Gettman v. Board of County Com'rs of Morgan County
Gettman v. Board of County Com'rs of Morgan County
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Plaintiffs, alleging that they were engaged in the
Plaintiffs here challenge the power of the board of county commissioners: I. To prohibit the sale of malt or vinous liquors during hours when not prohibited by statute, as attempted by its resolution; and, II. To prohibit the sale of “fermented malt beverages” as so attempted. Under our statutes the term “fermented malt beverages” means any such beverages containing not more than 3.2 per cent of alcohol by weight, and their manufacture and sale are regulated by separate laws from those regulating the manufacture and sale of other alcoholic liquors, which are classified as malt, vinous and spirituous liquors. No challenge is interposed as to the nature or appropriateness of the proceeding. The controversy is bona fide; the facts are not in dispute; the validity of the resolution of the board of county commissioners here involved is dependent on the construction of statutes; its prompt determination is a matter of public importance and the parties here contesting have a real and adverse interest therein.
I. As to the power of the county commissioners to prohibit the sale of malt or vinous liquors, it is insisted by defendant in error that this issue is not raised here, nor was it determined by the trial court, inasmuch as defendant in its answer, while admitting that some of the individual plaintiffs were engaged in dispensing fermented malt beverages, denied that all of said in
By virtue of Article XXII of' our Colorado Constitution, the manufacture, sale and distribution of all intoxicating liquors shall “be performed exclusively by or through such agencies and under such regulations as may hereafter be provided by statutory laws of the State of Colorado.” Under authority of that amendment, the legislature enacted the Liquor Code of 1935, being sections 15 to 47, chapter 89, ’35 C.S.A., wherein, by paragraph 5 thereof, being section 19, chapter 89, ’35 C.S.A., it is provided that, “For the purpose of regulation and controlling the licensing of the manufacture and sale of malt, vinous, and spirituous liquors, as provided by this article, there is hereby created the state licensing authority. The said state licensing authority shall consist of the secretary of state.” Among the duties of the state licensing authority, as provided by amended section 20 of said chapter 89 (chapter 159, S.L. ’41), are the following: “(b) To make such general rules and regulations and such special rulings and findings as he may deem necessary for the proper regulation and control of the manufacture, sale and distribution of malt, vinous or spirituous liquors and the enforcement of this Article, in addition thereto, and not
We find in the statute no attempt to delegate to the board of county commissioners any authority of regulation. Authority is there given to the board to issue licenses in situations as here involved, upon presentation of a state license and payment of fee. Authority also is given to refuse to issue any license for good cause. Section 23 of the statute provides that, “Before granting any license” the board “shall consider the reasonable requirements of the neighborhood, the desires of the inhabitants, * * * and all other reasonable restrictions which are or may be placed upon the new district or districts * * * by the board of county commissioners.” However, the “reasonable restrictions” contemplated are those which have been placed upon districts (such as zoning restrictions), and are to be considered “before granting any license,” rather than restrictions upon sales, as to hours or otherwise, which have to do with the operation of the business after a license has been granted, as contended by defendant in error. The power to grant licenses and to suspend and revoke them for violation of statutes, rules or regulations does not by necessary inference include the authority to make such rules and regulations, especially where, as here, a separate state licensing authority is established with power to make rules and regulations.
It would appear from the provisions of Article XXII of our Constitution, hereinbefore quoted, that the power of regulation of the sale of intoxicating liquors was exclusively in the legislature, to be declared only by “statutory laws.” If, under such constitutional provision, the legislature has any power of delegation of its authority to regulate, such power has clearly been delegated to the secretary of state as state licensing authority, who by statute has been given the duties and authority “to make such general rules and regulations and such special rulings and findings as he may deem
II. As to the authority of the county commissioners to restrict the sale of “fermented malt beverages,” (3.2% beer), as here attempted, our statute, Article 1, chapter 89, ’35 C.S.A., provides that the licenses required in counties for sale of “fermented malt beverages” shall be issued by the board of county commissioners of the county. It further provides that the authorities having the power to issue licenses “shall likewise have the power to make such reasonable rules and regulations with respect to the sale of fermented malt beverages as they may deem proper, not inconsistent with the provisions of this article.” There is no contention made that the regulation with which we are here concerned is unreasonable, and the attempted delegation of authority to the county commissioners in the premises is plain. Therefore, the regulation was valid if the legislature could delegate authority to the board of commissioners. However, plaintiffs in error urge, first, that the legislature has no power so to delegate right of regulation and, second, that if such power exists, the regulation here involved is in conflict with the statutory provisions and must yield to them.
