Commonwealth v. Percival

11 Pa. Super. 608, 1899 Pa. Super. LEXIS 186
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided November 20, 1899·No. Appeal, No. 165·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Opinion by

Beaver, J.,

The jury in this case returned, under the instruction of the court below, the following special verdict: “The defendant is .a resident of the city of Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylva[611] nia, is engaged and has a place of business in said city, No. 221 N. Eighth street, where he carries on a business of a jeweler and watchmaker; purchases the movements, dials, springs, hands and cases separately, assembles these several parts and puts them into a marketable condition as watches. During the summer season he goes from place to place selling these watches privately and by auction and in the course of his travelings he visited Mount Gretna, in the count}* of Lebanon, on August 18, 1898, where he sold several of these watches at private sale and by outcry to competitive' bidders at public auction; that the several watches herewith brought into court and made a part of this special verdict are similar to the watches sold by him on the above mentioned date at Mount Gretna. If, under the above facts and the Act of Assembly, approved April 2, 1830, P. L. 147, sec. 2, which is made a part of this verdict, the court is of the opinion that the above act of assembly is constitutional and that the defendant has violated any of the provisions thereof, then we find the defendant guilty in manner and form as he stands indicted, otherwise not guilty and the county to pay the costs of prosecution.” Upon consideration of these facts, the court below entered judgment for the commonwealth and the defendant was duly sentenced.

Two questions are raised by the appellant: First, that he has not violated the Act of April 2, 1830, P. L. 147, because he is a manufacturer of goods, wares and merchandise within .this commonwealth and has, therefore, a right under the act to expose the products of his own manufacture to sale by vendue .or outcry; and, second, that the act is unconstitutional.

A manufacturer, as defined by Bouvier, is “ one engaged in the business of working raw materials into wares suitable for use.” This definition is practically recognized in Commonwealth v. Gormly, 173 Pa. 586. It is true that in that case the main question for consideration was whether or not the defendant was a dealer in goods, wares and merchandise within the meaning of the laws which impose a mercantile license tax. The defendant there was a plumber who purchased and assembled and put together the various parts of steam heating apparatus. As is said by Mr. J ustice Green in his opinion, “ For instance, a complete steam heating apparatus requires boilers, radiators, pipes, valves, one or more furnaces and other articles [612] to make a complete work. Some of these things might be obtained from one dealer and others from other dealers, but the ultimate thing which the defendant supplies to his customer is not the thing that he bought. His own work too must be added — a necessary and expensive part of the completed whole, as all persons know who have such bills to pay.” The defendant in that case was held to be “ neither a manufacturer nor a dealer in the strict sense of the latter term.” In the case under-consideration, the defendant assembled and put together the-various parts of a watch. He made none of them. He expended no labor upon them to fit them for their place. He purchased no part of any of them as raw material. Each particular part of the finished watch was in itself a finished product. Much less is he^a manufacturer in contemplation of the act under-consideration with the facts in the case stated than the plumber in the case above recited.

The contention as to the unconstitutionality of the law is that it offends against the federal constitution in regard to interstate commerce. Legislation in regard to hawkers and peddlers began very early in the history of our commonwealth. The preamble to the Act of March 30, 1784, 2 Sm. L. 99, is as follows : “ Whereas many idle and vagrant persons may come into this state and, under pretense of being hawkers or peddlers, may greatly impose upon many persons in the quality and price-of goods and also may commit felonies and other misdemeanors: For preventing such inconveniences and evil practices- and to the end that no person may be permitted to follow the business of hawkers or peddlers within this state but those who are of known honesty and civil behaviour,” and then follow the provisions of the act. There seems to have been in 1830 a return of the apprehension of the legislature as to the evils which might, follow indiscriminate hawking and peddling and, therefore, the Act of February 6, 1830, P. L. 39, relating to tin and clock peddlers, and the act under consideration for regulating hawkers -and peddlers, passed the same year. It is very evident, from a consideration of the preamble to the act of 1784 and of the acts themselves, that the legislature had in mind the regulation of hawking and peddling under the police power of the state which rested in it. These various acts have received judicial construction and have uniformly been regarded by the-

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Commonwealth v. Percival, 11 Pa. Super. 608, 1899 Pa. Super. LEXIS 186 (Pa. Ct. App. 1899).

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