Cooke v. Court of Common Pleas of Mercer County

• Decision Date: 20 November 1888
• Citation: 16 A. 176,51 N.J.L. 85
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
• Parties: COOKE v. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF MERCER COUNTY.

16 A. 176

51 N.J.L. 85

COOKE

v. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF MERCER COUNTY.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

November 20, 1888.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Application for mandamus.

Application by Albert D. Cooke for a mandamus to the court of common pleas of Mercer county, to compel the issuing of a license to sell intoxicating liquors in the borough of Princeton.

Argued at June term, 1888, before DEPUE and VAN SYCKEL, JJ.

C. H. Beasley, for plaintiff. J. F. Hageman, Jr., for defendant.

VAN SYCKEL, J. Cooke, the relator, in due form made application to the court of common pleas of the county of Mercer, to grant him a license to keep an inn and tavern in the borough of Princeton. The court refused to entertain the application, on the ground that it had no jurisdiction to hear it. The question in the case is whether said court has the power to grant a license to keep an inn and tavern in said borough. The act entitled "An act to revise the charter of the borough of Princeton," approved April 3, 1873, (Laws 1873, p. 567,) provides as follows: "That the mayor and council of the borough of Princeton shall have power to pass, enforce, alter, and repeal ordinances to take effect within said borough; to license and regulate or prohibit restaurants, beer saloons, bowling alleys, billiard saloons, oyster houses and cellars, hay-scales, and to regulate or prohibit all traffic in or sale of intoxicating drinks in said borough; to regulate or prohibit the sale of liquors by druggists, and the keepers of any drug-stores therein, except in cases of prescription by regularly licensed physicians; to license, regulate, or prohibit hawkers and hucksters, on such terms, and under such regulations and penalties, as the said council shall by ordinance impose; and no license for any of the above purposes within said borough, granted by any other authority, shall be lawful, except licenses granted by the governor to hawkers and peddlers." Section 27, subd. 15. It is insisted that, the right to license inns and taverns not being among the enumerated powers in this section, the exclusive jurisdiction to grant such licenses remains in the common pleas. Such a construction would override the clearly expressed intention of the draftsman of this charter. Not only does it bestow upon the common council the power to regulate or prohibit all traffic in or sale of intoxicating drinks in said borough, but it declares that no license to traffic in or sell intoxicating drinks within said...