District of Columbia v. Thompson
District of Columbia v. Thompson
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
This is a writ of error to review the judgment of the police court quashing an information.
The information charged that Corbin Thompson, under a contract to furnish milk to the Homeopathic Hospital in the city of Washington, furnished thereto “milk which was not of the best quality of milk (to wit, milk of an inferior quality, in that the said milk was stale or dirty, or both stale and dirty, and which contained fecal matter), there being more than one quality of said article of food known by the same name, without the said purchaser having requested an inferior article of milk, and without notifying the said purchaser at the time of such purchase that the said milk was of inferior quality,” in violation of sec. 2 of the act of Congress relating to the adulteration of foods and drugs in the District of Columbia, approved February 17, 1898 [30 Stat. at L. 246, chap. 25]. Section 2 of this act, after declaring the inclusion of the words “drug” and “food,” proceeds as follows: “And if there be more than one quality of any article of food or drug known by the same name,, the best quality thereof shall be furnished to the purchaser, unless he otherwise requests at the time of making such purchase, or unless he be notified at such time of the inferior quality of the article delivered.” This section, the violation of which, as well as of other provisions, is made punishable by sec. 9, goes-somewhat beyond the particular object of the act, which is the-prevention of the sale of adulterated articles of food and drugs,, and is intended to cover those cases where there may be different qualities or grades of food in the market, none of which', shall fall below the standard prescribed by the act, or be adulterated within its meaning. In such cases the purchaser shall be supplied with the best quality, unless he otherwise requests,.
The information failing to charge a violation of sec. 2, and not containing allegations sufficient to constitute a violation of sec. 3, the police court did not err in sustaining the motion tto quash.
The judgment is therefore affirmed. Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. THOMPSON
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Criminal Law; Food Adulteration; Municipal Corporations. An information in the police court of the District of Columbia, under the act of Congress of February 17, 1898 (30 Stat. at L. 246, chap. 25), against a milk dealer, is properly quashed by that court, where it charges the accused with furnishing to a customer “milk which was not of the best quality of milk (to wit, milk of an inferior quality, in that the said milk was stale or dirty, or both stale and dirty, and which contained fecal matter); there being more than one quality of said article of food known by the same name, without the said purchaser having requested an inferior article of milk, and without notifying the said purchaser at the time of such purchase that the said milk was of inferior quality,”—as the information does not directly charge that there are more than one quality of standard and unadulterated milk, and that an inferior quality was delivered without request therefor or notification that it was of such an inferior quality; nor does it show that the milk sold was an adulterated article within the definitions of that act.