Simon Linser Brewing Co. v. Village of New Concord
Simon Linser Brewing Co. v. Village of New Concord
Opinion of the Court
Some illumination of the subject discussed by counsel may be derived from a brief review of the history of the state’s dealing with it. It being permitted by the first constitution of the state, a license law was enacted authorizing
One of the laws so passed was that for whose violation the fines and costs involved in the present cases were adjudged against the persons conducting the unlawful business. In these suits to enforce the fines and costs as liens upon the property where the unlawful business was conducted, though owned by others, the petitions expressly ■count on Section 6107, General Code, which provides that “Fines and forfeited bonds resulting from the violation of local option laws prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor as a beverage shall attach and operate as a lien upon the real property on or in which such unlawful act was committed.” This section, being in aid of the prohibiting legislation by extending liability so that fines may be actually collected, should be regarded as to its validity and meaning as within the same considerations which affect the prohibiting legislation. Not only do the petitions count upon this section, but its terms seem to exclude the application to fines resulting from the violation of local option laws of all other statutory provisions relating to fines for the violation of other laws.
Counsel for the plaintiff in error deny, the validity of this section upon the ground that although both petitions allege the owner’s knowledge ■of the unlawful conduct of the business on their premises, the terms of the statute in their natural meaning embrace cases in which the owner • is without such knowledge; that in such cases the
In one of these cases the circuit court sustained a demurrer to an original petition which did. not allege such knowledge, holding that the assessment could not be lawfully made upon property whose owner did not participate in the unlawful business nor acquiesce therein with knowledge. We assume the correctness of that decision.
In support of the conclusion that we may not limit the terms of this statute by rejecting that portion which applies to cases not comprehended in the cases we are considering, and applying that portion in which these cases are comprehended as though the legislature had so limited the section by its terms, it is said that we should be engaged in the forbidden exercise of legislative power. But the legislature has not failed to exercise its power to provide for the lien to the extent of embracing the present cases. Thé basis of counsel’s complaint is that it has legislated too much. The cases cited in support of the contention of counsel admit of two pertinent discriminations. If an act is void because in violation of constitutionally required uniformity, and is made so by its exceptions from the general terms which it employs, the court may not relieve the act of its infirmity by extending its general terms to the excepted cases, and this for the obvious reason that as to the excepted cases the legislature has hot exercised its authority. Nor, if the legislature attempts in the same enactment to exercise
Judgments affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Simon Linser Brewing Company v. The Village of New Concord The Indianapolis Brewing Company v. The Village of New Concord
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Intoxicating liquors — Fine for violation of local option law — May be charged upon real estate, when — Knowledge of owner of property — Section 6107, General Code. By the authority of Section 6107, General Code, a fine resulting from the violation of a local option law prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor may be charged upon the real property where the unlawful act was committed if the owner has knowledge of the violation, although the terms of the section in their unrestricted meaning embrace the real property of one who is without such knowledge.