Historic Warehouse, Inc. v. Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board

423 So. 2d 211, 1982 Ala. LEXIS 3533
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedNovember 19, 1982
Docket81-910
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 423 So. 2d 211 (Historic Warehouse, Inc. v. Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Historic Warehouse, Inc. v. Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, 423 So. 2d 211, 1982 Ala. LEXIS 3533 (Ala. 1982).

Opinion

JONES, Justice.

This appeal challenges the constitutionality of Ala.Code 1975, § 28-3A-12, and its prohibition against Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages for “off-premises” consumption by licensees of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Appellant/Plaintiff Historic Warehouse, Inc., initiated this cause, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to the effect that § 28-3A-12 violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, as well as portions of the 1901 Constitution of Alabama. Additionally, Appellant alleges that the act was unduly vague, and capable of varying and contradictory interpretations.

The cause was submitted to the trial court upon stipulations of fact and briefs of counsel. On June 14, 1982, the trial court entered its final order in favor of the Defendants. Appellant next perfected this appeal.

We affirm.

THE FACTS

The pertinent facts to this appeal are succinctly set forth in certain of the parties’ stipulations of fact as quoted below:

[212]*212“4. The plaintiff, Historie Warehouse, Inc., is the holder of a valid club license issued by the defendant, Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
“5. The plaintiff, Historic Warehouse, Inc., sells alcoholic beverages in their original containers for off-premises consumption to members of the club (Historic Warehouse, Inc.) and to their guests every day of the week including Sunday.
“6. The defendant, Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, interprets applicable Alabama statutes as prohibiting off-premises sales on Sunday of alcoholic beverages in their original containers to the members of an ABC Board club licensee and to their guests....
“7. The defendant, Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, and other law enforcement agents of the State of Alabama are under a duty to enforce Alabama statutes pertaining to the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages.
“8. The penalty provided by law for the unlawful sale of alcoholic beverages on Sunday includes the suspension and/or revocation by the ABC Board of the license of the club to sell alcoholic beverages and/or the imposition of a fine on the holder of the ABC club license in an amount up to $1,000.00.”

CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES TO CODE 1975, § 28-3A-12

Section 28-3A-12 reads:

“Upon applicant’s compliance with the provisions of this chapter and the regulations made thereunder, the board may, where the application is accompanied by a certificate from the clerk or proper officers setting out that the applicant has presented his application to the governing authority of the municipality, if the licensed premises is to be located therein, and has obtained its consent and approval, issue a club liquor license for a club which will authorize the licensee to purchase liquor and wine from the board or as authorized by the board and to purchase table wine and beer, including draft or keg beer in any county or municipality in which the sale thereof is permitted, from any wholesale licensee of the board and to sell liquor and wine, dispensed from containers of any size, and beer, including draft or keg beer, in any county or municipality in which the sale thereof is permitted, to the members of the club or their guests for on-premises consumption and to sell all of the above for off-premises consumption except on Sunday." (Emphasis added.)

Rejecting the constitutional attack on § 28-3A-12, the trial court’s final order succinctly reviewed its legislative history and discerned therein its rationale and beneficent purpose. We quote the following from the trial court’s order:

“The plaintiff brought this action for a declaratory judgment and contends that the portion of § 28-3A-12, Code of Alabama 1975 which provides that a club liquor retail licensee may sell alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption is unconstitutionally vague and ambiguous and also violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The plaintiff also contends that a club liquor retail licensee is authorized to sell alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption each and every day of the week. The defendant, the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, interprets § 28-3A-12, Code of Alabama 1975, as allowing a club liquor retail licensee to sell alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption every day of the week except Sunday.
“The Supreme Court in Broadwater v. Blue & Gray Patio Club, 403 So.2d 209 (Ala.1981), in recapping the legislative history of § 28-3A-12, supra, pointed out that the portion of § 28-3A-12, supra, authorizing a club liquor retail licensee to sell alcoholic beverages ‘for off-premises consumption, except on Sunday,’ was by way of a floor amendment referred to as the Cosby Amendment. The Court stated that ‘it was only by way of the Cosby Amendment that the club retail licensee was allowed’ to sell alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption.
[213]*213“It is well settled that in determining and giving effect to the legislative intent of a statute that the history of the statute should be reviewed. State v. T. R. Miller Co., 272 Ala. 135, 130 So.2d 185. It is also well settled that in construing a statute the entire statute must be considered and not just an isolated part. Standard Oil Co. v. State, 55 Ala.App. 103, 313 So.2d 532, writ denied 294 Ala. 770, 313 So.2d 540 (1975). Although the interpretation of the ABC Board is not binding upon this Court, such interpretation is entitled to great weight and favorable consideration. Moody v. Ingram, 361 So.2d 513; Employees’ Retirement System of Alabama v. Oden. 369 So.2d 4.
“In considering the entire statute in pari materia, the legislative history of § 28-3A-12, supra, and the ABC Board interpretation, it is clear that § 28-3A-12, supra, does not allow a club retail liquor licensee to sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday for off-premise consumption. Rather than being a prohibitive statute, § -12, supra, is a beneficial statute since it allows a club liquor retail licensee to sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday when no other alcoholic beverage licensee may legally sell alcoholic beverages. Thus, this restriction of not allowing alcoholic beverage sales for off-premises consumption on Sunday is a reasonable classification and not a violation of the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. McDonald v. Brewer, 295 F.Supp. 1135 (N.D.Ala.1968); State v. Trahan, 214 La. 100, 36 So.2d 652 (La. Supreme Court).”

Appellant acknowledges that as a general rule no constitutional objection may be successfully urged against laws forbidding the sale of liquor on Sundays. See, generally, 48 C.J.S. Intoxicating Liquors § 44, p. 367 (1981) (and citations thereunder). Under the Twenty-First Amendment to the United States Constitution, there exist broad legislative powers to regulate the possession, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Inc. v. Hostetter, 384 U.S. 35, 86 S.Ct. 1254, 16 L.Ed.2d 336 (1966).

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423 So. 2d 211, 1982 Ala. LEXIS 3533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/historic-warehouse-inc-v-alabama-alcoholic-beverage-control-board-ala-1982.