State v. Frazee

97 S.E. 604, 83 W. Va. 99, 1918 W. Va. LEXIS 178
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1918
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 97 S.E. 604 (State v. Frazee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia 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. Frazee, 97 S.E. 604, 83 W. Va. 99, 1918 W. Va. LEXIS 178 (W. Va. 1918).

Opinion

Lynoh, Judge:

In traveling as a passenger on a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad train from Cumberland, Maryland, to Oakland in the same state, defendant passed through part of the state of West Virginia. Between Cumberland and Keyser, West Virginia, the latter being the first station stop after Cumberland, the conductor in charge of the train was unable to obtain from defendant any information as to his destination or procure payment of his fare. Because defendant was intoxicated at the time, the conductor upon reaching Keyser caused a policeman to remove him from the train, and with him the suit case pointed out as belonging to him, which when opened was found to contain six quarts and one pint of liquor. Defendant was tried, convicted and sentenced for violating the state prohibition law', sec. 31, ch. 32A, Barnes’ Code 1918.

One of the chief defenses relied upon at the trial and here was that defendant being an interstate passenger was not subject to that part of our prohibitory law limiting the amount of liquor that any person can bring into the state within a certain designated period. It is true that the mere fact that the origin and destination of the journey are in the same state does not necessarily govern its character and constitute it an intrastate journey. The crossing of state lines subjects the passenger to the protection of, and duties imposed by, the laws of another state. Hence the rule is almost unanimous that transportation or transmission between points in the same state over a route part of which is in another state or territory constitutes interstate commerce. Hanley v. Kansas City So. Ry. Co., 187 U. S. 617; Wilmington Transportation Co. v. California R. R. Com., 236 U. S. 351. See also notes and cases cited in L. R. A. 1918A, 805, and 28 L. R. A. (N. S.) 985.

Being thus within the scope of the commerce clause of the federal Constitution, the state may not legislate with re[101]*101spect thereof in such manner as to impose an undue burden upon commerce between states or interfere with the power of Congress to regulate it, unless sanctioned by a valid federal law. The Webb-Kenyon Act, however, enacted by Congress March 1, 1913 (8 U. S. Comp. Stat. § 8739), and sustained by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Clark Distilling Co. v. Western Maryland Ry. Co., 242 U. S. 311, met this situation in every respect. Omitting words irrelevant to the subject now under consideration, the title and text of the act are as follows:

“An Act Divesting intoxicating liquors of their interstate character in certain cases.
“ * * * Tbat the shipment or transportation, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of any spiritous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquor of any kind, from any State, Territory, or District of the United States, * * * into any other State, Territory, or District of the United States, * * * which said spiritous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquor is intended, by any person interested therein, to be received, possessed, sold, or in any manner used, either in the original package or otherwise, in violation of the law of such State, Territory, or District of the United States, * * # is hereby prohibited.”

Thus is withdrawn from the shipment or transportation of intoxicating liquors the immunity of interstate commerce, and expressly forbidden the shipment or transportation into a state of liquors intended to be received or possessed there in violation of the law of such state. In Clark Distilling Co. v. Western Maryland Ry. Co., supra, p. 325, the court said: “The movement of liquor in interstate commerce and the receipt and possession and right .to sell prohibited by the state law having been in express terms divested by the Webb-Kenyon Act of the interstate commerce character, it follows that * * # there is no possible reason for holding that to enforce the prohibitions of the state laAV would conflict with the commerce clause of the Constitution.” The Webb-Kenyon Act “did not simply forbid the introduction of liquor into a State for a prohibited use, but took the protection of interstate commerce away from all receipt and possession of liquor prohibited by state law,”

[102]*102Thus it- seems clear that if the state law forbids the possession of liquor in such amount as defendant had in his suit case and under the conditions narrated, he may not claim immunity because he was moving in interstate transportation. It is a question of the construction of the prohibitory law of West Virginia, and that alone. Hamm Brewing Co. v. Chicago ,R. I. & P. Ry. Co., 243 Fed. 343. If defendant has violated its terms, his conviction was lawful; if not, it was unlawful. Even if our statute prohibits the mere possession within the. state’s borders of such quantity of liquor as defendant had, and that alone, it is a valid prohibition and within the power of the state to enact. Crane v. Campbell, 245 U. S. 304, 38 Su. Ct. 98, 62 L. Ed. 304.

The indictijient supported by a conviction followed by a lawful sentence charged defendant with bringing into this state from Maryland and with having in his possession at one time within this state six quarts of intoxicating liquors, a quantity in excess of that permitted for personal use by sec. 31, ch. 32A, Barnes’ Code 1918, the section under which defendant was indicted and convicted, and the section which prescribed the penalty for its violation, beyond which the judgment did not go. To the extent of its materiality and application to the facts involved upon this writ, the provision of the section declares: “It shall be unlawful for any person to bring or carry into the state, during any period of thirty consecutive days, .or carry from one place to another within the state, in any manner, whether in his personal baggage, or otherwise, more than one quart of intoxicating liquors for personal use.”

Though defendant, a witness in his own behalf upon the trial, denied the personal possession and ownership of the liquor and the suit case containing it, the proof abundantly warranted the finding of the jury as to this fact, and their verdict comprehended the ownership and possession of the liquor and the mode of carrying it. Equally clear and convincing also is the proof of the transportation and carriage by him of the suit case and its contents from Cumberland, a station-on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Maryland, to Keyser, a station "of the same carrier in West Virginia. [103]*103Does tbe possession of the liquor under the circumstances detailed constitute a violation of the terms of the statute?

The section under which the indictment was found aims primarily to restrict the transportation of- liquor into and! within the state, not through the state under the circumstances detailed in this ease.

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Bluebook (online)
97 S.E. 604, 83 W. Va. 99, 1918 W. Va. LEXIS 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-frazee-wva-1918.