As to the first contention, we are confronted with the question, unfortunately not discussed in the briefs, whether or not such fermented malt beverages are within the contemplation of Article XXII of our Constitution, which concerns “all intoxicating liquors.” If such liquors are embraced within its control, then their sale must be performed exclusively “under such regulations as may hereafter be provided by statutory laws
A similar situation existed within the federal jurisdiction. The National Prohibition Amendment barred intoxicating liquor. Under the National Prohibition, or Volstead, Act, intoxicating liquor was defined as that containing one-half of one per cent or more of alcohol by volume. By act of March 22, 1933, the
The one further challenge is that the attempted regulation prohibiting sale on Sundays is inconsistent with the provision contained in the 1945 amendment to the statute, which reads: “Provided, however, that such beverages shall not be sold to any person under the age of eighteen years and shall not be sold to any person between the hours of 12:00 o’clock midnight and 5:00 o’clock A. M.” The argument is that where a statute contains a limitation, an ordinance containing a further limitation is invalid as in conflict with the statute. In support of that contention are cited Noey v. City of Saginaw, 271 Mich. 595, 261 N.W. 88, and Neil House Hotel Co. v. City of Columbus, 144 Ohio St. 248, 58 N.E. (2d) 665, wherein the court said:
“When the statutes and a valid regulation of the Board of Liquor Control say that the sale of intoxicants may not be made after a designated hour, it is equivalent to saying that sales up to that time are lawful, and an ordinance which attempts to restrict sales beyond an earlier hour is in conflict therewith and must yield. Schneiderman, an Infant, v. Sesanstein, 121 Ohio St. 80, 86, 167 N.E. 158, 160, 64 A.L.R. 981.
“In principle at least this case is controlled by the decision in City of Akron v. Scalera, 135 Ohio St. 65, 19 N.E. (2d) 279, the implications of which are that if a municipal ordinance of the type here involved is in collision with a general law upon the same subject, the ordinance is ineffective.”
In answer to that contention defendant in error cites State ex rel. v. Gregory, 191 Wash. 70, 70 P. (2d) 788. There might well be cited also, Ham v. Los Angeles County, 46 Cal. App. 148, 189 Pac. 462, where the court quoted with approval from Mann v. Scott, 180 Cal. 550, 182 Pac. 281: “Where the legislature has assumed to regulate a given course of conduct by prohibitory enactments, a municipality with subordinate power to act in the matter may make such new and additional regula
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed insofar as it relates to places of business for the dispensing of fermented malt beverages as defined by the statute; it is reversed as to those dispensing malt and vinous liquors, and the case is remanded for entry of judgment accordingly.
Mr. Chief Justice Hilliard and Mr. Justice Alter dissent.
Mr. Justice Holland does not participate.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
It is important to emphasize that the sale of “fermented malt beverages” is covered by sections one to fourteen, chapter 89, ’35 Colorado Statutes Annotated, designated there as article 1, and the sale of “malt, vinous or spirituous liquors” by sections fifteen to forty-seven, same chapter and compilation, designated as article 2. The first group of sections, or article 1, the “fermented malt beverage” law, was approved April 11, 1935, while the second group, or article 2, the “malt, vinous or spirituous liquors” law, was approved April 12, 1935. In short they were separate acts. Loosely, the first act has to do with nonintoxicating beverages, and the second act with intoxicating liquors. Or, as stated in the court’s opinion, “Under our statutes the term ‘fermented malt beverages’ means any such beverages containing not more than 3.2 per cent of alcohol by-weight, and their manufacture and sale are regulated by separate laws from those regulating the manufacture and sale of other alcoholic liquors, which are classified as malt, vinous and spirituous liquors.”
