Vance v. W. A. Vandercook Co.

170 U.S. 438, 18 S. Ct. 674, 42 L. Ed. 1100, 1898 U.S. LEXIS 1557
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedMay 9, 1898
Docket1; 514
StatusPublished
Cited by161 cases

This text of 170 U.S. 438 (Vance v. W. A. Vandercook Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vance v. W. A. Vandercook Co., 170 U.S. 438, 18 S. Ct. 674, 42 L. Ed. 1100, 1898 U.S. LEXIS 1557 (1898).

Opinions

Mr. Justice White

delivered the opinion of the court.

In the two cases of Scott v. Donald, 165 U. S. 58, 107, the court was called upon to determine whether a law of the State of South Carolina, controlling the sale of intoxicating liquors within that State, was; repugnant to the Constitution of the [442]*442United States. In one of the cases it was held that the court below had jursdiction to entertain a bill filed by the complainants to enjoin the execution of the law, as to liquors by them owned; while in both cases it was decided that, in so far as •the law then in question forbade the sending .from one State into South Carolina of intoxicating liquors for the use of the person to whom it was shipped, the statute was repugnant to the third clause of section 8 of the first article of the Constitution of the United States, commonly spoken of as the Interstate Commerce clause of the Constitution. It was besides decided that the law in question, which created state officers-or agents with authority to buy liquor to be sold in the State, and which forbade the sale of any liquor except that so bought and offered for sale by the state officers or agents, was also in violation of .the Constitution of the United States, because amounting to an unjust discrimination against liquors, the products of other States. The conclusion reached on this latter subject was predicated not on the general theory which the statute put in' practice, but on particular provisions of the law by which the discrimination was brought about. Whether a State could, without violating the Constitution of the United States, confer upon certain officers or agents the sole power to buy all liquors which were to be sold in the State, allowing no other liquor to be sold except that offered for sale by the designated officers or agents, was not decided. On the contrary, this question was reserved, for as the state law .was found to violate the Constitution because of express discriminatory provisions which it contained, it. became unnecessary to determiné ■ whether a law of that general character -would be inherently repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, Eeférring to this last question, the court said (p. 101):

• “It was pressed on us in the argument that it is not competent for a State, in the exercise of its police power, to monopolize the traffic in intoxicating liquors, and thus put itself in competition with the citizens of other States. This phase of the subject is novel and interesting, but we do not think it necessary for us now to consider it. It is sufficient for the present case to hold, as we do, that when a State recognizes the [443]*443manufacture, sale and use of intoxicating liquors as lawful it cannot discriminate against the bringing of such articles in and importing them from other States; that such legislation is void as a hindrance to interstate commerce and an unjust preference of the products of the enacting State as against similar products of other States.”

The controversy which this record presents arises from a law of South Carolina, similar in its general scope to the one which was under review in Scott v. Donald. The statute before us, however, was enacted after the decision in Scott v. Donald, and changes in many important particulars the law which was passed on in that case. The statute, as changed, retains the general provisions conferring on the state officers or agents the exclusive right to buy all liquor which is. to be sold in the State and to sell the same, but does not contain those clauses in the previous statute which were held to operate a discrimination. It, moreover, modifies the previous statute to the extent that it allows.shipments of intoxicating liquors to be made from other States into the State of South Carolina to residents therein for their own use, but subjects the exercise of this right to designated regulations and restrictions. Despite these differences, it is asserted that the present law is repugnant to the Constitution of the United States for the following reasons : First, because although the features in the prior act which were held to be .discriminatory have been eliminated from this act, nevertheless there are, it is asserted, other provisions in the present act which on their face amount to a discrimination, and therefore render the act void. Second, because as the act as at present drawn created state officers and confers upon them the power to buy all the liquor which is to be sold in the State, and forbids the sale of any other liquor by any other person, it is therefore in violation of the Constitution of the United States to the extent that it seeks to control or forbid the sale in original packages of all liquor shipped into South Carolina from other States. And this controversy presents for consideration the question which was reserved in Scott v. Donald. Third, because, although the amended, statute recognizes the right of residents [444]*444of other States to ship intoxicating liquors to the residents of South Carolina and their right to receive the same, for .their own use, it, in reality, it is asserted, denies such right, since its exercise is subjected to conditions which hamper and frustrate the same to.such a degree that they are equivalent to a denial of the right itself. The two first contentions go to the whole statute, and therefore, if well taken, render it void as an entirety. The third is narrower in its purport, since it only assails as unconstitutional the particular restrictions which the statute imposes upon the right of the residents of another State to ship into South Carolina and of the residents of that State to receive liquor for their own use. We, therefore, at the outset, dispose of the two first contentions before approaching the third..

In the inception it is necessary to bear in mind a few elementary propositions, which are so entirely concluded by the previous adjudications of this court, that they need only be briefly recapitulated.

(a.) Beyond dispute the respective States have plenary power to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors within their borders, and the scope and extent of such regulations depend solely on the judgment of the lawmaking power of the States, provided always, they do not transcend the limits of state authority by invading rights which are secured by the Constitution of the United States, and provided further, that the regulations as adopted do not operate a discrimination against' the rights of residents or citizens of other States of the Union.

• • (b.) Equally well established is the proposition that the right to send liquors from one State into another, and the act of sending the same, is Interstate Commerce, the regulation whereof has been committed by the- Constitution of the "United States to Congress, and, hence, that a state law which denies such a right, or substantially interferes with or hampers the same, is in conflict with the Constitution of the United States.

(c.) It is also certain that the settled doctrine is that the power to ship merchandise from one State into another car[445]

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Bluebook (online)
170 U.S. 438, 18 S. Ct. 674, 42 L. Ed. 1100, 1898 U.S. LEXIS 1557, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vance-v-w-a-vandercook-co-scotus-1898.