Everhart v. People

54 Colo. 272
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJanuary 15, 1913
DocketNo. 6549
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 54 Colo. 272 (Everhart v. People) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Everhart v. People, 54 Colo. 272 (Colo. 1913).

Opinion

Mr. Justice White

delivered the opinion of the court:

An information in two counts was filed against plaintiff in error, upon which he was tried and • convicted. The first count was under section 1791, R. S., 1908, and charged that he “unlawfully did keep and exhibit a certain gaming table, establishment, device and apparatus, * * * to win and gain money by gambling,” etc. The second count was under section 1792, R. S., 1908, and charged that he “unlawfully did play at a game for a sum of money or other property of value, and did make a bet and wager for a sum of money or other property of value, upon the result of such game,” etc.

The proven or admitted facts are: that plaintiff in error made books and sold pools upon certain horse races held under the auspices of the Overland Jocky Club at Overland Park race tracks, in the city and county of Denver on a certain day. Preceding the running of each race the plaintiff in error entered the names of the horses competing in the race, upon a blackboard placed upright upon a table or platform prepared for that purpose, adjoining the grand stand at the race tracks; and, in conjunction with others employed for the purpose, received the money bet upon the races, giving in exchange therefor cards upon which was recorded the bet; and, after the result of each race, paid the sums won to the winners, upon presentation and surrender of the cards, keeping the balance,

Much of the argument of counsel is predicated upon the assumption that in order to sustain the judgment of conviction, it is essential to hold that horse racing is unlawful within the intent of these statutes. The assumption is erroneous and [274]*274-cannot be upheld. Neither the keeping or exhibiting of a gaming table, establishment, device or apparatus, nor the playing ■at a game is prohibited. On the contrary, such things, as far as these sections of the statute are concerned, may be done with impunity. It is only when such tables, etc., are kept or ■exhibited to win or gain money or property, or when the play at a game is for a sum of money or other property, or a bet is made upon the result of such’game that the acts become unlawful and the doers thereof subject to punishment. Moreover, there can be a game without the element of either chance or hazard. A game is any sport or amusement, public or private. It includes physical contests whether of' man or beast, when practiced for the purpose of deciding wagers or- for the purpose of diversion, as well as games of hazard or skill by means of instruments or devices. — Boughner v. Meyer, 5 Colo. 71, 74; Corson v. Neatheny, 9 Colo. 212.

As defined in the Century dictionary, it is “a contest for ■success or superiority in a trial of chance, skill or endurance, or of any two or all three of these combined: as, a game at ■cards, dice, or roulette; the games of billiards, draughts, and dominoes; athletic games; the floral games. The games of ■classical antiquity were chiefly public trials of athletic skill and endurance, as in throwing the discus, wrestling, boxing, leaping, running, horse and chariot-racing, etc.” — Desgain v. Wessner, 161 Ind. 205; People v. Weithoff, 51 Mich. 203.

A horse race, according to the weight of authority, though there are decisions to the contrary, is a game within the meaning of the statutes against gaming. — 20 Cyc., p. 884; Thrower v. State, 117 Ga. 753; Swigart v. People, 154 Ill. 284.

Whether it is such within the meaning of the sections under consideration, we must now determine. In Corson v. Neatheny, supra, we held that a horse race was a game within the intent of section 1796, R. S., 1908, citing: Boughner v. Meyer, supra; Talman v. Strader, 23 Ill. 493; Shropshire v. Glascock et al., 4 Mo., 536; Boynton v. Curle, Id. 599.

[275]*275Boughner v. Meyer, supra, involved the validity of a check, the consideration of which was a wager as to whether a certain execution issued upon a judgment would or would not be collected. Section 1796, supra, was quoted and the question propounded; “Was the consideration of the check won by any gaming within the meaning of the section above quoted?” We then said: “If the wager was upon any game, the check is absolutely void in the hands of every holder. Horse-racing had been decided to' be gaming within the intent of the language here used. * * * ’ But a wager as to whether an execution can be collected, we are constrained to conclude, cannot be considered as a wager upon any game.” It was unnecessary to, and we did not determine therein, whether horse racing is a game within the meaning of that word as used in the section. We, nevertheless, declared that it had been so decided, citing Tatman, v. Strader, supra; Shropshire v. Glasscock, supra; Boynton v. Curle, supra. But in Corson v. Neatheny, supra, we referred to the Boughner-Meyer case, and the authorities therein cited, and expressly held that horse racing is gaming within the intent of the section. That the case might have been decided exactly as it was, as claimed by plaintiff in error, does not render the holding obiter. The decision was based upon the applicability of the statute, and, therefore, determined that horse racing is a game, and betting thereon is gaming, within the meaning of the section.

As the section of the statute involved and construed in the Corson-Neatheny case affects only contracts, etc., entered into as a result of gaming, or in which the consideration was for money, property or other valuable thing won by gaming, declaring them void and of no effect, and the decisions cited therein are in civil cases, it is claimed that the rule announced' and applied therein is not applicable in the construction of1 the criminal sections. A sufficient answer thereto is, that the alleged civil section involved and construed in that case, and the criminal sections upon which this prosecution is based, are [276]*276•embodied in, and form a part of, the same legislative act.— Session Laws 1866, p. 56; R. S. 1868, pp. 224, 225; G. L. 1877, pp. 297-2.99; G. S. 1883, pp. 332-334; R. S. 1908, secs. 1791, 1792, 1796.

We must ascribe the same meaning to the same words •occurring in different parts of the same statute, unless it clearly appears therefrom that a different meaning was intended.— Dixon v. People, 53 Colo. 527; 127 Pac. 930.

. This does not appear from the statute in question. On the contrary, it is clearly evident that the same words in the several sections of the act were used in the same sense, and the purpose of the law-making power was to suppress gambling, which, as used in the act, includes betting and winning money ■or property upon any game whatsoever. The title of the act of 1866 is, “An act to suppress gambling and gambling houses,” and that law has been in no' substantial respect •changed or modified by subsequent legislation. We can not ■assume that the law-making power used the words “game” •and “gaming” in a different sense in one section of the statute' from that in which it employed them in other sections of the ■same act. In the passage of each of these sections the legislature must have had in mind the immorality of the acts and the ■evils resulting.

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Bluebook (online)
54 Colo. 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/everhart-v-people-colo-1913.