Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission v. Loughran

9 Pa. D. & C.2d 427, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 97
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedFebruary 14, 1956
Docketno. 165
StatusPublished

This text of 9 Pa. D. & C.2d 427 (Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission v. Loughran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission v. Loughran, 9 Pa. D. & C.2d 427, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 97 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1956).

Opinion

Sohn, J.,

We have before us an appeal from an order of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, dated July 6, 1955, suspending the manager’s license of appellant, Thomas Loughran, for a period of six months, for specified violation of the Boxing Code and the athletic commission regulations.

The original citation was issued by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission on May 13, 1955, charging appellant with failing and neglecting to make known [428]*428to the commission, or its authorized representatives, the fact that boxer Harold Johnson was unfit to proceed with the boxing match against Julio Maderos at Philadelphia on May 6, 1955, and in violation of section 15 of the Act of June 14, 1928, P. L. 710, as amended, with conduct “detrimental to th§ interests of boxing.” Appellant was cited to appear at a hearing fixed for May 16, 1955, at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission’s office at Philadelphia, to show cause why appellant’s manager’s license should not be suspended or revoked under section 15 of the Act of June 14,1923, P. L. 710, as amended, and in accordance with the Administrative Agency Law of June 4, 1945, P. L. 1388, as amended.

On May 16,1955, by stipulation of counsel for appellant, the original citation was orally amended to add the charge that appellant violated section 14 of the act relating to “sham or collusive exhibitions.”

On May 23, 1955, the amended citation against appellant was reduced to writing and delivered to appellant’s counsel.

The citation against appellant was occasioned by the physical collapse of boxer Harold Johnson at the conclusion of the second round of his scheduled boxing-match with Julio Maderos on May 6, 1955, at the Philadelphia arena, which was promoted by Herman Taylor, trading as Herman Taylor Sports Enterprises, of Philadelphia. Appellant, Loughran, was the manager of record of Harold Johnson.

Hearings were held, commencing May 16 and terminating on June 17, 1955. In all, there were nine days of hearings, involving not only Loughran but various other persons. Appellant was represented by counsel, appeared at the hearings and testified in his own behalf. On July 6, 1955, the commission entered its adjudication and order in these proceedings. The commission found that appellant was fully aware that [429]*429Johnson was in no fit physical condition to engage in the boxing contest with Maderos, but nevertheless willfully failed to disclose Johnson’s condition to representatives of the athletic commission. The commission concluded that in willfully failing to bring his knowledge of Johnson’s unfit condition to the attention of the commission, appellant participated in a sham or collusive boxing match, in violation of section 14 of the act, and was guilty of an act detrimental to the interests of boxing and a violation of section 15 of the act. The commission accordingly ordered that appellant’s manager’s license be suspended for a period of six months. This appeal then followed.

Among the various contentions raised by appellant in this case is one that sections 14 and 15 of the Act of June 14,1923, P. L. 710, as amended, 4 PS §§11,12, are so vague, indefinite and uncertain as to be incapable of enforcement, and, therefore, that they are unconstitutional.

They provide as follows:

“Section 14. Sham or Collusive Exhibitions.— Every corporation, ánd the officers thereof, and any person, physician, referee, judge, timekeeper, announcer, matchmaker, professional boxer, manager, or second, who shall conduct, give or participate in any sham or collusive boxing, sparring, or wrestling match or exhibition, shall be deprived of his license by the commission.”

“Section 15. Revocation or Suspension of Licenses. —Any license herein provided for may be revoked or suspended, after hearing, by the commission for the reason therein stated, that the licensee has, in the judgment of said commission, been guilty of an act detrimental to the interests of boxing or wrestling. However, the commission, in its discretion, may fix a fine or fines which if paid can be accepted in lieu of any revocation or suspension of permit.”

[430]*430We are well aware that our Supreme Court in Panther Valley Television Company v. Summit Hill Borough, 376 Pa. 375 (1954) has said:

“ £ “Where a statute is £so vague, indefinite and uncertain that the courts are unable to determine, with any reasonable degree of certainty, what the legislature intended, or is so incomplete or conflicting and inconsistent in its provisions that it cannot be executed, it will be declared inoperative.’ ” ’ ”

In Murray v. Philadelphia, 364 Pa. 157, 176 (1950), and in Willcox v. Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co., 357 Pa. 581, 595 (1947), the same doctrine is followed.

Appellant argues that the words “sham or collusive boxing match” and acts “detrimental to the interests of boxing” are too vague, indefinite and uncertain to be properly enforced, and vest too much discretionary power in the State athletic commission.

We do not think that either of these two phrases is vague, indefinite or uncertain, or that the legislature is bound to define them, or to set up standards by which the commission must be governed in forming its judgment. We believe that any person of ordinary intelligence would have no difficulty in determining if a boxing match was a “sham” and that one instinctively knows what acts “detrimental to the interests of boxing” are, just as he consciously knows right from wrong. One need only read the entire act and its context to understand what the legislature had in mind when the questioned language was put in the statute. As our Supreme Court pointed out in Buffalo Branch, Mutual Film Corporation v. Breitinger, 250 Pa. 225 (1915), in sustaining the Act of June 19, 1911, P. L. 1067, providing for the appointment of a State Board of Censors to regulate the operation and exhibition of motion pictures:

£‘Nothing but a clear violation of the Constitution— a clear usurpation of power prohibited — will justify [431]*431the judicial department in pronouncing an act of the legislative department unconstitutional and void.”

In Locke’s Appeal, 72 Pa. 491, 498 (1872), Judge Agnew said:

“What is more common than to appoint commissioners under a law to determine things upon the decision of which the act is to operate in one way or another? . . . Take the case of granting a license to keep an inn and sell liquor. The judge determines whether the license is necessary, and if not necessary, the law says to the applicant, ‘no license.’ The law takes effect just as the judge determines, yet who says it is the court that legislates? . . .

“Then, the true distinction, I conceive, is this: The legislature cannot delegate its power to make a law; but it can make a law to delegate a power to determine some fact or state of things upon which the law makes, or intends to make, its own action depend. To deny this would be to stop the wheels of government. There are many things upon which wise and useful legislation must depend, which cannot be known to the lawmaking power, and must, therefore, be a subject of inquiry and determination outside of the halls of legislation. ... If a determining power cannot be conferred by law, there can be no law that is not absolute, unconditional and peremptory; and nothing which is unknown, uncertain and contingent can be the subject of law. . . .

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Related

Texas v. United States
292 U.S. 522 (Supreme Court, 1934)
Panther Valley Television Co. v. Summit Hill Borough
102 A.2d 699 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1954)
Bell Tel. Co. of Pa. v. Driscoll
21 A.2d 912 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)
Willcox v. Penn Mutual Life Insurance
55 A.2d 521 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1947)
Commonwealth v. Klick
65 A.2d 440 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1949)
Commonwealth ex rel. McClain v. Locke
72 Pa. 491 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1873)
Buffalo Branch, Mutual Film Corp. v. Breitinger
95 A. 433 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1915)
Murray v. Philadelphia
71 A.2d 280 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1950)
Block v. City of Chicago
87 N.E. 1011 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1909)

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Bluebook (online)
9 Pa. D. & C.2d 427, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 97, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pennsylvania-state-athletic-commission-v-loughran-pactcompldauphi-1956.