State v. Delamater

104 N.W. 537, 20 S.D. 23, 1905 S.D. LEXIS 100
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 22, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 104 N.W. 537 (State v. Delamater) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Delamater, 104 N.W. 537, 20 S.D. 23, 1905 S.D. LEXIS 100 (S.D. 1905).

Opinion

HANEY, J.

The evidence upon which the defendant was convicted is conceded to have established the following facts: “That the defendant, Jay Delamater, is now, and was on the ioth day of February, A. D. 1904, a traveling salesman employed by Lewis L. Metzger & Co., and that the said Lewis L. Metzger & Co. are residents of the city of St. Paul, in the state of Minnesota, and that the said Lewis L. Metzger & Co. have their place of business at the said city of St. Paul, and have no place of business in the state of South Dakota, and have had no such place of business in the said state of South Dakota. That on the ioth day of February, A. D. I904, Jay Delamater, as such employe, was engaged as said traveling salesman in soliciting proposals or orders for said Lewis L. Metzger & Co. for the sale of intoxicating liquors in quantities less than five gallons from citizens and residents of and within the county of Potter and state of South Dakota, who were not merchants, traders, or dealers in intoxicating liquors; that on said date he solicited and requested proposals or orders from Ferdinand Renner and Paul Gross, who were not merchants, traders, or dealers in intoxicating liquors, at and in the county of Potter and state of South Dakota, soliciting or requesting proposals or orders from said last-named persons for the sale to them by Lewis L. Metzger & Co. of said intoxicating liquors. That the said pro|30sals and orders were [25]*25procured by defendant from said named persons, forwarded to his principal, the said Lewis L- Metzger & Co., in the city of St. Paul, state of Minnesota. At said time no money was paid by either of the said persons to said defendant or to said Lewis L. Metzger & Co., and said proposals or orders were forwarded with the understanding that they were subject to the approval of said Lewis L. Metzger & Co., and that the defendant had no power or authority to approve said proposals or orders, nor to receive any money thereon. In addition to being subject to the approval of said Lewis L. Metzger & Co., said proposals or orders were conditioned that the said whisky so ordered should be-delivered to the said Ferdinand Renner and Paul Gross, hereinbefore named, f. o. b. cars at the city of St. Paul, in the state of Minnesota. That the said Ferdinand Renner and Paul Gross, hereinbefore named, were to pay the freight from the city of St. Paul, in the state of Minnesota, and were to make remittance of the purchase price of said goods to said Lewis L. Metzger & Co., at the city of St. Paul, in the state of Minnesota, within sixty days after receipt of said liquor in said county of Potter. That this defendant has never paid any license to the county of Potter or state of South Dakota, or to- the treasurer, or to any one, as required by section 2834 of the Revised Political Code of the year 1903, of the state of South. Dakota, and that the said defendant had not then and there, and has never, paid any license or fee whatsoever to any township, precinct, town, or city within said county or state; and that said liquor therein sold was intoxicating liquor, to-wit, whisky, and was not a proprietary patent medicine; and that the said defendant is not now, and never has been, a- licensed pharmacist under the laws of the state of South Dakota.”

Article 6, c. 27, of the Revised Political Code, relating to intoxicating liquors, contains the following provisions: “In all townships, precincts, towns and cities of this state there shall be annually paid the following license upon the business of selling or keeping for sale by all persons whose business in whole or in part consists in selling or keeping for sale in this state distilled, brewed- or malt liquors, or mixed liquors as follows: * * * Upon the business of selling or offering for sale any of the above mentioned liquors at [26]*26retail, by any traveling salesman who solicits orders by the jug or bottle in lots of less than five gallons, two hundred dollars per an-num. Said license to be paid in each county in which said traveling salesman does business in accordance with the provisions of section 2836. * * * All persons engaged in the selling or keeping' for sale of any of the liquors mentioned in .this article, whether as owner or as clerk, ag'ent servant or employe, shall be equally liable as principals for any violation of the provisions of this article.” Rev. Pol. Code, §§ 2834, 2852.

Defendant contends: (1) That' he did not violate the law; (2) that if he did, it conflicts with the interstate commerce clause of the federal Constitution, and is invalid. “The Supreme Court of the United States is the one ultimate judicial authority on all questions of interstate commerce. But as has been often pointed out, and even admitted by the court itself, the decisions of that high tribunal have been far from uniform, and any attempt to reconcile all that has been said and decided by it must end in confusion. The difficulty, if not impossibility, of reconciling all the decisions upon the subject, is shown by the extraordinary number of dissenting opinions in the cases. Most of the important decisions were rendered by a divided court. Still it can safely be said that the differences of opinion thus manifested have not been so much upon fundamental principles as upon the application of those principles to particular facts and the construction of the various state statutes which have been under consideration. The principles themselves are fairly well settled. In view of these facts the Supreme Court has said that it would be a useless task to undertake to fix an arbitrary rule by which the line separating the powers of the state from the exclusive power of Congress in this regard must in all cases be located, and that it is better to settle each case as it arises upon a view of the particular rights involved.” 17 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law, 41. It is therefore especially important to have the real issues presented by this appeal accurately defined. The nature of the legislation assailed is no longer open to controversy in this court. It is an exercise of the police power. It is regulation, not taxation. State v. Buechler, 10 S. D. 156, 72 N. W. 114. It does not discriminate be[27]*27tween resident and non-resident dealers. All persons, whose business in whole or in part consists in selling or keeping for sale intoxicating liquors in this state are required to1 procure a license before engaging in such business. If the defendant violated the law, it is because he was acting as the agent or employe of Metzger & Co., who were engaged within this state in the business of selling or offering for sale such liquors at retail by traveling salesman who solicited orders in lots of less than five gallons. The power-of the state to impose restraints and burdens upon persons and property in conservation of the public health, good order, .and prosperity is a power originally and always belonging to the states, not surrendered by them to the general government, nor directly • restrained by the Constitution of the United States, and essentially exclusive. The power of Congress to regulate commerce among the several states, when the subjects of that power are national in their nature, is also exclusive. The failure of Congress to exercise this exclusive power in any case is an expression of its will that' the subject shall be free'from restrictions or impositions upon it by the several states. In re Rahrer, 140 U. S. 545, 11 Sup. Ct. 865, 35 L. Ed. 572.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 N.W. 537, 20 S.D. 23, 1905 S.D. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-delamater-sd-1905.