DUBOIS, C. J. This is a petition for a writ of certiorari brought by the Attorney General on the relation of certain persons named therein and in behalf of the inhabitants of the city of Providence, in this state, against the persons constituting the board of police commissioners for said city of Providence, and represents: "That as such commissioners (they) are duly authorized by law to grant licenses for the sale of spirituous and intoxicating liquors within said city of Providence, by virtue of and in conformity with the statutes made and provided in such cases, namely, chapter 102 of the General Laws of Rhode Island, section 2, as amended by chapter 543 of the Public Laws of Rhode Island passed at the January session, A. D. 1898, chapter 1235 of said laws passed at the May session A. D. 1905, chapter 1355 of said Laws passed at the January session, A. D. 1906. That by and under the provisions of said chapter 1583 of the Public Laws it is provided that the number of licenses granted (not including druggists' liquor licenses) shall not exceed in the several cities and towns of the state one for each 500 inhabitants as determined by the last census taken under the authority of the United States or the state of Rhode Island. That the population of the state of Rhode Island as shown by the last census taken by the said state, and which is the last census taken in said state, and which shows the largest number of inhabitants of the city of Providence of any census taken therein, as 198,635. That the number of licenses as determined by said census on the basis of one for each 500 inhabitants of said city is 397, and that said board of commissioners under and by virtue of said statute had authority and jurisdiction to grant and issue licenses for the sale of spirituous and intoxicating liquors to the number of 397, and no more. That the said board of commissioners on, to wit, the 16th day of December, A. D. 1908, granted to John Dwyer a license for the sale of spirituous and intoxicating liquors at, to wit, No. 294 Tockwotten street, in said city of Providence, and that prior to the granting of said license said board of police commissioners had already granted and issued to various parties licenses for the sale of such liquors to the number of 397, and more, and that, when said
board granted said license to John Dwyer, it was acting beyond its authority and without any jurisdiction in the premises, and that its act in granting said license was null and void, and said license was illegal and invalid, all which acts and doings appear upon the records of said board of police commissioners relative to the granting of such licenses. That this petitioner is informed and believes that said board of commissioners claims to have acted within the scope of its authority and in conformity with the law in granting said licenses on the ground that, in determining the number of persons entitled to such licenses under the provisions of said chapter 1583, licenses granted to clubs are not to be counted nor reckoned as licenses for the sale of spirituous and intoxicating liquors under said chapter, and that, unless such licenses are included in the number of licenses granted by said commissioners in said city of Providence, they had not when they issued said license to said John Dwyer exceeded the number of 397. Whereas, your petitioner avers and insists that licenses for the sale of such liquors granted to clubs are and should be included in the number of licenses which may be issued by said license commissioners under the terms of said statute, and they say that said license to John Dwyer and all other licenses granted and issued by said commissioners in excess of the number of 397, including club licenses, are invalid and void, and they pray that a writ of certiorari may issue out of this honorable court directed to said William H. Luther, Harold J. Gross, and Walter A. Presbrey, directing and commanding them to appear and to produce their records of licenses for the sale of spirituous and intoxicating liquors granted and issued by them on or after the 1st day of December, A. D. 1908, before this honorable court, and if it shall appear by said records that a license was granted and issued as aforesaid by said board of commissioners to said John Dwyer, and that other licenses have been issued by said commissioners in excess of the number of 397, including licenses granted and issued by them to clubs, that such action and record of said board in excess of its authority be quashed, and said board of commissioners be directed to revoke and recall all such licenses granted in excess of and since and after the granting of 397 licenses as aforesaid."
This raises the following question for our determination: Are special club licenses issued under Pub. Laws. c. 1235, p. 192, passed May 5, 1905, subject to the provision of Pub. Laws, c. 1583, p. 206, § 1, passed May 22, 1908, which reads as follows: "The number of licenses granted (not including druggists' liquor licenses) shall not exceed, in the several cities and towns of the state, one for each five hundred inhabitants as determined by the last census taken under the authority of the United States or the state of Rhode Island." Pub. Laws, c. 1235, p. 192, passed May 5, 1905, is entitled "An act in addition to chapter 92 of the General Laws, entitled 'Of the Suppression of Certain Nuisances,'" and reads as follows:
"Section 1. All buildings, places, or tenements located within any town or city granting liquor licenses under the provisions of chapter 102 of the General Laws used by any club or other association, whether incorporated or not, for the purpose of selling, distributing, or dispensing intoxicating liquors to its members or others, shall be deemed to be common nuisances; and whoever keeps or maintains, or assists in keeping or maintaining, such a common nuisance, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and all costs of prosecution and conviction: Provided, that in any city or town in which liquor licenses are issued, as provided in chapter 102 of the General Laws, the licensing board may on application therefor, and payment of a license fee of twenty-five dollars, grant or refuse to grant to any club or association a special club license authorizing the selling, distributing, and dispensing of intoxicating liquors by said club, or association to its members only, and only upon the premises occupied by it and to be specified and described in said license; which license shall expire at the same time as other licenses granted under the provisions of chapter 102 of the General Laws, and may be revoked at any time by licensing board. Upon the conviction of any incorporated club or association or any officer, member, agent, or employee thereof under the provisions of this act, the charter of such club or association shall become null and void.
"Sec. 2. This act shall take effect upon the first day of June, A. D. 1905."
Sections 1, 3, and 4, c. 1583, Pub. Laws, passed May 22, 1908, entitled "An act in amendment of and in addition to chapter 102 of the General Laws, entitled 'Of the Suppression of Intemperance,'" read as follows:
"Section 1. Section 2 of chapter 102 of the General Laws of Rhode Island, as amended by section 1 of chapter 543 of the Public Laws of Rhode Island, passed at the January session, A. D. 1898, and by chapter 1355 of the Public Laws of Rhode Island, passed at the January session, A. D. 1906, is hereby amended to read as follows:
"'Sec. 2. The town councils of the several towns, and the boards of commissioners as hereinafter provided, may grant or refuse to grant licenses to such citizens resident within this state, for the manufacture or sale of pure spirituous and intoxicating liquors within the limits of such town or city, as they may deem proper: Provided, that the number of licenses granted (not including druggists' liquor licenses) shall not exceed, in the several cities and towns of the state, one for each five hundred inhabitants as determined by the last census taken under the authority of the United States or the
state of Rhode Island. Whenever any license for the sale of spirituous or intoxicating liquors shall be granted, the same shall be granted to expire on the first day of December next succeeding the granting of the same, unless revoked as is hereinafter provided, and such citizen resident may obtain at any time, in the discretion of the persons authorized to grant licenses, a license to expire on the first day of December next succeeding the granting of the same, and pay therefor a price which shall be in proportion to the length of time which the said license so granted shall continue in force bears to the price of a license for a year; but no license granted under the provisions of this chapter shall authorize any person to sell any spirituous and intoxicating liquors on Sunday, or on any election day, or on Labor Day, or on Christmas Day, except in licensed taverns when served with foot to guests, or to any woman, except as hereinafter provided, or to sell or deliver, or to suffer to be sold or delivered, to any minor, either for his own use, the use of his parents, or of any other person, or to sell to any intoxicated person or to any person of notoriously intemperate habits, or to sell or furnish intoxicating liquors to any person on a passbook or order on a store, or to receive from any person any goods, wares, merchandise, or provisions...
