Commonwealth v. Pefferman
Commonwealth v. Pefferman
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The appellants were indicted for selling liquor without a
We are not disposed to go one step beyond Commonwealth v. Smith, 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 474, which was based upon Klein v. Livingston Club, 177 Pa. 224. The offer is couched in the language of the former case and seems to us should have been admitted. Without the admission of the testimony offered, the act of incorporation was not properly before the court. Whether or not, after the admission of the testimony, the court could, as a matter of law, find that distribution of liquors in the manner in which they were alleged in the defendant’s offer to have been distributed in their club was inconsistent with the objects of the association as incorporated would have been a question for consideration. The testimony offered should have been received. The effect of it would have been a matter for consideration afterward. As was said by Mr. Justice Dean in Klein v. Livingston Club, supra: “ If this were an unlicensed sale under the guise of club distribution, it woul_d clearly be unlawful; the law would look through all disguises and so pronounce it.” But this could be satisfactorily done only after the testimony had been admitted. This conclusion is not to be in any way regarded as a determination of what the ruling of the court upon all the evidence should have been.
Judgment reversed and a new venire awarded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.