State v. Grossman

113 S.W. 1074, 214 Mo. 233, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 218
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 24, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 113 S.W. 1074 (State v. Grossman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Grossman, 113 S.W. 1074, 214 Mo. 233, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 218 (Mo. 1908).

Opinion

FOX, P. J.

This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment of conviction in the St. Louis-Court of Criminal Correction convicting him as a dramshop keeper of selling, giving away and otherwise disposing of intoxicating liquors upon or about his premises wherein such dramshop is located, on the first day of the week commonly called Sunday.

On August 28, 1905, the assistant prosecuting attorney filed in the St. Louis Court of Criminal Correction an information containing two counts against [239]*239the defendant. The first count charged that the defendant, having a license as a dramshop keeper, did sell, give away and dispose of in and about the premises wherein said dramshop is located, one pint of whiskey to one Joe Bradshaw on Sunday. The second count charged that defendant kept open his dram-shop upon said day. Both offenses were charged to have been committed on August 27, 1905. On August 29, 1905, the defendant entered his plea of not guilty. On September 12th, there was interposed to the information filed, a demurrer, as well as a motion to .quash, alleging, among other things, the unconstitutionality of section 3011, under which this prosecution was had. These motions were overruled. The defendant was put upon his trial before a jury upon October 12, 1905, which trial resulted in a verdict of guilty upon the first count, and the assessment of his punishment at a fine of $75. There was a nolle prosequi entered as to the second count.

Timely motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment were filed and overruled, and an appeal was granted to the St. Louis Court of Appeals. Upon December 3, 1907, the St. Louis Court of Appeals, for the reason that a constitutional question was involved, certified the case to this court, on the ground that they were without jurisdiction to determine that question. The bill of exceptions does not preserve any of the evidence introduced at the trial. There was a judgment duly entered for the recovery of the $75, and from this judgment this appeal is prosecuted, and the record is now before us for consideration.

OPINION.

The first proposition to which our attention is directed is the earnest insistence upon the part of learned counsel for appellant that section 3011, Revised Statutes 1899, is unconstitutional and void. Section 3011, [240]*240upon which this judgment is predicated, provides : “Any person having a license as a dramshop keeper, who shall keep open such dramshop, or shall sell, give away or otherwise dispose of, or suffer the same to be done upon or about his premises, any intoxicating liquors, in any quantity, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, or upon the day of any general election in this State, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than two hundred dollars, shall forfeit such license, and shall not again be allowed to obtain a license to keep a dramshop for the term of two years next thereafter.”

It is sufficient to say upon this proposition that in our opinion there is no merit in the contention of appellant that this section is unconstitutional and void. It in no way impinges upon section 53, article 4, of the State Constitution, whicli prohibits class legislation. This section applies to all persons of a class having dramshop licenses. No exceptions are made. It is general in its scope and universal in its application, so far as licensed dramshop keepers are concerned, and is therefore, under the uniform decisions of this court, to be classed as a general law. [State v. Etchman, 189 Mo. 648; O’Connor v. Railroad, 198 Mo. 622; Taylor v. Railroad, 198 Mo. 715.]

This section has been upon the statute for many years in this State, and many judgments of conviction for the violation of its provisions have been rendered by the courts of this State and affirmed by the appellate courts. In our opinion it is not an unreasonable regulation of the liquor traffic, as applicable to those who have procured the privilege of engaging in the business of that nature and character. In our opinion this section is constitutional and valid.

Counsel for appellant devotes a great deal of attention in his able and exhaustive brief in this case [241]*241to section 3013, Revised Statutes 1899. It is insisted by counsel for appellant that section 3013 should be construed as a part of the penalty for a violation of section 3011. It is only necessary to say of this insistence that section 3011 and section 3013 are separate and distinct sections, and in the case now before us the enforcement of the provisions of section 3013 is not involved. When the provisions of section 3013 are invoked and sought to be enforced, the person who feels aggrieved by reason of the enforcement of such provisions will have an opportunity of having his day in court, but that section is not now before us, and there is no legal, valid reason why we should go outside of the record to determine the constitutionality of that particular section.

II.

The most serious proposition disclosed by the record now before us is the one in which the point is made that the verdict as returned by the jury is not responsive to the issues presented in the trial court, and is so uncertain and indefinite as renders it insufficient to support the judgment. The verdict of the jury was in the following form:

“State of Missouri, vs. “Arthur Grossman.
“We, the jury in the above-entitled cause, find the defendant guilty of selling or otherwise disposing of liquor on Sunday, as charged in the information, and assess his punishment at a fine of $75.
“E. F. Jones, Foreman.” •

Section 3011, Revised Statutes 1899', upon which the information and the verdict as returned by the jury are predicated, makes it an offense for any person [242]*242having a license as a dramshop' keeper to' sell, give away or otherwise dispose of, or suffer the same to he done on or about his premises, any intoxicating liquors, in any quantity, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday. Under the provisions of this section it is well settled in this State that the pleader may in one count charge all of the facts embraced in that section, providing that he connects them by the conjunctive conjunction and. It is equally well settled that it is bad pleading to charge all of the acts embrabed in the section by the use of the disjunctive conjunction or. These adjudications are based upon the theory that a statute which forbids several things in the alternative is usually considered as creating but one offense. As is said by Mr. Bishop, “where, for instance, a statute forbids several things in the alternative, it is usually considered as creating but one offense; and the indictment may charge the defendant with the commission of all the acts, using the conjunction and where the statute uses the disjunctive or; or, on the other hand, the indictment may contain but one or two of the things, at the election of the pleader.” [1 Bishop’s Criminal Proc. (1 Ed.), sec. 191.]

In Stevens v. Commonwealth, 6 Metc.

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Bluebook (online)
113 S.W. 1074, 214 Mo. 233, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grossman-mo-1908.