Lingelbach v. Hobson

107 N.W. 168, 130 Iowa 488
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 8, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 107 N.W. 168 (Lingelbach v. Hobson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lingelbach v. Hobson, 107 N.W. 168, 130 Iowa 488 (iowa 1906).

Opinion

Ladd, J.

The information accused plaintiff of keeping a place in Oelwein wherein intoxicating liquors were illegally sold and kept for illegal sale, and that such place had been kept open after ten o’clock p. m. during week days, open on Sunday, and that the view of the bar from the street had been obstructed by plants and signs at divers times. The plaintiff answered that the mulct law was at all times in force in Oelwein and with it he had fully complied. It is conceded that the evidence fails to show that defendant’s place of business was opened on Sunday.

i. intoxicating saies?ES' lllcgaI I. The bar where liquors were furnished was in plain view from the street. There were no screens. The curtain, if any, stretched across the back of the window sill, was but from twenty inches to .two feet high. The lower part of the window or sill was not to exceed twenty-one inches above the sidewalk in front, and the seven or eight fiower jars were small and with [490]*490their contents not more than nine or ten inches high, so that these could not have obstructed the view from the street. A sign, “ Bill’s Buffet,” was painted on the window glass, as one witness testified, so that the lower part of the letters were six feet above the sidewalk; but others swear the distance was seven and one-half or eight feet. In either event the sign could not have obstructed the view from the street.

S’ open-' prohibit - II. The plaintiff, though locking his place of business at ten o’clock p. m. remained therein with his bartenders to take up the cash and compare it with the register. This kept them ordinarily fifteen minutes, and at one time twenty-five minutes, after ten o’clock. In passing out, they necessarily unlocked and opened the door but for that purpose only. Was this in violation of paragraph 9 of section 2448 of the Code? declaring that “ the place shall not be open nor any sales be made earlier than five o’clock a. m. nor later than ten o’clock p. m. on any day. It shall not be open at all nor any sales be made, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, nor on any election day or legal holiday nor on the evening of such days.” The latter part of this section was construed in Rosenthal v. Hobson (Iowa), where opening a saloon on Sunday to clean it was held to be prohibited ; the court saying: “ The statute does not say that the place shall not be opened for business; it says it shall not be opened at all.” In support of the decision the following cases were cited: McKinney v. Nashville, 96 Tenn. 79 (33 S. W. 724), where the court, under an ordinance that they shall not “ keep open ” on Sunday, held that the proprietor and employes “ cannot engage in the work pertaining to their saloon or allow others to enter in or remain in it.” People v. Waldvogel, 49 Mich. 327 (13 N. W. 620), declaring that opening a saloon on Sunday to clean it was in violation of a statute requiring it to be kept closed on that day, saying that the Legislature, in order to guard against the danger of sales being made, [491]*491has directed that the place where liquors are kept shall be closed, so that no opportunity to violate, by making sales, shall be afforded. The person who engages in the business of carrying on a saloon must, at his peril, see that no necessity exists for keeping’ the same open, hy carrying on any other business therein”; and Mouses v. State, 78 Ga. 110, where the court decided that “ under the statute a tippling house must be closed on the Sabbath day, and if the owner keep it open but for a moment it is in violation of the statute, and there is no purpose for which the statute authorizes such a house to be opened.” We have called attention especially to this decision, and the authorities upon which it rests, to indicate clearly the doctrine to which this court is committed,. even though the opinion was not officially reported. In further support of the ruling see Neuman v. Becker, 54 Ohio St. 323 (46 N. E. 706) ; Klug v. State, 77 Ga. 734; People v. Cummerford, 58 Mich. 328 (25 N. W. 203), where-the court said: “It is not alone the intent or purpose for which the saloon is kept open that is offensive to the. law, hut also opportunity. furnished persons to obtain liquors at the hours and on days prohibited by the statute.” See People v. Blake, 52 Mich. 566 (18 N. W. 360) ; People v. Schottey, 116 Mich. 1 (74 N. W. 209) ; People v. Taylor, 110 Mich. 491 (68 N. W. 303). See contra, Miller v. State, 68 Miss. 533 (9 South. 289) ; Hannan v. District of Columbia, 12 App. D. C. 265; Kroer v. People, 78 Ill. 294; Patten v. City of Centralia, 47 Ill. 370.

These decisions are important in determining what .is meánt by not open ” as employed in our statute. Plaintiff argues, however, that the clause “ shall not be open nor any sales made ” should be construed so as to prohibit being open only when sales are made, and it is argued the nor ” found in the sentence, the place shall not be open nor any sales made later than 10 p. m. on any day,” is employed merely to render negative the second part of the sentence in connection with the first, and that an alternative effect can[492]*492not be given. But there is no connection such as suggested. The words “ nor any sales made ” are inserted, instead of “ and no sales shall be made,” or “ and Sales shall not be made,” with which they are equivalent in meaning. Had they been omitted entirely, keeping open after the hours named would have been prohibited. By inserting them another prohibition was added, and the meaning rendered precisely as though- “ neither ” had been used, instead of “ not,” and the sentence read the place shall neither be open nor sales made.” The opening of the place after ten o’clock p. m. or before five o’clock a. m. is prohibited as absolutely as on Sunday. The only difference is the place may be open a part of secular days, but not at all on the first day of the week. The meaning of “ open ” is the same in both clauses, and, unless we are to disregard the ruling in Rosenthal v. Hobson, supra, the conclusion is inevitable that,_ if the place be open but for a moment, no matter what the purpose, the statute is violated, and the bar to prosecution removed. The object of this provision was to obvi-ate all opportunity of selling liquors during certain hours of the night. If the proprietor or employes remain, even though the door be fastened, how shall it be known that others are not also there? If they may open the saloon to leave, they may do so to enter. If they can leave or enter together, they may do so separately, and at all hours of the night, and, save for the sale of intoxicating liquors, the place be kept open as effectually as though being “ open ” were not prohibited. The law allows those engaged in the traffic seventeen hours of each day to prosecute their business, and there is no excuse for encroaching on the remaining seven hours, in winding up the business of the day or preparing for the next. If such work is essential, it may be done earlier in the evening or later in the morning for it will be noted that keeping open so late as ten o’clock or opening as early as five o’clock is not compulsory.

Regardless of this, however, the statute in explicit terms [493]

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Bluebook (online)
107 N.W. 168, 130 Iowa 488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lingelbach-v-hobson-iowa-1906.