New Castle v. Cummings

36 Pa. Super. 443, 1908 Pa. Super. LEXIS 182
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 15, 1908
DocketAppeal, No. 143
StatusPublished

This text of 36 Pa. Super. 443 (New Castle v. Cummings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Castle v. Cummings, 36 Pa. Super. 443, 1908 Pa. Super. LEXIS 182 (Pa. Ct. App. 1908).

Opinion

Opinion by

Porter, J.,

The defendant appeal's from his summary conviction under an ordinance of the city of New Castle, the title and material provisions of which are as follows: "An ordinance prohibiting under penalty the desecration of the' Sabbath or Lord’s Day, commonly called Sunday. Section 1. Be it ordained &c. . . . That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to keep open any store, room or place, or maintain any stand for the purpose of selling therein or thereat any fruits, candies, goods, wares, merchandise, or other articles and things whatsoever, or tó sell any of the aforesaid in any such-store, room, or'place, or at any such stand, or at or in' any other place within said city on the Lord’s Day or Sabbath, commonly called Sunday; but this provision shall not apply vto keeping open any room or place for the purpose of selling or to the sale of any necessary medical or surgical supplies, milk and such necessaries of life, and other articles and things 'as are or may be necessary in works or matters of necessity, mercy and charity. Section 2. Any person violating the foregoing section, shall upon conviction, pay a fine of not less'than ten dollars and not more than twenty-five dollars for each and [446]*446every violation of said section; and one conviction and one sentence shall not be a bar to other convictions for. other violations done and committed on the same day. In default of the payment of the fine and costs, the person convicted may be sentenced to the county prison not exceeding thirty days or to work on the streets, in the discretion of the convicting magistrate.”

The information before the mayor of the city charged that: “On the 14th day of July, a. d. 1907, being the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day, commonly called Sunday, at and in the said City of New Castle, county aforesaid, that John Cummings did unlawfully in violation of the hereinafter mentioned ordinance of the said city, keep open his room and place of business on Washington street (New Castle Sugar Bowl), in said city for the purpose of selling therein and thereat goods, wares, merchandise and other articles and things whatsoever, to wit: ice cream, soda water, goods, wares, and merchandise and other articles and things, and he, the said John Cummings did then and there unlawfully, in violation of the said ordinance, in the said room or place, sell certain goods, wares, merchandise, and other articles and things, viz.: certain ice cream, soda water, goods, wares, and merchandise and other articles and things, did then and there sell, he, the said John Cummings receiving money in payment for the ice cream, soda water, goods, wares, and merchandise so sold as aforesaid, and he the said John Cummings at the time and place aforesaid, was following the business of selling ice cream, soda water, goods, wares and merchandise, and that on the day and date aforesaid at the place aforesaid in violation of said ordinance did sell divers ice cream, soda water, goods, wares, and merchandise to divers persons for gain, all in violation of that certain .ordinance of said city, entitled, 'An ordinance prohibiting under penalty the desecration of the Sabbath or Lord’s Day commonly called Sunday,’ etc.

Having been convicted before the mayor of the city, an appeal was allowed by the court of quarter sessions. The learned judge of the court below, after a hearing, entered the following judgment: Now, November 11, 1907, the defendant, John [447]*447Cummings, is found guilty of keeping open in the city of New Castle, a store, room or place for the purpose of selling therein or thereat, goods, wares, and merchandise, viz: soft drinks,such as soda water with fruit juices and flavors and ice cream therein, and ice cream on July 14, 1907, being the seventh or Lord’s Day, commonly called Sunday, and did, in the city of New Castle, on said July 14, 1907, being the seventh or Lord’s Day, commonly called Sunday, sell in said store, room or place, goods, wares, and merchandise, viz.: soft drinks, being soda water with fruit juices and flavors and ice cream therein, and ice cream, in violation of that certain ordinance of the city of New Castle entitled, “An ordinance prohibiting under penalty the desecration of the Sabbath or Lord’s Day, commonly called Sunday, &c. . . .” And the said defendant, John Cummings, is sentenced to pay a penalty in the sum of $25.00 and costs: and in case said penalty and costs are not paid within five days from this date the said John Cummings is to be committed to the county jail or prison for. and during the term of twenty days, to be computed from the first day of his imprisonment.

The appellant attacks the validity of the - ordinance on two grounds: First, that the city was without authority to enact it, and, second, that the title is insufficient. The act of May 23, 1889, art. V, sec. 3, clause 28, P. L. 277 authorizes cities of the third class, to enact ordinances, among others: “To restrain, prohibit and suppress .... desecration of the Sabbath Day commonly called Sunday.” The same statute, in clause 20 of the same section, authorizes such cities to enact ordinances “to impose fines, forfeitures and penalties for the violation of any ordinance, and provide for the recovery and collection of the same; and in default of payment to provide for confinement in the city or county prison, or at hard labor upon the streets or elsewhere, for the benefit of the city.” This was a grant of police power to the municipalities to enable them to maintain order within their limits, and the grant of the power to restrain and prohibit desecration of Sunday was, in order to make it effective, accompanied by the grant of the power, by the twentieth clause of the section, to impose fines and [448]*448penalties for violation of the prohibition, and the forty-sixth clause of the same section of the statute fixed the limit of such fines at “not exceeding $100 for any one offense,” with'the alternative of imprisonment “not exceeding 30 days” in case of failure to pay. The statute, therefore,- authorizes cities of the third class to prohibit desecrations of Sunday and to impose a fine, for violation of said prohibition, not exceeding $100 for any one offense, with the alternative of imprisonment not exceeding thirty days. It is not necessary, in this -case; to determine whether the cities have power to declare any act to be a desecration of Sunday which was not by the law of the commonwealth recognized to be such at the time this statute was enacted. The ordinance of the 'city of New Castle does not prohibit the performance of any act on Sunday which had not already been forbidden to be done on that day by the Act of April 22, 1794,3 Smith's Laws, 177.- This ordinance refers only to the business of merchandising, excepts works of necessity and charity, and does not apply to the dressing of victuals in private families, inns and other houses of entertainment for the use of sojourners, travelers or strangers, nor to any of the occupations falling within the proviso of the act of 1794; it makes no attempt to declare that unlawful which might' lawfully be done on Sunday prior to its passage. The provision of the second section that, “One conviction and sentence shall not be a bar to other convictions for other.' violations done and committed on the same day, ” is distinct and separable from the other provisions of the ordinance, and even if that provision should be held to be invalid the other portions of the ordinance may still stand without it. This defendant has not been convicted of two offenses committed on the same day, and it will be time enough to pass upon that question when such a case is presented.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 Pa. Super. 443, 1908 Pa. Super. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-castle-v-cummings-pasuperct-1908.