Gnerich v. Rutter
| Decision Date | 02 June 1924 |
| Docket Number | No. 79,79 |
| Citation | 44 S.Ct. 532,68 L.Ed. 1068,265 U.S. 388 |
| Parties | GNERICH et al. v. RUTTER, Prohibition Director |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. H. G. McKannay and Louis V. Crowley, both of San Francisco, Cal., for appellants.
Mrs. Mabel W. Willebrandt, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
This is a suit for an injunction against the federal prohibition director for California restraining him from giving effect to a particular restriction embodied in a permit, issued under the National Prohibition Act (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 10138 1/4 a et seq.), authorizing the plaintiffs, who are licensed pharmacists conducting a general drug business in San Francisco, to use and sell in such business intoxicating liquors for other than beverage purposes. The District Court dismissed the bill as not stating a cause of action, and the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decree on the ground that the suit could not be maintained without making the Commissioner of Internal Revenue a party defendant. 277 Fed. 632. The plaintiffs prosecute this appeal.
National Prohibition Act, c. 85, tit. 2, 41 Stat. 307, commits its administration to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, authorizes him to prescribe regulations for carrying out its provisions, and declares, in clause 7 of section 1, that any act authorized to be done by the Commissioner 'may be performed by any assistant or agent designated by him for that purpose.'
The act directly prohibits the manufacture, sale, etc., of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes, and further provides in section 3, that liquor for nonbeverage purposes may be manufactured, purchased, sold, etc., 'but only as herein provided,' and, in section 6, that no one shall manufacture, sell, purchase, etc., any liquor 'without first obtaining a permit from the commissioner so to do'; that no permit shall be issued to any one to sell at retail, unless the selling is to be through a pharmacist designated in the permit and licensed under the state law to compound and dispense medicine under a physician's prescription; that every permit shall be 'signed by the Commissioner or his authorized agent' and shall 'designate and limit the acts that are permitted'; that the Commissioner 'shall prescribe the form of all permits,' and that where he refuses a permit the applicant 'may have a review of his decision before a court of equity.'
The regulations prescribed provide for and designate a general agent of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, called a prohibition commissioner, who is authorized, among other things, to issue and sign permits to sell liquor at retail for medicinal purposes through licensed pharmacists, and also a local agent in each state or district, called a prohibition director, who is authorized, among other things, to issue and sign permits to purchase liquor to be used and sold under the permits last mentioned. The regulations further contain a provision that:
'Every permit will clearly and specifically designate and limit the acts that are permitted and the time when and the place where such acts may be performed.'
The permit held by the plaintiffs was issued and signed by the prohibition commissioner, and the restriction therein of which the plaintiffs complain says 'this permit is issued for 100 gallons of distilled spirits and 5 gallons of wine per quarterly period.' The director adhered to the restriction by refusing to give the plaintiffs permits to purchase in excess of those quantities. The plaintiffs allege that the restriction was put in the permit without any lawful authority; that, if it be authorized by the regulations, the latter are void; and that the director by giving effect to it is wrongfully subjecting the plaintiffs to...
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