Hensley v. United States

171 F.2d 78, 37 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 608, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3822, 37 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 608
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 29, 1948
DocketNo. 11921
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 171 F.2d 78 (Hensley v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hensley v. United States, 171 F.2d 78, 37 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 608, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3822, 37 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 608 (9th Cir. 1948).

Opinion

BONE, Circuit Judge.

Appellants, who were wholesale liquor dealers, appeal from a judgment of conviction upon the verdict of a jury under an indictment1 containing 69 counts. The first 68 were identical save as to the description of the then wholesale liquor dealer, the place of business, the names of the accused, the date of the offense, and the names and addresses on a certain [79]*79“Form 52-B” of the person or persons to whom distilled spirits were sent.

Each of these 68 counts charged that certain appellants (individual and/or corporate) specified therein, then being wholesale liquor dealers operating under basic permits, as such were required to keep a record of distilled spirits disposed of by them on Form 52-B prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to be used for the purpose of indicating thereon, among other things, the name and address of the person or persons to whom distilled spirits were sent. These counts charged that in violation of Title 26, U.S.C.A. § 2857 certain of the appellants made false entries in Form 52-B as to the name and address of person or persons to whom distilled liquors were sent by the appellants named in each count. Counts 1 and 2 are typical examples of the general form and scope of each of the first 68 counts, charging substantive offenses.2

Each of these first 68 counts against individual and/or corporate defendants is brought into direct relationship to Form 52-B, by a general preliminary charge therein that the defendant or defendants named therein were required to keep a record of distilled spirits disposed of by them on this Form 52-B, such “record” being for the purpose of indicating (among other matters) the name and address of the person or persons to whom distilled spirits were sent. (See type of allegation in paragraph 1 of Count 1, footnote 2.)

All appellants were found guilty on count 69 which was a conspiracy charge. It accused appellants of conspiring to make certain of the “false entries” referred to in the various 68 counts above referred to, certain overt acts related thereto being alleged. Some of the counts were dismissed on motion of appellee; one defendant was acquitted on all counts and [80]*80appellants convicted on certain others. These convictions result in this appeal.

Appellants do not question the sufficiency of the evidence with respect to any of the counts upon which they were respectively found guilty. Their contentions in this court present only questions of law relating to the cited statute, and the scope and general effect' of the regulations promulgated thereunder.

The pertinent language of the statute (Section 2857, supra) is as follows:

“(a) Requirements. Every * * * wholesale liquor dealer who sells, or offers for sale, distilled spirits *. * * shall keep daily, at his place of business * * * a record of distilled spirits received and disposed of by him, and shall render under oath correct transcripts and summaries of such' records: * * *. The records shall be kept * * * m such form, and under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner, with 'the approval of the Secretary, may prescribe.
“The records required to be kept under the provisions of this section and regulations issued pursuant thereto, shall be preserved for a period of four years, and * * * shall be available * * * for inspection * * *.
“Every * * * wholesale liquor dealer who refuses or neglects to keep such records in the form prescribed by the Commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary, or to make entries therein, * * * or makes any false entry therein, * * (Emphasis ours.)

Penalty provisions appear in the section.

Certain regulations were promulgated by the Commissioner pursuant to Section 2857 referred to in the caption of the indictment and upon which the indictment is asserted to be predicated, i. e., Sections 194.75 to 194.81 inclusive of Title 26, Code .of Federal Regulations, the pertinent provisions of which are as follows:

“194.75 Records to be kept by wholesale liquor dealers, (a) Every wholesale dealer in liquors who sells distilled spirits in quantities of 5 wine gallons or more to the same person at the same time shall keep Record 52, ‘Wholesale Liquor Dealer’s Record,’ and render monthly transcripts, Forms 52A and 52B, ‘Wholesale Liquor Dealer’s Monthly Report,’ and Form 338, ‘Wholesale Liquor Dealer’s Monthly Report (Summary of Forms 52A and 52B).’

“(b) Daily entries shall be made on Record 52 of all distilled spirits received and disposed of, as indicated by the headings of the various columns, and in accordance with the instructions printed thereon

Pursuant to the statutory authority above quoted, the Commissioner, by regulations above referred to, “prescribed” and promulgated the official record “form” to be used by wholesale liquor dealers, that form being 52-B here involved. It is printed with ruled column spaces in which certain information is to be entered by the wholesale liquor dealer consisting, (among other data) of the names and addresses of person or persons to whom distilled spirits were sent, and the date of the sending, the kind and quantity of the distilled spirits so sent and the name of the distiller or rectifier of the said spirits. The said information so required in the form is indicated by the caption at the head of one of the columns, the directive reading “to whom sent * * * name * * * address.”

Appellants specify numerous errors at the trial all of which we have -considered. In essence these claims of error are contentions which may be summarized as follows :

A

Section 2857 plainly prescribes that a wholesale liquor dealer keep “a record of distilled spirits received and disposed of by him”; it does not prescribe-that such a dealer keep “a record of the names and addresses of the person or persons to whom distilled spirits were sent.” The Commissioner is only authorised, by this statute, to prescribe the “form”, that is to say, “the physical arrangement” in which the “record of distilled spirits received and disposed of’ shall be kept.

B

Under Section 2857 there is no such crime as that charged in the indictment. [81]*81Before 1936 the statute specifically required the wholesale dealer to “provide * * * a book, to be prepared and kept in such form as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and shall, * * * enter in such book, * * * the name and place of business of the person or firm to whom such spirits are to be sent,” and if the dealer did “make any false entry” it was a crime. This entry was specifically eliminated by the 1936 amendment and the present statute does not even mention, let alone require that entry. Neither does the present statute make it a crime to violate a regulation of the ■Commissioner. Here the Commissioner did not confine himself to that which the statute required — he purports to add a requirement not in the statute.

C

Section 2857 does not constitutionally empower or constitutionally delegate power to the Commissioner alone, or with the approval of the Secretary, to promulgate a regulation requiring the use of a form, or prescribe a form, wherein wholesale liquor dealers must

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Bluebook (online)
171 F.2d 78, 37 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 608, 1948 U.S. App. LEXIS 3822, 37 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hensley-v-united-states-ca9-1948.