Leonard v. Reed

46 Colo. 307
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedSeptember 15, 1909
DocketNo. 5810
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 46 Colo. 307 (Leonard v. Reed) 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
Leonard v. Reed, 46 Colo. 307 (Colo. 1909).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Gabbert

delivered the opinion of the court:

The sole question presented for. our determination is the constitutionality of the Itinerant Vendors’ Act, Session Laws 1905, p. 274, and an act entitled “Revenue,” chapter 157, Acts 1903, 408.

Leonard paid the license fee exacted by the Itinerant Vendors’ Act, and also the tax levied .upon his property under the provisions of chapter 157 of the Acts of 1903. Thereafter an agreed case was submitted to the district court, the purpose of which was to determine whether he was entitled to recover the fee and tax so paid. From the facts agreed upon in the trial court, so far as necessary to consider in determining the constitutionality of the acts in question, it appears that, in the summer of 1905, Leonard was a citizen of the United States, a non-resident of the state of Colorado, and that his place of residence was Pasadena, California; that he was then engaged in selling manufactured goods, wares and merchandise in a store-room rented by him for that purpose in the city of Colorado Springs; that the occupation of such'room was temporary and without intention to engage in permanent trade therein; that his stock of merchandise consisted of articles brought into this state; and that Reed, county clerk and recorder of El Paso county, demanded of him as a license for the privilege of conducting his business, the sum of $250.00, which was paid to Reed under protest. It further appears that Leonard brought his stock of merchandise into El Paso county and state of Colorado subsequent to May 1, 1905; that, pursuant to the revenue act involved, a tax in the sum of $41.09 was assessed against this-stock, which sum he paid to the county treasurer of El Paso county under protest. Septembór 30,1905, judgment was rendered in [309]*309favor of the defendants, Reed et ah, from' which the plaintiff appealed.

We have no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal (§ 388, Civil Code), but, by virtue of the provisions of § 388a, id., we have directed the clerk to enter the action as pending on writ of error. Were it not for the fact that appellees have entered an appearance, we would be compelled, on the authority of Brady v. People, 45 Colo. 364, 101 Pac. 340, to dismiss the appeal, and refuse to consider it on error.

The term, “itinerantvendor,” as defined by the Itinerant Vendors’ Act, includes any person who engages in either a temporary or transient business in this state, in one locality or by traveling from place to place selling merchandise, and also “those who, for the purpose of carrying- on their temporary or transient business, hire, lease, or occupy a building, structure, tent, car, boat, vehicle, store-room, or place of any kind for the exhibition and sale' of any manufactured goods, wares or merchandise.” The succeeding section declares that the act shall not apply to commercial travelers or agents selling to merchants in the usual course of business. This act was under consideration in Smith v. Farr, post, 364, wherein we held that the constitution of the United States confers upon congress the sole power to regulate commerce among the several states, and, therefore, interstate commerce cannot be taxed by a state. We also held that, as applied to the facts of that case, the law was invalid for the reason that it was nothing more or less than the imposition of a tax upon nonresidents bringing merchandise into the state for the privilege of selling to the consumer. Such is the effect of the law in the case at bar. Plaintiff in error is required to pay the license fee exacted for the privilege of disposing of his mer[310]*310chandise at a store-room because he temporarily occupies it without the intention of engaging in permanent trade at that place. His temporary occupation results from the fact that he is a non-resident, bringing with him from a sister state articles of merchandise which he seeks to dispose of to those purchasing for their own use. A resident merchant, permanently engaged in selling the same class of merchandise at a store-room in Colorado Springs, is exempted from the payment of such license. This imposes a burden upon the nonresident coming to the state for the purpose of engaging in commerce by requiring him to pay for the privilege of selling articles of merchandise brought with or sent to him from the outside, from which the resident, permanently* engaged in business, is exempted. That it is not a tax imposed upon the merchandise of plaintiff because it had become a part of the general mass of the property of the state is manifest from the fact that, in addition to the license fee exacted, the Act of 1903, supra, provides for the levy of a tax, and under which a tax was, in fact, levied in addition to the license fee exacted, the validity of which we shall consider later. The existence of this provision serves to strengthen our conclusion in Smith v. Farr, wherein it was stated, as applied to the facts of that case, “The license exacted is nothing more or less than a tax imposed upon outside manufacturers for the privilege of selling their products in this state direct to the consumer, for the reason that manufacturers within the state are relieved from that burden.”

The fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution provides: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the fjnited States * * * [311]*311nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws-.” The act exempts from its operation commercial travelers or agents selling to merchants in the usual course of business. This is a discrimination without any reason. An itinerant vendor, as defined by the act, could maintain a temporary place of business next door to plaintiff, and engage in selling the same character of merchandise to merchants, without paying a license fee. A burden is thus imposed upon one itinerant vendor from which another is exempt. We can see no reason why one, temporarily occupying a store-room and selling to merchants, may do so without paying a license fee, while another, who sells the same article, from his temporary place of business, to the consumer, must pay that fee. Classification which is natural and reasonable is valid; that which is arbitrary and capricious is not. In short, as we held in Smith v. Farr, supra, under the statute one may enjoy a right which is denied another, within the same jurisdiction in like circumstances, and for that reason the statute is obnoxious to the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution.

The federal constitution further provides: “The citizens of each state shall be entitled to the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the several states.” — Sec. 2, art. 4. . The statute under consideration clearly violates this provision. When analyzed for results, we find that the citizen of another state who comes to Colorado to temporarily engage in the sale of merchandise in a store-room temporarily occupied, without the intention of engaging in permanent trade in such place, is required to pay a license fee, while a resident merchant next door, occupying his place of business permanently [312]*312and engaged in selling the same character of merchandise, is not required to pay that fee. So that it is manifest the statute attempts to confer privileges and immunities upon its own residents which it denies to those of other states.

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46 Colo. 307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leonard-v-reed-colo-1909.