Commonwealth v. Rossi

53 Pa. Super. 210, 1913 Pa. Super. LEXIS 155
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided April 21, 1913·No. Appeal, No. 17·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Opinion by

Porter, J.,

The defendant was indicted and convicted, under, the provisions of the Act of May 13, 1887, P. L. 108, for selling intoxicating liquors without a license, in the county of Lawrence, Pennsylvania. He admitted at the trial that he had entered into contracts for the sale of such liquors to be delivered at the residences of the purchasers, in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, but asserted that such contracts had been made in the state of Ohio and had been executed by delivery of the liquors from his store in Ohio to the several purchasers in Pennsylvania. The evidence produced by the commonwealth was such as to warrant a finding that defendant visited the houses of residents of Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of soliciting orders for liquors, and at such residences, in Pennsylvania,‘'received and accepted orders for liquors, to be delivered by the defendant at the residences of the purchasers, in Pennsylvania. The one fact that was in dispute at the trial was whether the orders had been given by the purchasers and accepted by the defendant in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, or at the store of the defendant, in the state of Ohio. The verdict of the jury was in favor of the commonwealth upon this contention, and determines that the orders for the liquors were given by the purchasers at their residences, in the state of Pennsylvania, and were there accepted by the appellant. The orders thus given and accepted in Pennsylvania constituted the executory contract of sale. All the assignments of error involve the proposition that the state statute, as construed and applied by the court below, [216] is repugnant to the commerce clause of the constitution of the United States.

The Act of May 13, 1887, P. L. 108, entitled, “An Act to restrain and regulate the sale of vinous and spirituous, malt or brewed liquors or any admixture thereof” was enacted in the exercise of the police power of the commonwealth. As the subject dealt with is intoxicating liquors, the decision of the cause does not require us to determine whether the restraints which the statute imposes would be a direct burden on interstate commerce if generally applied to subjects of such commerce, but only to decide whether such restraints are a direct burden on interstate commerce in intoxicating liquors as regulated by congress in the act commonly known as the Wilson act, 26 Statutes at Large, 313, chap. 728, the text of which reads as follows: “That all fermented, or distilled, or other intoxicating liquors or liquids transported into any state or territory or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale or storage therein, shall upon arrival in such state or territory be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such state or territory enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such liquids or liquors had been produced in such state or territory, and shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced therein in original packages or otherwise.”

The executory contracts for the sales of liquors involved in this case were made in the state of Pennsylvania and those contracts provided for the delivery of the liquors by the defendant at the residences of the purchasers, in the state of Pennsylvania. A sale really consists of two separate and distinct elements; first, a contract of sale, which is completed when the offer is made and accepted; and, second, a delivery of the property which may precede, be accompanied by, or follow the payment of the price, as may have been agreed upon between the parties. The sales in this case appear to have been made upon credit, the defendant calling at the residences of his customers, [217] in Pennsylvania, upon the pay day following the delivery of the goods and there receiving payment. There was no controversy in the court below as to the manner in which the defendant complied with his agreement to deliver the liquors at the residences of his customers. He had a store in the state of Ohio and he there loaded the goods upon his own wagon and, either by himself or his employee, drove across the state line and delivered the goods to the purchasers at their residences in Pennsylvania, as by his contract he had undertaken to do. The contracts were made in Lawrence county, they were to be there executed, and the goods were delivered, as by contract required, in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania. These facts stamp the transactions as sales in the county of Lawrence, state of Pennsylvania: Com. v. Holstine, 132 Pa. 357; Com. v. Guinzburg, 46 Pa. Superior Ct. 488; Norfolk & Western Ry. Co. v. Sims, 191 U. S. 441. Were these sales, notwithstanding the provisions of the Wilson act, exempt from the police power of the state of Pennsylvania, because of the commerce clause of the constitution of the United States?

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Commonwealth v. Rossi, 53 Pa. Super. 210, 1913 Pa. Super. LEXIS 155 (Pa. Ct. App. 1913).

53 Pa. Super. 210 (Commonwealth v. Rossi) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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