Corson v. Maryland
Corson v. Maryland
Opinion
delivered the opinion of the court.
This case does not differ materially from that’ of Robbins v. Taxing District of Shelby County, just decided. The Code of Maryland, as amended in 1880, provides that “ no person or corporation other than the_ grower, maker, or manufacturer shall-barter or sell, or otherwise dispose of, or shall' offer for sale any goods, chattels, wares, or merchandise within this state, without first obtaining a license in the manner herein, prescribed.” A violation of this law .was made an indictable offence; and the plaintiff in error, a citizen and resident of New York, was indicted for offering to sell, and for selling by sample, in the city of Baltimore, ivithout license, certain goods for a New York firm, to be shipped from New York directly, to. the purchaser. The plaintiff in error demurred to the indictment, but it was sustained both by the court of original jurisdiction and by the Court of Appeals of Maryland On writ of error. The constitutionality of the law was duly raised, and the law was sustained.
*506 The same principles apply to this case which were considered in that of Robbins, and the same result must be declared.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals of Maryland is reversed, and the plaintiff in error must be discharged.
Mr. Justice Field, Mr. Justice Gray, and myself agree to this judgment, but on different grounds from those stated "in the opinion of the court, It is not denied tliat the statute of Maryland requires a non-resident merchant desiring to sell by sample in that state, to pay for a license to do that business a sum to be ascertained by the amount of his stock in trade in the state where he resides, and in* which he has his principal place of business. This differs materially from the statute of Tennessee, which was considered in Robbins v. Taxing District of Shelby County, just decided, and is in its effect, as we think, a tax on commerce among the states. The charge for the privilege to the non-resident is measured by his capacity for doing business ah over the United States,-and without any reference to the amount done or to be done in Maryland.
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- The Code of Maryland provided that “ no person or corporation other than the grower, maker, or manufacturer, shall barter .or sell, or. otherwise dispose of, or shall offer for sale any goods, chattels, wares, or merchandise within the state, without first obtaining .a license in the manner ■ herein prescribed; ” that the application for the license should state on oath “ the amount of said applicant’s stock of goods, wares, and merclianclise generally kept on liand by him, or the concern in -which he is •engaged, at the principal season of-sale; or if said applicant shall not have previously engaged in such trade or business, the amount of such stock he expects to keep as aforesaid; ” and it graduated the rate to be paid for the license according to the sworn statement-of the applicant’s stock-in trade, at the principal season of sale, ranging from $15 to $150. A, a citizen and resident of New York', was indicted under this' statute for offering to sell by sample in Baltimore, without first obtaining a ' . license, goods for a New York firm, to be shipped by them directly to the purchaser in Baltimore. Held, that these enactments in the Code, as applied to A, violated that provision of the Constitution of tlie United States which grants to Congress the pow.er to make regulations of commerce among the states. Robbins v. Shelby County Taxing District, ante, 489, affirmed and applied to .this case.