United States v. Freidericks

273 F. 188, 1921 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1243
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedMay 17, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 273 F. 188 (United States v. Freidericks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Freidericks, 273 F. 188, 1921 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1243 (D.N.J. 1921).

Opinion

RELLSTAB, District Judge.

The indictment contains three counts, to which the defendant Freidericks demurs. In substance, and so far as pertinent to the present inquiry, they charge:

[189]*189First Count. That on or about September 12, 1920, the defendants, with unknown others, intending to commit an offense against the United States, fraudulently, etc., conspired to unlawfully remove from the La Breque Company, Incorporated, warehouse at 600 Ogden street, in the city of Newark, New Jersey — a United States government bonded warehouse for spirits authorized by law — a quantity of distilled spirits, to wit, 400 gallons of Overholt and Glenmore whisky, on which the tax had not been paid, and that to effect the object of said conspiracy, the named defendants, on or about that date, placed the whisky into empty barrels and cans theretofore taken by them to the La Breque warehouse, and did remove the whisky on which the tax had not been paid from that warehouse to a place on Ferry street, near Wilson avenue, in said city.

Second Count. The unlawful removal of the liquor on which the tax had not been paid from the La Breque warehouse to the Ferry street location.

Third Couni. The unlawful removal of the liquor from the La Breque warehouse to the Ferry street location, in the absence, and without the knowledge of the storekeeper in charge of the warehouse, and by breaking and tampering with its locks.

The greater number of the grounds of demurrer filed are too general and vague for consideration, and were not argued, either orally or in the brief. Those argued are to the effect that section 3296, R. S. (Comp. Stat. § 6038), and section 51 of the Act of August 27, 1894, 28 Stat. 565 (Comp. Stat. § 6058), indorsed on the indictment as the sections violated, as well as sections 600 and 604 of the Act of February 24, 1919, 40 Stat. 1105 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, §§ 5986e and 5986j), were repealed by the National Prohibition Act (41 Stat. 305), hereinafter called the Enforcement Act.

The reported federal court decisions dealing with like contentions differ greatly as to the effect of the Enforcement Act upon such earlier laws. Except that later decisions take the opposite view from that reached in United States v. Turner (D. C. W. D. Va.) 266 Fed. 248, which held on reasons which to my mind are convincing that R. S. § 3296, was not repealed by the Enforcement Act, I should have been content to overrule this demurrer on a mere citation of that case. However, in view of such differing opinions, and particularly of that in Reed v. Thurmond (C. C. A. 4) 269 Fed. 252, said by the demurrant to overrule the Turner Case, I am constrained to give the matter a more extended consideration.

[1] The indorsements constitute no part of the indictment, and it will be upheld if there is any act in force which can sustain it, whether any act is specifically mentioned therein, or if a different one is indorsed thereon. Williams v. United States, 168 U. S. 382, 389, 18 Sup. Ct. 92, 42 L. Ed. 509; United States v. Nixon, 235 U. S. 231, 35 Sup. Ct. 49, 59 L. Ed. 207; United States v. Wood (D. C. N. J.) 168 Fed. 438. However, in my judgment, the sections so indorsed furnish a legal basis for the challenged indictment.

[2] The Enforcement Act does not expressly repeal these sections. [190]*190The contention is that it does so by necessary implication. The question to be considered, therefore, is simply one of statutory interpretation.

“Where two statutes cover, in whole or in part, the same matter, and are not absolutely irreconcilable, and no purpose to repeal the earlier act is expressed or clearly indicated, the court will, if possible, give effect to both.” Frost v. Wenie, 157 U. S. 46, 15 Sup. Ct. 532, 39 L. Ed. 614; United States v. Lee Yen Tai, 185 U. S. 213, 22 Sup. Ct. 629, 46 L. Ed. 878; Franke v. Murray (C. C. A. 8) 248 Fed. 865, 160 C. C. A. 623, L. R. A. 1918E, 1015, Ann. Cas. 1918D, 98; United States v. Sacein Rouhana Farhat (D. C. S. D. Ohio, E. D.) 269 Fed. 33.

Manifestly this act was not intended to prescribe the only rules which should govern the manufacture of and traffic in intoxicating liquor. Neither in title nor provision is there warrant for the contention that this act was to supplant in toto the earlier laws dealing with the general subject of manufacture of and traffic in intoxicating liquor. True, it was a prohibitory enactment; but the prohibitions did not go beyond those ordained by the Eighteenth Amendment, which were limited to the manufacture of and traffic in intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes. On the contrary, the act (sections 3, 6, and 12, title 2) contemplates the manufacture of and traffic in alcoholic liquors for nonbeverage purposes. In section 3 it is declared that all the provisions of the act were to “be liberally construed to the end that the use of intoxicating liquor as a beverage may -be prevented.” And section 35 of the same title declares:

“All provisions of law that are inconsistent with this act are repealed only to the extent of such inconsistency and the regulations herein provided for the manufacture or traffic in intoxicating liquor shall be construed as in addition to existing laws. This act shall not relieve any one from paying any taxes or other charges imposed upon the manufacture or traffic in such liquor. No liquor revenue stamps or tax receipts for any illegal manufacture or sale shall be issued in advance, but upon evidence of such illegal manufacture or sale a tax shall be assessed against, and collected from, the person responsible for such illegal manufacture or sale in double the amount now provided by law, with an additional penalty of $500 on retail dealers and $1,000 on manufacturers. The payment of such tax or penalty shall give no. right to engage in the manufacture or sale of such liquor, or relieve any one from criminal liability, nor shall this Act 'relieve any person from any liability, civil or criminal, heretofore, or hereafter incurred under existing laws.”

This section gives legislative emphasis and sanction to the well-supported canon of interpretation of statutes, viz. repeals by implication are not favored, and may be inferred only if the later statute is so repugnant to or inconsistent with the earlier one that it is clear that the legislative body must have so intended. Wood v. United States, 41 U. S. (16 Pet.) 342, 10 L. Ed. 987; Arthur v. Homer, 96 U. S. 137, 24 L. Ed. 811; Witte v. Shelton (C. C. A. 8) 240 Fed. 265, 153 C. C. A. 191. The word “traffic,” as used in section 35, must be given its larger significance. It is a generalization of the more specific terms used in the other parts of the act, such as “sell,” “purchase,” “barter,” “storage,” “transport,” “import,” “export,” “prescribe,” “deliver,” and “furnish” (see sections 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 26, 33, and 37), and includes every step taken in the commerce in liquor from the man[191]*191ufacturer to its ultimate destination. There is no mistaking the legislative purpose expressed in the quoted section.

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Bluebook (online)
273 F. 188, 1921 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-freidericks-njd-1921.