In re Hull

110 P. 256, 18 Idaho 475, 1910 Ida. LEXIS 44
Idaho Supreme Court·Decided August 5, 1910·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

AILSHIE, J.

The petitioner was convicted in the justice’s ■court of Boise precinct, Ada county, of violating see. 6825 ■of the Rev. Codes, known as the ‘ ‘ Sunday rest law, ’ ’ and was sentenced to pay a fine of $50 and to be imprisoned in the ■county jail for a term of ten days. The specific offense charged against the petitioner was that of unlawfully beeping open a place of public amusement known and designated as a “scenic railway.”

[478] This case was submitted on a stipulation of facts, from which it appears that on July the 24th, the same being Sunday, the petitioner kept open his place of amusement and admitted such persons as applied for admission, and operated his cars and furnished rides to those who paid the fee of ten cents. It seems that the Natatorium Park Amusement Company, Ltd., is a corporation organized under the laws of this state, and that the petitioner, G. W. Hull, is its general manager, and has control and management pf its property. This so-called scenic railway consists of a track several hundred feet long on which wooden ears are run at a high rate of speed. The cars are elevated by means of a cog-wheel attachment, so that the track is a considerable distance from the ground at the highest place. If is built on a general incline, with slight elevations intervening from that point to the end of the track, where it comes to the surface of the ground near the place of starting. These cars run from the highest point by force of gravity, and are operated purely as a matter of amusement to those who take the rides and incidentally for the pecuniary benefit of the proprietors of the park. Ten cents’ worth of amusement via this scenic-railway lasts about two minutes, so the record says. The tourist may then purchase a new ticket or forego a further view of the scenery.

The state contends that this comes within the provisions and purview of see. 6825 of the Rev. Codes. That statute provides among other things as follows: “It shall be unlawful for any person or persons in this state to keep open on Sunday .... any theater, playhouse, dance-house, racetrack, merry-go-round, circus or show, concert saloon, billiard or pool room, bowling-alley, variety hall, or any such place of public amusement.”

It is conceded that this does not come within the list of enumerated amusements. But the state insists that it is analogous and similar to a “merry-go-round,” and is consequently prohibited by the phrase “or any such place of public amusement.” It is argued on behalf of the state that under the doctrine of ejusdem generis a scenic railway such as above [479] described is prohibited on the ground that it falls within the prohibition of like, similar and kindred amusements to the ones specifically prohibited. The petitioner on the other hand argues equally as earnestly and eloquently that under the doctrine of the same rule the amusement he is conducting is not included within the prohibition of the statute.

We enter upon the consideration of this statute fully conscious of the duty which rests on the court to ascertain what the law is on the subject, and to declare it as we find it rather than as we think it ought to have been. We have no right to add to or take from the law. The task is sometimes extremely difficult to ascertain the purpose or intent of the lawmakers, but that difficulty does not relieve a court of the undertaking.

It is useless to undertake to review or analyze the authorities cited by counsel in this case, for the reason that none of them construe a statute in the language of ours, and the only benefit we derive from them is'such as we have gathered from the analogy of reasoning employed. The following are the principal eases to which our attention has been called and that we have given examination: Cited by petitioner: Ex parte Neet, 157 Mo. 527, 80 Am. St. 638, 57 S. W. 1025; Keith & Proctor Amusement Co. v. Bingham, 108 N. Y. Supp. 205; State v. Prather, 79 Kan. 513, 131 Am. St. 339, 100 Pac. 57, 21 L. R. A., N. S., 23.

By the state: State v. Groves, 119 N. C. 822, 25 S. E. 819; Randolph v. State, 9 Tex. 521; Chicago Union Trac. Co. v. Chicago, 199 Ill. 484, 65 N. E. 451, 59 L. R. A. 631; Willis v. Mabon, 48 Minn. 140, 31 Am. St. 626, 50 N. W. 1110, 16 L. R. A. 281; 2 Lewis’ Sutherland on Stat. Const., sec. 437; State v. Dolan, 13 Ida. 693, 92 Pac. 995, 14 L. R. A., N. S., 1259.

It is difficult to tell the exact theory on which the lawmakers drafted this section of our statute. The amusements enumerated and prohibited are not similar or kindred amusements. There is apparently nothing common to all of them except that they are all pullic amusements. They are not all immoral amusements nor are they all noisy and boisterous [480] amusements. The racetrack may' be said to be immoral in ■that it is a place of betting and gambling, and so it may be said that the “concert saloon” and the “variety hall” are classes of amusement at least suggestive of immorality. On the other hand, the merry-go-round is not an immoral amusement. It may also be said that there is nothing especially immoral about the circus or show, the billiard hall nor the bowling-alley, and yet these are prohibited on Sunday.

"When we come, therefore, to ascertain the moving purpose of the lawmakers in enumerating the amusements that should be prohibited, we fail to find a reason that is common to all of the amusements enumerated or that could be applied to each of them. It is patent that the legislature did not intend to absolutely forbid and prohibit all public amusements on Sunday. If they had so intended they would undoubtedly have said so in so many words. On the contrary, they immediately follow the specific amusements enumerated with the words “or any such place of public amusement.” The word “such” has a very definite and distinct meaning. It is defined by the lexicographers as: “Of that kind; of the same or like kind; identical with or similar to something specified or implied; . . . . being the same as what has been mentioned or indicated; being the same in quality; having the quality specified, etc.”

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In re Hull, 110 P. 256, 18 Idaho 475, 1910 Ida. LEXIS 44 (Idaho 1910).

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