Greene v. W.L. Weller & Sons

• Decision Date: 05 June 1917
• Citation: Greene v. W.L. Weller & Sons, 176 Ky. 129, 195 S.W. 422 (Ky. Ct. App. 1917)
• Parties: GREENE v. W. L. WELLER & SONS.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

195 S.W. 422

176 Ky. 129

GREENE v. W. L. WELLER & SONS.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

June 5, 1917

Appeal from Circuit Court, Franklin County.

Action by W. L. Weller & Sons against Robert L. Greene, Auditor. Judgment for plaintiffs, and defendant appeals. Reversed for proceedings consistent with the opinion.

M. M Logan, Atty. Gen., and D. O. Myatt, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Garnett & Van Winkle and Lawrence S. Leopold, all of Louisville, for appellees.

CLARKE J.

The question involved on this appeal is the proper license tax that shall be collected from a resident wholesale dealer of wines, ales, or any vinous liquors, who is also a wholesale dealer of rectified, blended, or compounded single stamp spirits, or of straight distilled spirits, whose sales of distilled spirits, or rectified, blended, or compounded single stamp spirits, for the previous year amounted to more than 500 and less than 1,000 barrels. Appellees are such wholesale dealers, and for the year ending June 30, 1916 sold 872 barrels of distilled spirits. On July 10, 1916, they applied to appellant for a license authorizing them to engage in the business as wholesale dealers in the several kinds of distilled spirits mentioned above and vinous liquors for the year ending June 30, 1917. With their application they tendered as payment in full for said license tax the sum of $350. Appellant refused to accept this amount, but demanded the sum of $400 for the license applied for. Appellee then instituted this suit in the Franklin circuit court to compel appellant to issue the license and accept the sum of $350 in full payment therefor. Appellees, in addition to setting out fully the facts above stated, pleaded and relied upon a contemporaneous construction of section 4224 of Kentucky Statutes, which fixes the amount of the license. Appellant filed answer, controverting only that part of the petition relating to contemporaneous construction. An agreed statement of facts was filed, and the case was submitted. Whereupon the lower court awarded a judgment against appellant directing him to issue a license and accept the tendered $350 in full payment for same. Appellant appeals.

So much of section 4224 of Kentucky Statutes as is involved here is as follows:

"For each resident wholesale dealer of distilled spirits or rectified, blended or compounded single stamp spirits, whose sales for the year ending June 30th, 1906, and on same date of each year thereafter, have in the aggregate been five hundred barrels or less, one hundred dollars.

For each resident wholesale dealer of distilled spirits or rectified, blended or compounded single stamp spirits, whose sales for the year ending June 30th, 1906, and on the same date of each year thereafter, have in the aggregate been over five hundred barrels and less than one thousand barrels, two hundred dollars.

For each resident wholesale dealer in distilled spirits or rectified, blended or compounded single stamp spirits, whose sales for the year ending June 30th, 1906, and on the same date of each year thereafter have been in the aggregate one thousand barrels or more, three hundred dollars. * * *

For each resident wholesale dealer of wines, ales or any vinous liquors, two hundred dollars: Provided, that in the event a resident wholesale...