By their first complaint plaintiffs alleged that they were “engaged in the dispensing of fermented malt beverages,” and in an amended complaint they alleged that they were “engaged in the dispensing of fermented malt beverages and malt and vinous liquors.” More simply stated, by their first complaint plaintiffs (all of them) claimed to be operating under article one of chapter 89, but in their amended complaint all alleged that they were operating under both articles, not some of them, identified, under article 1, and the remaining ones, identified, under article 2.
They further alleged that defendant board of county commissioners had adopted a certain resolution which it has “enforced, and threatens to continue to enforce,” preventing the “sale of malt or vinous and fermented malt beverages between the hours of 12.00 o’clock mid
Considering the joinder of plaintiffs in the light of the allegations, the question is, Was the action maintainable? Or, otherwise queried, Did not plaintiffs, judged only on their own showing, reveal a situation not maintainable by them jointly? A preliminary ob
1. By their allegations, as I conceive, plaintiffs pleaded themselves outside the pale, and, as I further conceive, no self-respecting minister of justice could have resolved other than did the distinguished trial jurist in his final order. Whether based on the allegations of the first complaint or the amended complaint, or both, plaintiffs were engaged in dispensing , fermented malt beverages, and consequently were operating pursuant to article 1 of the act, and some of them, and, their allegations considered, all of them—and there was no showing otherwise.—-were dispensing intoxicating liquors as well, which means that at one and the same time they were conducting establishments in which they sold both intoxicating liquors and fermented malt beverages. Such action is specifically barred by sections 5 and 12, chapter 89, ’35 Colorado Statutes Annotated.
2. In their first complaint, as already stated, all plaintiffs were claiming under article 1 of the act. In that view there was proper joinder of plaintiffs; but in the amended complaint, while still claiming under article 1, plaintiffs sought also to claim under article 2. In addition to the fact that the law inhibits the right of any to operate their establishments under both acts, and which should move us to order dismissal of the action,
3. It is evident that the amended complaint is a departure from the first complaint. Originally, all of
4. Considering what we have said in Mulcahy v. Johnson, 80 Colo. 499, 252 Pac. 816, and in Gabriel v. Regents, 83 Colo. 582, 267 Pac. 407, I gravely doubt the right of plaintiffs, in the situation here, to maintain actions for declaratory judgment. In the Mulcahy case we said that courts may not be interested in questions which have not arisen. In the sense of what I conceive to have been our meaning there, the question which plaintiffs seek to have determined here has not arisen; plaintiffs are observing the resolution against which
5. With all respect to my brethren who are responsible for the court’s opinion, and the judgment that taverns dispensing intoxicating liquors in Morgan county may remain open throughout Sundays, I regard such judgment, the record considered, as a gratuitous yielding to the improperly joined plaintiffs, who plead that they “are complying with the resolution, but such compliance inevitably damages their business heretofore had between 8 a. m. and 8 p. m. on Sundays.” The county commissioners of the county involved, weighing what they believed would promote the interest of the people they were honored to serve, against the extra profits plaintiffs engaged in selling intoxicating liquors would derive from operating their taverns on Sunday— profits that those engaged in other businesses disdain to seek—resolved that such places should be closed on Sunday. The Honorable George C. Twombly, local district judge, before whom the right of the county commissioners to adopt and enforce the resolution- was presented for determination, adjudged that the commissioners had kept within the law and performed “a reasonable and commendable” service. Let those who will, visit open Sunday taverns on a people thus circumstanced, but I will have none of it. Indeed, until such of the plaintiffs as are engaged in dispensing intoxicating liquors shall boldly proclaim their calling wholly disengaged with those dispensing nonintoxicants, and seek relief on their own status, I shall decline to give thought thereto. A new action, a fresh start, would not be more than fair to the county commissioners, nor less than fair to plaintiffs.
Mr. Justice Alter concurs in this dissenting opinion.
Reference
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- Gettman Et Al. v. Board of Commissioners of Morgan County
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