State v. McCue
State v. McCue
Opinion of the Court
The relator was convicted of violating Act No. 14 of 1916, making it un
The bill of information charged that the defendant did unlawfully keep for sale malt liquors, to wit: Budweiser beer, at her residence and place of business, 112 Cain street, Shreveport, Caddo parish, La., in which parish the sale of intoxicating liquors is prohibited by law.
Before pleading to the bill of information, she filed a motion to quash the same, on the ground: First, that it did not charge any offense against the laws of this state; second, that Act No. 14 of 1916 is unconstitutional for a number of reasons set forth in the motion; and, third, that the statute is inconsistent with, and was therefore repealed by implication by, Act No. 113 of 1916.
The motion to quash the bill of information was overruled, and a bill of exception was reserved to the ruling. After the conviction, and before sentence was imposed, the defendant filed a motion in arrest of judgment, repeating the contentions made in her motion to quash the bill of information. The motion in arrest was also overruled, and bills of exception were reserved to the ruling. She was sentenced to pay a fine of $250 and costs, and to serve a term of 90 days in jail, and, in default of paying the fine, to serve an additional term of 90 days in jail.
The sentence being insufficient to entitle the defendant to an appeal, she has applied for a writ of prohibition, and the record has been brought up in response to a writ of certiorari. In addition to the contentions made in her motion to quash the bill of information and motion in arrest of judgment, the defendant contends that the sentence of both fine and imprisonment is unwarranted and illegal.
No brief or printed argument has been filed on behalf of the state or the relator ; and the proceeding is one in which oral argument was not permitted. We will dispose of the contentions of the relator, as we understand them, in the order in which they appear in the record.
The relator contends that Act No. 14 of 1916 violates article 31 of the Constitution, in that it embraces more than one object, that the act is broader than its title, and that the object of the statute is not expressed in its title. That complaint, we assume, refers to the provision of the third section of the statute, that the possession of any malt liquors in any place of business shall be prima facie evidence that the same is kept for sale. That particular means of aiding in the enforcement of the law is not, in terms, expressed in the title of the act. But it does not appear from the record that the defendant’s having possession of malt liquor in her place of business was held to be, or even introduced as, prima facie evidence that she kept the same for sale. Hence the defendant cannot require that we express an opinion, and we express none, on that provision of the statute which declares that the possession of malt liquor in any place of business shall be prima facie evidence that it is kept for sale. State v. Emile, 140 La. 829, 74 South. 164. The object of the law, to prohibit the sale or keeping for sale of malt
The sentence imposed upon the relator is set aside, and this case is remanded to the district court for a correct sentence.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. McCUE. In re McCUE
- Cited By
- 15 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by the Court.) 1. Intoxicating Liquors c&wkey;221 — Indictment — Requisites. In an indictment or bill of information charging a violation of Act No. 14 of 1916, making it unlawful to sell or keep for sale malt liquors in a place where the sale of intoxicating liquors is prohibited, it is not necessary to charge that the person accused had not obtained a license for the sale of malt liquor. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Intoxicating Liquors, Cent. Dig. §§ 240-248.] 2. Statutes A criminal statute, general in its terms, applying alike to all persons who may come within its provisions, is not a local or special law, within the meaning of articles 48 and 50 of the Constitution, even though the conditions under which it can operate prevail only in certain parts of the state. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Statutes, Cent. Dig. § 96.] 3. Statutes The constitutional prohibition that the General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law concerning any civil or criminal actions means merely that the Legislature shall not pass a local or special law affecting any particular lawsuit, or regulating the trial of lawsuits in a particular locality. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Statutes, Cent. Dig. §§ 87, 94-96.] 4. Intoxicating Liquors &wkey;?17 — Sale of Malt Liquors — Constitutional Provision. Article 181 of the Constitution, declaring that the General Assembly may enact laws regulating the sale and use of alcoholic or spirituous liquors as a matter of police regulation, does not imply that the Legislature may not enact a law forbidding the sale or keeping for sale of malt liquors in a place where the sale of intoxicating liquors is prohibited. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Intoxicating Liquors, Cent. Dig. §.§ 21-23.] 5. Intoxicating Liquors' Act No. 14 of 1916, making it unlawful to sell or keep for sale malt liquors m a place where the sale of intoxicating liquors is prohibited, is not inconsistent or in conflict with Act No. 113 of 1916, regulating the shipment of vinous liquors to places where the sale of such liquors is prohibited. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Intoxicating Liquors, Cent. Dig. § 31.] 6. Intoxicating Liquors Act No. 14 of 1916, declaring that whoever shall violate the provisions of the act shall be punished by a fine not less than $100, nor more than $500, or by imprisonment for a term not less than 30 days nor more than 6 months, does not authorize the imposition of both fine and imprisonment. As the result of an apparent hiatus in the statute, the provision that, on failure to pay the fine, the party convicted shall be imprisoned an additional term not exceeding 6 months is inoperative. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Intoxicating Liquors, Cent. Dig. §§ 356-361.]