Gastenau v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 15 May 1900
• Citation: 108 Ky. 473
• Parties: Gastenau v. Commonwealth.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

108 Ky. 473

Gastenau v. Commonwealth.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

May 15, 1900.

APPEAL FROM BELL CIRCUIT COURT.

PERRY GASTENAU WAS CONVICTED FOR THE VIOLATION OF A CITY ORDINANCE, AND HE APPEALS. REVERSED.

G. W. SAULSBERRY, ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT.

F. D. GOODWIN AND T. G. ANDERSON, ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUDGE GUFFY — REVERSING.

The sole question presented for decision is whether or not the following ordinances are valid or constitutional. The appellant, having been convicted for a violation thereof, prosecuted an appeal to the circuit court, and, the circuit court having adjudged the ordinances valid, and rendered a judgment for cost against the appellant, he prosecutes an appeal from so much of the judgment as holds said ordinance to be valid. The ordinances read as follows: "Be it ordained by the board of council of the city of Middlesboro, Bell county, Ky.: (1) That it shall be unlawful for any woman to go in and out of any building where a saloon is kept offering for sale any spirituous, vinous and malt liquors, or to frequent, loaf or stand around said building within fifty feet thereof. (2) That it shall be unlawful for any saloon keeper or his clerk or employes to allow or permit any woman or women to come in or out of his building where spirituous, vinous and malt liquors are sold or offered for sale, and it shall be the duty of said saloon keeper, clerk or employes to immediately notify the officers that the first section of this ordinance had been violated, giving the name and color of the offender. (3) Any woman violating section No. 1 of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than $1.00 nor more than $10.00, or confined in the city jail not less than ten days nor more than thirty days, or both, at the discretion of the court. (4) Any saloon keeper, clerk or employe of the saloon keeper violating section No. 2 of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than $5.00 nor more than $10.00 for the first offense, and for the second offense it shall be good grounds for the revocation of said saloon keeper's license." It is contended for appellee that the sole object of the ordinance is to regulate and control the sale of liquors by reason of the fact that very disreputable, low, and vile women congregate in and about saloons and places where liquor is sold, thereby causing affrays,...