S. Miller Cold Storage Co. v. State
S. Miller Cold Storage Co. v. State
Opinion of the Court
Sec. 111.04, Stats., under which defendants were prosecuted, provides:
“Every such licensee shall keep accurate records of the articles of food received in and of the articles of food with*362 drawn from his cold-storage warehouse, and the dairy and food commissioner shall have free access to such records at any time.”
Cold-storage warehouse is defined by the act as “Any place artificially cooled to or below a temperature above zero of forty-five degrees Fahrenheit, in which articles of food are placed and held for forty days or more.”
In the argument reference was made to certain rules and regulations made by the dairy and food commissioner. The penalty provision of the statute is as follows: “Any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished,” etc.
It is to be noted that the statute provides no penalty for the violation of any rule made by the dairy and food commissioner, who is authorized to make all rules and regulations necessary to carry the chapter into effect. We must consider the case on the basis of the statutory provisions, unenlarged by any rule or interpretation of the dairy and food commissioner.
The defendant kept a storage inventory. As the eggs were graded and passed into the cold-storage warehouse the cases were labeled and numbered and the date of entry indicated thereon. They were stored in lots of from 100 to 400 cases. An account was kept in the office of the company of the ownership of the various eggs included in each lot, but the ownership did not appear upon the cold-storage inventory. When the eggs were withdrawn from the warehouse they were charged against the lot from which they were taken and the date of withdrawal indicated.
It is the contention of the state that the defendant violated the statute by failing to keep an accurate account of the date when the cold-storage goods were received upon the premises; second, by failing to keep an accurate record in the cold-storage warehouse account of the ownership of
By' the Court. — The judgment of the county court of Wood county is reversed, and the cáuse remanded with directions to dismiss the complaint.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- S. Miller Cold Storage Company. in error v. The State, in error
- Status
- Published