation cannot be declared invalid if within the range of the police power, unless it can be said that it has no reasonable relation to a legitimate purpose to be accomplished in its enactment; and whether such regulation is necessary in the public interest is primarily within the determination of the legislature, assuming the subject to be a proper matter of state regulation.”

Since this decision a number of cases have followed the same reasoning, attention being particularly directed to Town of Green River v. Bunger, 50 Wyo. 52, 58 P. 2d 456, and Breard v. City of Alexandria, 341 U. S. 622 (1951). In the latter case, dealing with an ordinance similar to that dealt with in the Green River case, the United States Supreme Court, in an opinion delivered by Justice Reed, held that such an ordinance does not violate the commerce clause, does not deprive peddlers and canvassers of their livelihood nor unconstitutionally abridge freedom of speech or of the press.

We see no occasion to treat further of this part of the problem, for the present ordinance is much less stringent than the so-called Green River ordinance and is equally applicable to both residents of this State and nonresidents thereof.

The case of Larsen v. City of Colorado Springs, 142 F. Supp. 871 (1956), is, however, worthy of note because of the factual situation presented in that case and its similarity to the one now before us.

Appellants were salesmen and solicitors in the employ of Kaufman Window Company. As employes of the company it was their practice to visit various homes in Colorado Springs and' request an appointment with the occupants of the house in order to dis[345]*345cuss possible sales and purchases of one or more of their products. If it was indicated there was no interest in the matter, the agent pursued it no further. If interest was expressed, an appointment was made. In no event was there a sale attempted on the occasion of the first visit, which had as its only purpose the arrangement of an appointment. The court discusses the case of Town of Green River v. Bunger, supra, in which the factual situation is somewhat the same and approves of the language of the court in that case to the following effect:

“ ‘We should not give the ordinance a construction that will permit solicitors to create the annoyance by entering homes for the purpose of soliciting orders, and then evade the penalty by showing that all they asked for in the beginning was an invitation to solicit orders. The solicitation of the invitation was not a purpose in itself, but a step in carrying out the purpose to solicit orders. Defendant’s conduct falls both within the reasonable meaning of the terms, and within the spirit and scope, of the ordinance. . . .’ ”

The court concludes, at page 874:

“In the opinion of this Court, the prohibition contained in Section 1 of the subject ordinance against ‘soliciting orders for the sale of goods, wares, and merchandise . . .’ adequately prohibits the conduct of these plaintiffs in their solicitation of invitations to call later to solicit orders for their employer’s products.”

For a complete discussion of the various cases treating of this subject, attention is directed to 35 A. L. R. 2d 355.

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Related

Sligh v. Kirkwood
237 U.S. 52 (Supreme Court, 1915)
Martin v. City of Struthers
319 U.S. 141 (Supreme Court, 1943)
Breard v. Alexandria
341 U.S. 622 (Supreme Court, 1951)
Town of Green River v. Fuller Brush Co.
65 F.2d 112 (Tenth Circuit, 1933)
Zeloyle v. Bettor
91 A.2d 901 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1952)
Commonwealth v. Paul
111 A.2d 374 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1955)
Western Pennsylvania Restaurant Ass'n v. Pittsburgh
366 Pa. 374 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1951)
Adams v. New Kensington
55 A.2d 392 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1947)
William Laubach & Sons v. Easton
32 A.2d 881 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1943)
Haller Baking Co. v. Rochester Borough
180 A. 108 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1935)
Grant v. Philadelphia
24 A.2d 650 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)
Bussone v. Blatchford
67 A.2d 587 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1949)
Town of Green River v. Bunger
58 P.2d 456 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1936)
Commonwealth v. Brinton
18 A. 1092 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1890)
Brazier v. Philadelphia
64 A. 508 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1906)
Kittanning Borough v. American Natural Gas Co.
86 A. 717 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1913)
Warren v. Philadelphia
115 A.2d 218 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1955)
Commonwealth v. Gardner
19 A. 550 (Schuylkill County Court of Quarter Sessions, 1890)
Lassen v. City of Colorado Springs
142 F. Supp. 871 (D. Colorado, 1956)

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Bluebook (online)
12 Pa. D. & C.2d 341, 1957 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-harrar-paqtrsessbucks-1957.