State v. Severson

224 N.W. 179, 55 S.D. 1, 1929 S.D. LEXIS 113
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 12, 1929
DocketFile No. 6752
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 224 N.W. 179 (State v. Severson) 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. Severson, 224 N.W. 179, 55 S.D. 1, 1929 S.D. LEXIS 113 (S.D. 1929).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, J.

An information was filed in the municipal court of the city of 'Sioux Falls, charging the defendant, Fred Severson, with the offense of carrying and transporting intoxicating liquor in an automobile on September I, 1927; the transportation, being within Minnehaha county, ¡S. D. To this complaint the defendant, Fred Severson, pleaded guilty, and proceedings were instituted: to forfeit the automobile under the provisions of section 10303, Rev. Code 1919, as amended by chapter 204, Laws 1925.

The intervener, Raymond Severson, a brother of the defendant, appeared, 'claiming to be the owner of the automobile and seeking to show cause why the same should not be forfeited and sold, and the court, after hearing testimony and considering the matter, made and entered its order reciting in part as follows:

From which order the state has appealed.

This court has determined that when an automobile is used to transport intoxicating liquor, a mortgagee of said1 automobile is not protected against the forfeiture thereof under our statute. State v. One Studebaker Automobile, 50 S. D. 408, 210 N. W. 194.

This court has also determined that, when an automobile is sold upon conditional sales contract, as between the vendor and vendee, the vendee is the “owner” of said automobile within the meaning of the word “owner” as the same is used in chapter 204, Laws 1925. State v. One Pontiac Coach Automobile (No. 6626), 55 S. D. —, 224 N. W. 176.

Our statute provides that, under the circumstances here presented, the automobile shall be forfeited and sold “unless good cause is shown to the contrary by the owner,” and this case presents the question of the interpretation of that clause of the statute. The language quoted is identical in terms to' an analogous provision in section 26, tit. 2, of the National Prohibition Act (41 Statutes at Large 315 [27 USCA § 40]), which has been frequently before the federal courts, by whom the rules of construction have been fairly well established.

In one of the earliest cases after the passage of the National Prohibition Act (United States v. Brockley (D. C. 1920), 266 F. 1001), the court pointed out the distinction between the statute under consideration and section 3450, Revised Statutes U. S. (26 USCA §§ 1181, 1182), under which latter provision innocence on the part of the owner of a vehicle used by a third person for the removal of goods with the intent to defraud the United States, will not save such vehicle from confiscation, and the court ordered the return of the automobile to the claimant owner, and said:

“The admitted facts in the present case show ownership and •want of knowledge on the part of the vehicle’s owners as to the purpose for which the vehicle was to be employed. Without any other attending circumstances, this is sufficient to warrant the court to order its return. It might be otherwise if, from the repu[4]*4tation of the person intrusted with the vehicle or other circumstances attending his occupation or employment, the inference would arise that the owners had reason to suspect that their property might be used for the purposes it was employed.
“The construction contended for by the learned representative of the government would admit of no1 reason or cause for the return of property used in connection with a violation of the provisions of this statute, if such was intrusted to the violator of the same and used in connection therewith. This would work greater hardship upon innocent owners of such property than was contemplated 'by the legislators; otherwise they would not have provided for the return on good cause shown.”

In United States v. One W. W. Shaw Automobile Taxi (D. C. 1921), 272 F. 491, the court said:

“In my opinion, however, good cause is not shown, unless the owner can prove clearly and satisfactorily that his automobile was used, not only without his knowledge and consent, but in excess of any authority, express o.r implied, which may have been conferred by him upon the person using it. I am further of opinion that the owner must remove any imputation that he negligently intrusted his automobile to an employe or other person under circumstances from which a careful and prudent person ought to have foreseen that it was likely to be thus illegally used. * * * A heavy burden, however, remains upon the owner, not only of proving that his vehicle was thus used without his knowledge, authority, or consent, ■but of repelling any inference of negligence or collusion. It is in the light of the evils at which the law is directed that the facts in each case must be weighed and scrutinized, in order to determiné whether good cause is shown.”

In United States v. Sylvester (D. C. 1921), 273 F. 253, the court, in construing the provisions of the National Prohibition Act (11 USCA) analogous to the portion of our statute herein involved, said:

“The intent of the Congress, as disclosed in section 26, here under discussion, is clearly expressed. The conclusions respecting its interpretation are:
“First — The seizure, forfeiture, and sale of vehicles is not absolute, as under section 3450 of the 'Revised Statutes, but is subject to the order of court after it has heard all the facts of each case.
[5]*5“Second — An owner who transports intoxicating liquor illegally forfeits the intoxicating liquor and the vehicle and suffers a penalty. * * *
“Fifth — The owner of a vehicle, who loaned it to another, who, in turn, transported intoxicating liquor therein, is entitled to a return of the vehicle, where he had no knowledge of the- purpose of the borrower, and no facts are shown which should have aroused his suspicion.”

In Jackson v. United States (1924), 295 F. 620 (C. C. A. Ninth Circuit), the court said:

“The ‘good cause’ spoken of in the statute obviously depends, in our opinion, upon the facts and circumstances of the particular case.”

And in United States v. Kane (D. C. 1921), 273 F. 275, the court said:

“ ‘Good cause’ is a term that can not be reduced to' legal certainty, and vests discretion in the court when it has statutory authority to do a thing on good cause shown. * * * Each case will depend on its own facts and circumstances, and no more definite rule can be declared in advance.”

In Shelliday v. United States (1928), 25 F. (2d) 372 (C. C. A. Fourth Circuit), the wife of the offender claimed the automobile in question, and the court said:

“It is true that it is shown that she was the purchaser of the automobile, but it also appears that she and her husband were living together, and that she, as well as he, had been violating the Prohibition Act.

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Related

State v. Waul
240 N.W. 854 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1932)
State v. Hilton
240 N.W. 494 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1932)

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Bluebook (online)
224 N.W. 179, 55 S.D. 1, 1929 S.D. LEXIS 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-severson-sd-1929.