Commonwealth v. Oldham
Commonwealth v. Oldham
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
John Oldham and P. J. Cooper were indicted by' the grand jury of Russell county for the offense of selling by wholesale spirituous liquors.at a point other than the place of manufacture in Russell county, where the local option act is in force. The statute is in these words: “Section 1. It shall be unlawful t,o sell by wholesale any spirituous, vinous, malt or other intoxicating liquors, regardless of the name by which it is called (except manufacturers selling liquors of their own make at -the place of manufacture). in any county, district, precinct, town or city, where the sale of such liquor has been prohibited by special act of the General Assembly, or by vote of the people under the local option act. Any person violating this act shall be deemed guilty of violating the local option law, and shall be subject to trial and punishment according to the provisions of the same' and its amendments.” On the trial the following-agreed state of facts was filed: “It is agreed by the attorneys for the commonwealth and defendants that the following are the facta of this ease: That the defendants are manufacturers of whisky according to law. That they have executed to the federal government -a bond as whisky distillers. That their dis'tillery is located on a tract of land known as the
In New South Brewing & Ice Company v. Commonwealth, 123 Ky. 443, 96 S. W. 805, 29 Ky. Law Rep. 873, we said: “When the Legislature provided that it should be unlawful to sell by wholesale any spirituous, vinous, or malt liquors in any local option district, it was perceived that, if the act stopped here, great injustice would be done many persons whose manufactories were situated in local option districts, and who would thus be unable to sell their product from their warehouses at their plant. To avoid this hardship, manufacturers selling liquors of their own malee were excepted out of the operation of the act. * # * What the Legislature had in mind was manufacturers manufacturing in the local option district where the sale is made. * * * We are not unaware that at the last session of the General Assembly the act of March 22, 1904 (Laws 3904, p. 160, c, 76), was amended so as to except from the operation of the act of manufacturers selling their own make at the place of manufacture. The amendment was passed to remove the doubt which had arisen as to the construction of the original act. It was simply declaratory, and added nothing to the sense of the original act.”
By the laws of the United States, the whisky must be taken off of the distillery survey when it is taken out of bond, and it cannot be sold and delivered while in bond. If, therefore, the whisky cannot be sold from the free warehouse, the act above quoted will be entirely nugatory. A statute must be construed to give it a reasonable effect. Within the meaning of the statute, the- place of manufacture is not the dis
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.