United States v. Cohn

52 S.W. 38, 2 Indian Terr. 474, 1899 Indian Terr. LEXIS 36
CourtCourt Of Appeals Of Indian Territory
DecidedJune 13, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 52 S.W. 38 (United States v. Cohn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court Of Appeals Of Indian Territory primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Cohn, 52 S.W. 38, 2 Indian Terr. 474, 1899 Indian Terr. LEXIS 36 (Conn. 1899).

Opinions

Clayton, J.

The determination of the questions raised in the case depend solely upon the construction to be given to section 8 of an act of congress approved March 1, 1895, entitled “An act to provide for the appointment of additional judges of the United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes. ” 28 Stat. 697. It is as follows : ‘ ‘That any person, whether an Indian or otherwise, who shall, in said territory, manufacture, sell, give away, or in any manner, or by any means furnish to any one, either for himself or any other, any vinous, malt or fermented liquors, or any other intoxicating drinks of any kind whatsoever, whether medicated or not, or who shall carry, or in any manner have carried into said territory, any such liquors or drinks, or shall be interested in such manufacture, sale, giving away, furnishing to any one, or carrying into said territory any such liquors or drinks, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for not less than one month nor more thafi five years. ”

It is contended by the learned counsel for defendant (1) that, notwithstanding the fact chat the liquor in question was a “malt liquor, ” yet, because it was not shown to have been an “intoxicating drink,” it is not prohibited by the statute; and (2) that, not being intoxicating, it is a harmless beverage, and therefore congress would have no constitutional power to discriminate against it, and prohibit its introduction and sale into and upon its Indian reservations. We will first consider the constitutional objection.

[483]*483If the Indian Territory were a state of the Union, the contention might be maintained upon the ground that it would be in violation of that provision of article 8 of the constitution of the United States, which grants to congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states. But, however long may have been the strides recently taken by the United States government towards opening up this country, it is yet but an Indian reservation, and whatever powers congress may have under the constitution relating to any of the other Idian reservations it has as relating to this. This territory is without municipal government. As far as the United States is concerned, it is absolutely and exclusively controlled by its courts and its officers, and an Indian agent acting under the direction and control of the interior department. A few deputy marshals and Indian .police are depended upon to keep the peace and maintain the good order of the country. There are many towns of respectable size without a peace officer in them. All of the land is owned by Indians, and, besides being occupied by the five more civilized tribes, it is the home of some six or eight others. White men have entered the territory, so that the population has become quite dense, Some of these Indian governments, by acts of congress, have recently been stripped of every vestige of power to keep the peace and enforce the laws. Under these conditions we submit that the police powers of the federal government, and its power to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes, granted by section 8, art. 1, of the constitution of the United States, should be liberally construed. The quesion is, has congress the constitutional power to prohibit the introduction and sale to either white man or Indian, on Indian reservations, of malt liquors, notwithstanding the fact that the proof before a jury may show that it is not intoxicating? No constitutional provision has been pointed out to us prohibiting the exercise by congress of [484]*484this power. Here the sovereignty of the United States is full, complete, and undivided. Whatever the federal and state legislatures combined may do in a 'state, the federal congress alone may do here. All of the police powers exercised by the states in their j urisdictions is exercised by the federal government in this jurisdiction. The states, in the exercise of this power, sometimes find themselvs hampered by provisions of the federal constitution, — especially that of article 1, § 8, which grants to congress alone the right to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with the Indian tribes; but, inasmuch as that power is given to congress, no such impediment lies in the way of its full exercise of its police powers here. In the exercise of this power it is only circumscribed by the provisions of the constitution, and the higer law of nature affecting the common rights of men. We think that it cannot be successfully maintained that the defendant in this case had the inalienable right to introduce into an Indian reserervation, and there sell to Indians, a weak character of lager beer, manufactured from malt, containing 2 per cent, of alcohol, to be used as a beverage. In the discussion of this case it must be borne in mind that the statute in question is an act of congress relating .to Indian reservations, emanating from a sovereignty with full power to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes, and exercising over this territory the fullest and amplest police powers that can be vested in a government. The relations which these Indians, for whose benefit the statute was largely enacted, sustain to the United States government, must - also be remembered. The supreme court of the United States has frequently designated them as the “wards of a nation, ” which has always exercised the fullest control over them. By solemn treaty, still in full force, it has obligated itself to protect them from the evil influences of intoxicating liquor, by absolutely prohibit[485]*485ing its introduction and sale upon their reservations. 14 Stat. 806.

The learned counsel for defendant contend that congress is without the constitutional power to prohibit the introduction and sale in the Indian country of any article, upon any pretense, if it can be shown that such article is one of commerce, and is in itself innocent; and in support of this view we are cited to the case of Schollenberger vs Pennsylvania (decided by the supreme court of the United States May 23, 1899) 18 Sup. Ct. 757. In that case the defendant was indicted and convicted for the violation of a statute of Pennsylvania prohibiting the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine in that state. A Rhode Island company engaged in the manufacture and sale of that commodity had shipped to its agent in Philadelphia, the defendant in that case, a quantity, to be there sold. The defendant, as such agent, in violation of the Pennsylvania statute proceeded to sell the article in original packages, for which act he was tried and convicted. The supreme court of the United States, in passing on the constitutionality of the statute, found: First, that oleomargarine was an article of commerce; and, second, that it was healthful, — and announced the following rule of law applicable to such cases: “The general rule to be deduced from the decisions of this court is that a lawful article of commerce cannot be wholly excluded from importation into a state from another state where it was manufactured or grown. A state has power to regulate the introduction of any article, including a food product, so as to insure purity of the article imported, but such police power does not include the total exclusion even of an article of food.” And the court, in announcing its decision, says: “The act of the legislature of Pennsylvania under consideration, to the extent that it prohibits the introduction of oleomargarine from another state, and its sale in the original package, as described in the special verdict, is invalid.” This decision [486]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State ex rel. Springer v. Bliss
1947 OK 169 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1947)
Cox v. Oklahoma Tax Commission
1946 OK 124 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1946)
Huddleston v. Dwyer
145 F.2d 311 (Tenth Circuit, 1944)
Crummies Creek Coal Corp. v. Napier
55 S.W.2d 339 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1932)
Jacob Hoffmann Brewing Co. v. McElligott
259 F. 321 (S.D. New York, 1919)
Leach v. Rich
138 Tenn. 94 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1917)
State v. Hemrich
161 P. 79 (Washington Supreme Court, 1916)
Brown v. State
152 P. 578 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1915)
Johnson v. Elliott
168 S.W. 968 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1914)
Fuller v. City of Jackson
52 So. 873 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1910)
State v. Fargo Bottling Works Co.
124 N.W. 387 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1910)
Pennell v. State
123 N.W. 115 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1909)
Commonwealth v. Goodwin
64 S.E. 54 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 S.W. 38, 2 Indian Terr. 474, 1899 Indian Terr. LEXIS 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cohn-ctappindterr-1899.