Susquehanna County Liquor Licenses

1 Pa. D. & C. 357, 1922 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 63
CourtSusquehanna County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedJanuary 24, 1922
DocketNos. 1 to 28
StatusPublished

This text of 1 Pa. D. & C. 357 (Susquehanna County Liquor Licenses) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Susquehanna County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Susquehanna County Liquor Licenses, 1 Pa. D. & C. 357, 1922 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 63 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1922).

Opinion

Smith, P. J.,

. . . The constitutional objections interposed, and which apply to all retail applications only, for the reason that the “Woner” amending act is amending only of the “Brooks” High License Statute, which does not relate to applications to sell at wholesale, are verbatim thus:

“1. The Act of May 5, 1921, P. L. 407, known as the amendment of the Brooks High License Law, and under which the said application is drawn and filed, is unconstitutional and void:
“(a) Because in violation of art. ill, § 3, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, requiring the subject to be clearly expressed in the title; the said act purporting to amend and repeal the Act of April 24, 1901, P. L. 102, and the Act of Feb. 26, 1919, P. L. 10, without notice thereof in the title.
“(b) Because in violation of art. hi, § 6, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, prohibiting the revival, amendment, extension or conferring of any law by statute by reference to title only and without re-enactment and publication at length; the said Act of May 5, 1921, attempting to incorporate as a part of the statute law of Pennsylvania Acts of Congress in force or to be hereafter enacted without reference even to the title or date and without re-enactment or publication.”

We will consider these seriatim, and—

[358]*358First, as to (a): Is the amending (Woner) Act of 1921 violative of section 3, art. in, of the Pennsylvania Constitution? This section is as follows: “No bill, except appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”

The title of the amending Act of 1921, now attacked as unconstitutional, is thus worded: “An act amending an act approved the 13th day of May, 1887, entitled ‘An act to restrain and regulate the sale of vinous and spirituous, malt or brewed liquors, or any admixtures thereof,’ by prohibiting the manufacture, sale, offering for sale, transportation, importation, exportation, furnishing or possession, for beverage purposes, of anything determined and found to be intoxicating by Act of Congress passed pursuant to, and in the enforcement of, the Constitution of the United States of America; and by restraining and regulating the sale of vinous, spirituous, malt or brewed liquors, or any admixtures thereof, fit for beverage purposes, other than such as are, from time to time, determined and found to be intoxicating by any such Act of Congress.”

The principal reason for urging the unconstitutionality of the entire act because of defective title is that no reference is therein made to the intermediary amendatory acts to the same Act of 1887, of April 24, 1901, and Feb. 26, 1919, cited as for amendment in sections 3 and 5 respectively of the amending Act of 1921 under consideration, either by title, section, date of approval, subject-matter or otherwise. We note that section 3 is amendatory of the 5th, and section 5 of the 8th section of the original Act of 1887, by omitting from the former the requirement of citation in license petition of the following clause, “That the place to be licensed is necessary for the accommodation of the traveling public,” and also the requirement of recital in the same petition of the names and qualifications of sureties upon license bond. That amending section 5 changes the amount of license fees payable by the licensee, and omits the clause permitting payment of such in instalments.

It is to be further observed that both these amending sections 3 and 5 recite their amendment of sections of the original Act of 1887 “as amended by an act,” then reciting by title and date of approval of each intermediary amenda-tory act; and we may consider to what extent they are s.uch, as well as being in themselves amendments of the original Act of 1887, being so denominated in their title as enacted, and which is repeated in the amending sections of the present 1921 amending act.

The rules governing the jurisdiction and duty of courts to pass upon the constitutionality of an act of the legislature are well established, and an excellent resumé of them appears in the opinion of Moschzisker, Justice (now Chief Justice), rendering his opinion in the case of Com. v. Mathues, 210 Pa. 372, 391-393, the chief of which, quoting authorities, is: “That every possible presumption and intendment must be made in favor of the constitutionality of an act, and the courts can only interfere in cases of clear and unquestioned violation of the fundamental law. The authority of the courts to declare statutes unconstitutional is a high responsibility and not to be exercised except in cases free from doubt, and all doubt is to be resolved in favor of the constitutionality of the act. . . . There is a presumption in favor of the constitutionality of a statute. . . . The uniform construction given to a provision of the Constitution with the silent acquiescence of the people, including the legal profession and the judiciary, . . . are proper elements of a legal judgment on the subject. If an act be susceptible of the interpretation which has been put upon it by long usage, the court will not disturb that construction.” But even of this rule of hesitation at age and acquiescence, it [359]*359has been said by the Supreme Court in Kucker v. Sunlight Oil and Gas Co., 230 Pa. 528, in reversing the court below in refusing to declare the act there in question, for such reason, unconstitutional, at page 533: “If such an act is plainly in conflict with the organic law of the State, old age cannot give it life, and when the issue of its constitutionality is properly raised, it must be declared void. We have never ruled to the contrary.”

The Pennsylvania Constitution distributes the functions of government to three classes of officers, (a) legislative; (b) judicial, and (o) executive, and each, acting within its lawful sphere and limitations, is absolute and controlling, and directly referring to the constitutional question now presented, the Supreme Court has said in Provident L. & T. Co. v. Hammond, 230 Pa. 407, 414: “It was not the intention to interfere with or prevent the legislature from freely enacting proper legislation, but the purpose was to prevent fraud, by requiring the title to the bill to disclose fully and clearly its subject, so that all interested parties could be heard for and against the proposed legislation if they desired.”

It will be noticed that art. ill, ■§ 3, of the Constitution, provides that no “bill” shall be passed by the legislature. “Bill,” as presented to that body for its action, is distinguished from “act” or “statute,” which becomes such only after such action, and so prohibits for “the purpose of preventing fraud and deception, by requiring the title of the 'bill’ to disclose fully and clearly its subject, so that all interested parties could be heard for and against the proposed legislation if they desired.” If, therefore, the title is defective, it cannot be cured by the subsequent enactment of the bill into a law, by its being passed by the legislature and approved by the Governor. In passing upon the adequacy or sufficiency of the title, we must act regardless of the subsequent enactment of the bill into a law. “We cannot look beyond the title and into the body of the bill for information as to the subject of the proposed legislation. . . .

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Bluebook (online)
1 Pa. D. & C. 357, 1922 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/susquehanna-county-liquor-licenses-paqtrsesssusque-1922.