United States v. Erie County Malt Beverage Distributors Ass'n
United States v. Erie County Malt Beverage Distributors Ass'n
Opinion of the Court
George B. Barber, the defendant-appellant, together with others as named in the caption, was indicted on March 19, 1956 for a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 1. The United States asserts that the defend
In brief Barber asserts that the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
This residuum of power remaining in the federal government was dealt with by the Supreme Court in United States v. Frankfort Distilleries, 1945, 324 U.S. 293, 299-300, 65 S.Ct. 661, 89 L.Ed. 951. In this case liquor wholesalers in Colorado who controlled 75% of spiritous liquors and wines annually shipped into Colorado were indicted under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 1, and it was contended by them, relying on the Miller-Tydings Amendment to the Sherman Act, 50 Stat. 693, and on the Colorado “Fair Trade” Act, Session Laws of Colorado, 1937, chapter 146, as defenses, that the Twenty-first Amendment prohibited the prosecution. The Supreme Court concluded that the Sherman Act was not being enforced under the circumstances of the cited case in such a way as to conflict with the law of Colorado and reversed the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 144 F.2d 824. The
In a concurring opinion Mr. Justice Frankfurter laid emphasis on the fact that the Commerce Clause is subordinate to the exercise of state power under the Twenty-first Amendment and that the Sherman Act, since it derives its authority from the Commerce Clause can have no greater potency than the Commerce Clause itself. “And so”, said Mr. Justice Frankfurter, supra, 324 U.S. at page 301, 65 S.Ct. at page 665, “[T]he validity of a charge under the Sherman law relating to intoxicating liquors depends upon the utilization by a State of its constitutional power under the Twenty-first Amendment.” The appellant in the case at bar contends that we are faced with circumstances which compel the conclusion that the Sherman Act does interfere with the purposes of the Pennsylvania law relating to intoxicating liquors and that the entire field has been preempted by Commonwealth legislation. We cannot agree.
Immediately following the adoption of the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted statutes which covered many facets of the traffic in Pennsylvania in spiritous liquors and in malt and brewed beverages. These are set out in some detail in the brief of the defendant Barber but need not be recounted here for the Pennsylvania Liquor Code, April 12, 1951, P.L. 90, 47 P.S.Pa. § 1-101 et seq., is now in force. Whatever may be the force of the Liquor Code in respect to spiritous liquors, it is clear that the Code permits the functioning of a private entrepreneurial system in the sale and distribution of malt and brewed beverages by the authorization of the issuance of licensing to private persons for engaging in the business of purchasing and distributing such beverages. See Melrose Distilleries, Inc. v. United States, 4 Cir., 1958, 258 F.2d 726, 729, certiorari granted on another issue, 1958, 358 U.S. 878, 79 S.Ct. 125, 3 L.Ed.2d 109. No decision of the Pennsylvania Courts looks in an opposite direction. There is nothing in the law of Pennsylvania, decisional or otherwise, which authorizes the fixing of prices, uniform closing hours, save for week-end closings, 47 P.S.Pa. § 4-492(4), or the enforcement of group action by boycott as charged and proved here.
The judgment of the court below will be affirmed.
. D.C.W.D.Pa.1957, 23 E.R.D 675.
. In pertinent part as follows:
“The defendants and each of them move the Court to arrest the judgment for the following reasons:
* * * * *
“5. When the malt beverages brewed outside Pennsylvania arrived at the warehouse of the respective defendants in the County of Erie, Pennsylvania, the Interstate transactions in relation to said beverages ended, and the activities of the defendants or any of them thereafter were not a subject of Congressional regulations.”
The defendants had previously filed a motion to quash the indictment based on similar grounds. This motion was denied.
. The Amendment provides: “Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
“Sec. 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.”
. In the cited case the commerce involved was foreign commerce; viz., the importation of Irish whiskey.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. ERIE COUNTY MALT BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTORS ASSOCIATION, Erie County I. D. Malt Beverage Association, Also Known as Erie County Importing Malt Beverage Distributors Association, Kahkwa Beer Company, George B. Barber, Robert E. Carney, Ralph A. Deck, Anthony D. Marinelli, Harold J. Mulvihill and Louis Sawicki George B. Barber
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published