Harper v. State

• Decision Date: 28 June 1909
• Parties: HARPER v. STATE
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

121 S.W. 737

91 Ark. 422

HARPER v. STATE

Supreme Court of Arkansas

June 28, 1909

Appeal from Sebastian Circuit Court, Fort Smith District; Daniel Hon, Judge; affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Brizzolara & Fitzhugh, for appellant.

1. Neither of defendants personally, or through their employees ever sold liquor to the minor in Arkansas. The order came through the United States mail, and defendants had no knowledge or information that the purchaser was a minor. It was not a crime. 47 Ark. 555. The railroad was the agent of the purchaser. 45 Ark. 361; Black on Intox. Liquor, § 422.

2. The railroad was not the agent of the purchaser, and there was no delivery in Arkansas, and hence no sale in Arkansas: (1) Because defendants did not ship by the carrier nor in the manner named by the purchaser. (2) Because the vendor agreed to deliver the goods and prepaid the freight. Benjamin on Sales, 153; 141 Mass. 593; 88 Ark. 269; 24 Am. & E. Enc. L 1071, 1075; 2 Benj. on Sales, § 1196, 1186, 1181; 37 Ark. 483; 31 Id. 155; 58 Ga. 56.

3. The delivery to a common carrier was not a delivery to the vendee in Arkansas. Benjamin on Sales, 156; 2 Wharton, Conf. Laws (3 Ed.) § 486 a; 141 Mass. 364; 113 Id. 391; 91 Iowa 109; 3 Page on Cont., § 1728.

Hal L. Norwood, Attorney General, C. A. Cunningham, Assistant, for appellee; June P. Wooten, of counsel.

1. It matters not whether they had knowledge or information that the purchaser was a minor. They were bound to determine for themselves, at their peril, whether or not he was a minor. Black on Intox. Liquor, § 418; 36 Ark. 58; 37 Id. 108; Ib. 219; Ib. 399; 45 Ark. 361.

2. The sale was complete by delivery to the carrier at Fort Smith. 3 Page on Cont., § 1728; 116 Iowa 711; 51 Ark. 133; 43 Id. 353; 50 Id. 20; 44 Id. 556; 88 Ark. 269; 1 Benj. on Sales, § 181.

OPINION

FRAUENTHAL, J.

The defendants, George W. Harper and C. P. Wilson, were convicted of the offense of selling ardent liquors to a minor in the Fort Smith District of Sebastian County; and they have taken an appeal from that conviction to this court.

The evidence tended to establish the following facts: The defendants are licensed wholesale and retail liquor dealers, doing business in the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Christopher Russell is a minor about 15 years old residing at Warner in the State of Oklahoma, a station on the Midland Valley Railway 85 miles west of Fort Smith. On September 17, 1908, Christopher Russell, seeing a circular advertisement of defendants, sent to defendants a letter, in which he made an order for one gallon of whisky. The letter is as follows:

"Warner, Okla., September 17, 1908.

"Harper and Wilson.

"Enclosed you will find $ 3.00 for which please send me one (1) gallon of rock and rye whisky. I want 8 shorts. Be sure and send on the evening train today.

Your customer,

"Christy Russell,

"Warner, Okla.

"Don't fail to send on evening train."

The three dollars sent in the letter was a sufficient amount to pay for the whisky and the charges for carriage from Fort Smith to Warner. The defendants did not know Christopher Russell, and did not know that he was a minor, but they accepted the order, and on September 18, 1908, they delivered to the Midland Valley Railway, a common carrier, at Fort Smith, Ark., a gallon of whisky, duly addressed to Christopher Russell at Warner, Oklahoma; and at their request the carrier executed a bill of lading for the whisky in which Christopher Russell was named as consignee. The whisky was shipped by freight train, and the defendants paid the freight. It appears that there is a passenger train leaving Fort Smith on this railroad in the afternoon, and which arrives at Warner about 7 o'clock P. M., and that express packages are carried on this train, but ordinarily no freight. Christopher Russell got the whisky at the depot at Warner.

It is contended by defendants that they cannot be convicted of this offense of selling intoxicating liquors to a minor, for the reason that they did not know that Christopher Russell was a minor; that on this account they had no criminal intent, and therefore could not be guilty of a criminal offense.

The statute under which the defendants were convicted provides that "any person who shall sell or give away, either for himself or another, or be interested in the sale or giving away of, any ardent, vinous, malt or fermented liquors. * * * * to any minor," shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Kirby's Digest, sec. 1943. The words "knowingly or wilfully" or words of like import do not appear in this statute. The offense is complete when the sale is made to a minor, and the guilty intent is not an essential ingredient of the offense. There are some courts that hold that in prosecutions of this nature the absolute good faith of the seller and his ignorance of the minority of the buyer is a good defense. But the principle adopted by this court and enunciated by Chief Justice ENGLISH is that vendors of intoxicating liquors are bound to "determine for themselves at their peril whether or not the purchaser is a minor; for, if they sell to one who is a minor, they are criminally liable, notwithstanding they are actually ignorant of the fact and honestly believed the person is of full age." Redmond v. State, 36 Ark. 58; Black on Intoxicating Liquors, § 418.

In the opinion delivered by Chief Justice ENGLISH some of the reasons are given for that ruling and that determination of the effect of this statute. Those reasons appear to us manifest and sound; and the result of such ruling is to effect a proper enforcement of a public policy announced by this statute against the selling or giving away of intoxicating liquors to a minor.

This decision has been followed by this court in a number of cases, and we can see no good or wholesome reason for changing it. Crampton v. State, 37 Ark. 108; Edgar v. State, 37 Ark. 219; Pounders v. State, 37 Ark. 399.

It is urged that, inasmuch as the common carrier was the agent of the minor and the liquor was purchased through such agent, in such event the defendants would not be guilty if they did not know or have any reasonable grounds of knowing that they were selling to a minor. And they cite Gillan v. State, 47 Ark. 555, 2 S.W. 185, to sustain that contention. But in that case the vendor sold directly to a negro, and made no contract with the minor. It subsequently developed that the minor had sent the negro to purchase the whisky for him. But there was no actual agreement on the part of the vendor to sell to the party who was the minor; and, as far as the vendor was concerned, the sale was made by him to the negro. In this case the defendants actually sold and intended to sell the liquor to Chrictopher Russell, the minor, and they simply were ignorant at the time of the fact that he was a minor.

It is contended that the sale in this case did not take place at Fort Smith but at Warner, Oklahoma; that this is true because the delivery of the whisky was made to Russell at Warner and not at Fort Smith. The sale occurred at the place where the contract and delivery were actually made. The contract of sale, like all other contracts, consists of an agreement between the parties and in addition thereto a delivery of the chattel. In this case the minor sent a letter to...