Davis v. Repp
Davis v. Repp
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The proceedings brought under review by this writ were instituted in the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Gloucester, under section 10 of “An act to regulate the sale of spirituous, vinous, malt and brewed liquors, and to repeal ‘An act to regulate the sale of intoxicating and brewed liquors/ passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight,” approved March 20th, 1889 (Pamph. L., p. 77), as amended by a supplement thereto (Pamph. L. 1906,
In the case under consideration, a complaint was filed with the Court of Common Pleas of Gloucester county, a summary hearing liad thereon, and the offences stated in the complaint, or some of them, being found to he established, a judgment of forfeiture was entered and the license revoked. The prosecutor seeks to have the proceedings leading to the revocation set aside, upon the ground that the complaint was not in compliance with the act, and therefore furnished no jurisdictional basis for the action taken. Numerous reasons are urged in support of this contention, and they will be disposed of in the order presented on the argument.
First. That it does not show that complainants were residents of the township or municipality where the license was used or exercised, nor that it was used anywhere. The complaint states that complainants were residents of the township of Glasshoro, and that the defendant was licensed “to keep an inn and tavern in the village of Glasshoro in said township
Second. That the affidavit is not sufficient, citing Voight v. Board of Excise, 30 Vroom 358. The complaint is full and specific, giving the names of several persons to whom it is alleged liquor was sold contrary to the provisions of the act, and the affidavit is “that the matters and things set forth in the foregoing petition are true.” This, I think, is a compliance with the act and a genuine verification of the truth of all the facts alleged in the complaint. If the affidavit was untrue, or if true, not so to knowledge of the affiants, they may be liable for making a false statement under oath, but the trial court was’bound to accept it in the form in which it was presented to it.
In Voight v. Board of Excise, supra, the verification disapproved was that the matters and things set out were true to the best of their knowledge and belief, the criticism being that the deponents might not have had any knowledge of the facts set out, and thus their belief have no solid foundation to rest upon. In the present case the facts are set out, and the verification is that they are true.
Third. That the complaint should allege a conviction of the offences charged. This claim is based upon the statement in the act that if the holder of the license shall sell liquors contraiq’’ to the act “his license shall thereby, upon conviction, become forfeited and void,” and the argument is made that summary proceedings can only be instituted after conviction, by a legal tribunal, of a violation of the law. In my opinion, the word “conviction” refers to a conviction in the summary proceedings subsequently provided for, otherwise it would not be necessary to try the truth of the complaint in a summary way, and upon the proofs then adduced adjudge the defendant guilty of offences of which he had been previously convicted.
Fourth. That the petition does not state that the sales to minors were contrary to law, or to a minor for himself, o.r for
Whether, under this statute, want of knowledge of the age of the person to whom a sale is made is any excuse, is not being considered or determined, but I think the burden of proof which the law puts upon the complainant relates to the acts which it declares justifies a revocation of the license, and when that is shown, the required burden of proof has been successfully carried, and any excuse (the facts which warrant a revocation being admitted) offered by the defendant that he was acting in good faith, if permissible, must b'e estab
Finding no error in the proceedings, the writ should be, and is, dismissed, with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WILLIAM F. DAVIS, PROSECUTOR v. ALBERT T. REPP
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published