Ex parte McNair
Ex parte McNair
Opinion of the Court
The petitioner was convicted before a justice of the peace of selling two glasses of lemonade in the village of Bennett and was fined $20 and costs and committed to jail until the same was paid. He now presents his petition to this court for a writ of habeas corpus. It appears from the record that a camp meeting was being held in a grove within the corporate limits of the village of Bennett, and that the petitioner received a license from the village
Sec. 1 provides that no person shall sell or expose for sale, give, barter, or otherwise dispose of in any way or at any place, any spirituous or other liquors, or any article of traffic whatever, at or within the distance of three miles from the place where any religious society or assemblage of people are collected or collecting together for religious worship in any field or woodland. Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall affect tavern-keepers exercising their calling, or distillers, manufacturers, or others, in prosecuting their regular trades at their places of business, or any persons disposing of any articles of provisions, excepting spirituous liquors, at their residences, nor any persons having a written permit from the trustees or managers of such religious society or assemblage to sell provisions for the supply of persons attending such religious worship, their horses or cattle, such persons acting in .conformity to the regulations of said religious assembly and the laws of the state.”
The second section provides the penalty for a violation of the law.
The design of this statute was not to supersede or interfere with the police regulations of a city or village, but to bestow upon the trustees of an encampment power to supply such police regulations to the extent stated where they do not otherwise exist. Thus, if a camp meeting is located in a field or woodland and entirely without the limits of a city or village, any person selling articles of food or drink at any other place than their residence or place of business must have a written permit from the trustees or managers
Judgment accordingly.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ex-parte James C. McNair
- Status
- Published