Rice v. Board of Police Commissioners
Rice v. Board of Police Commissioners
Opinion of the Court
This is a petition for a writ of certiorari brought in the name of the Attorney General at the relation of William A. Prince, a citizen and taxpayer of the City of Woonsocket, against the Board of Police Commissioners of Woonsocket.
The respondents are empowered to grant licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors within Woonsocket. The writ of certiorari is sought to compel the members of said board to certify the records relating to their action in granting the application of one Moise Gagnon for a second-class liquor license for the sale of spirituous and intoxicating liquors at a building or place numbered 349 Diamond Hill Road, in Woonsocket, and in issuing a license to said Gagnon to sell spirituous and intoxicating liquors at the building or place so numbered, and further that the record may be reviewed by this court and said action of the respondents quashed for illegality.
*23 The illegality complained of is that said license was issued by the respondents in violation of the provision contained in Section 2, Chapter 123, Gen. Laws, 1909, that no license shall be granted for the sale of spirituous or intoxicating liquors “in any building or place, except taverns that were licensed on the twenty-second day of May, nineteen hundred eight, within two hundred feet, measured by any public travelled way, of the premises of any public or parochial .school. ”
Said license to Moise Gagnon was issued by the respondents on November 23, 1915. It is claimed by the petitioner that said building or place numbered 349 Diamond Hill Road was not a tavern licensed on the twenty-second day of May, nineteen hundred eight, and that said building or place is and was on November 23, 1915, within two hundred feet, measured by a travelled way, of the premises of the Pothier School, a public school of the City of Woonsocket. The premises of said Pothier School are situated on the westerly side of Social street about one hundred and twenty feet from its intersection with Diamond Hill Road. The building or place numbered 349 Diamond Hill Road is on land of one Lachapelle; which land of Lachapelle is situated on the .southeasterly corner of the intersection of Social street with Diamond Hill Road. Just before November 1, 1915, the buildings on said land of Lachapelle consisted of the following structures: On the southeasterly corner of Social street and Diamond Hill Road placed on the land at the lines of the streets, was a two and one-half story dwelling house, containing a shop on the first floor. Adjoining said dwelling house with a portion of its roof attached to the easterly outer wall of said dwelling house was a one-story shed located on the street line of Diamond Hill Road and extending easterly about forty-five feet along said Diamond Hill Road. East of .said shed, and separated from it, was a small building located on the street fine of Diamond Hill Road and entirely occupied by the shop of a shoe repairer. On November 1, 1915, said Lachapelle began to build a one-story structure *24 on his land. He commenced said work by constructing a tight, unbroken partition running north and south across said shed, about fourteen feet from the easterly end of said shed. He then cut off all of said shed which was east of said partition, leaving said partition as the easterly wall of said shed. Against this easterly wall he then built said structure extending it up to, around and over the shop of the shoe repairer, incorporating said shop in the new structure. On November 23, 1915, this new structure was nearly completed, and at that time contained at its easterly end the shop of the shoe repairer and in the remaining portion another shop with a door numbered 349 Diamond Hill Road.
The distance from the northeasterly corner of the premises of said Pothier School, diagonally across Social street, to the northwesterly corner of said dwelling house of Lachapelle is about one hundred and thirty-two feet. From the same point on said school premises alongSocial street and Diamond Hill Road to the nearest point of said shed is about one hundred and sixty-four feet, and from said point on the school premises to the center of the door of said shed is about one hundred and eighty-seven feet. From said point on thePothier School premises along Social street and Diamond Hill Road, in the most direct line, to the nearest point of the new structure built by Lachapelle, the distance is two hundred and five and eight-tenths feet.
*25
The petitioner contends that under this construction of said provision the action of the respondents, now under consideration, was illegal because it was the granting of a license for the sale of such liquors in a building a portion of which was within two hundred feet of the Pothier School measured by a travelled way. This claim of the petitioner is based upon his construction of the evidence, from which he asserts that all the structures on the land of Lachapelle, above mentioned, constituted one building. The petitioner further urges that if we do not find the shop numbered 349 Diamond Hill Road to be of the same building as said dwelling house, we must find that it is of the same building as the reconstructed shed, a part of which, by the public travelled way, is within two hundred feet of the Pothier School. We do not think that the evidence supports either of these claims of the petitioner.
The petitioner further claims that at the time said license was granted said shed was numbered 349 Diamond Hill Road, and that said number was then attached to the outer door of the shed. There was some testimony presented at the hearing that at one time said number had been upon the outer door of the shed; but we do not find that it was there at the time of said application for license or at any time subsequent thereto. We find from the testimony that from the time said application for license was made said number was continuously displayed at the place where the shop, now numbered 349 Diamond Hill Road, was being constructed, and that before said license was granted said number was placed upon the door of said shop where it now is.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied and dismissed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Herbert A. Rice, Atty. Gen., Ex Rel. v. Board of Police Commissioners of City of Woonsocket.
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published