Griswold Inn, Inc. v. State

• Decision Date: 21 April 1981
• Citation: 183 Conn. 552,441 A.2d 16
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: , 27 A.L.R.4th 1144 GRISWOLD INN, INC. et al. v. STATE of Connecticut et al.

Page 16

441 A.2d 16

183 Conn. 552, 27 A.L.R.4th 1144

GRISWOLD INN, INC. et al. v. STATE of Connecticut et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Jan. 9, 1981.

Decided April 21, 1981.

Charles M. Tighe, Essex, for plaintiffs.

Robert F. Vacchelli, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom, on the brief, were Carl R. Ajello, Atty. Gen., and Richard M. Sheridan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendants.

Margaret Hayman and Martha Stone, Hartford, filed a brief as amici curiae.

Before BOGDANSKI, PETERS, HEALEY, ARMENTANO and WRIGHT, JJ.

BOGDANSKI, Associate Justice.

In this case the plaintiffs, Griswold Inn, Inc., et al. sought to have the Superior Court declare unconstitutional General Statutes §§ 30-91, 30-74, and 30-77 insofar as they prohibit sale of alcoholic liquor on Good Friday. They further sought to enjoin the defendants from enforcing those statutes. Pursuant to Practice Book §§ 3133 and 3134, the case is before this court on reservation.

The facts relevant to a determination of the issues have been agreed upon by the parties. The pertinent stipulated facts are as follows: "... Good Friday is an annual day of holiness of the Christian religious faith upon which those professing that faith commemorate the death by crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the founding inspiration of that faith, whose death is by them believed to constitute an act of atonement for human transgressions against the commandments of a Supreme Being acknowledged by that faith.

"Easter Day is an annual holy day of the Christian religious faith upon which those professing that faith commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"The resurrection of Jesus Christ is believed by those professing the Christian faith to have occurred on a Sunday, and his death by crucifixion is believed to have occurred on the Friday next preceding that Sunday.

"After a period of disagreement among early Christians concerning the proper day of the year upon which Christ's resurrection should be annually observed, the method of reckoning the date thereof was established at a gathering of Christian prelates known as the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.

"In accordance with the determination made at the Council of Nicea, Easter Day is to be observed annually by the churches of the Christian religious faith on the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or next after the vernal equinox in each year, and the 'full moon' for this purpose is the 14th day of a lunar month reckoned according to an ancient ecclesiastical computation.

"Among the churches of the Christian religious faith, Easter Day is regarded as a religious festival of great rejoicing, and Good Friday is regarded as a religious day of mourning and repentence, and Good Friday is observed always on the Friday next before Easter Day.

"The date prescribed for observing Easter Day pursuant to the method determined at the Council of Nicea, and therefore the date prescribed for observing Good Friday, are calculated by Roman Catholic and Protestant churches of the Christian religious faith according to the Gregorian Calendar, while those dates are calculated by the Eastern Orthodox church of that faith according to the Julian Calendar, and, as a result, these days are not usually observed by Eastern Orthodox churches on the same dates as they are observed by Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.

"Regular religious observance of Good Friday began early in the Christian era among Christians in Jerusalem and continues to the present time.

"The early Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and other Protestant churches of the Christian religious faith prescribed church attendance, abstention from all secular business, and fasting as the proper practices for observance of Good Friday by those professing the Christian religious faith.

"In the early 17th century, Christians dissenting from rites and doctrines of the Protestant church established in England refused to observe Good Friday as a special holy day of fasting. These dissenters, known as Puritans, although refusing to observe regularly appointed days of holiness, including Good Friday, according to the rites prescribed by the Anglican established church, did observe days of fasting on particular appointed occasions, another custom of the times. Many of these Puritans left England to escape persecution for their religious beliefs and were (the) original (European) settlers in Connecticut as well as other parts of the New World. These Christian settlers of the New World continued to resist the establishment of Good Friday as a day of special religious observance, but appointed and observed occasional days of fast usually upon the appearance of public danger or other calamity.

"The celebration of an annual spring fast was first conceived and established in Connecticut by these settlers, the appointment of the date was left to civil authorities dating back to at least 1659 and was sometimes kept as late as June. The Roman Catholic church and the Anglican church continue to regard Good Friday as a fast day, although both churches have created alternative methods of observance. This annual spring fast day was appointed and observed to seek divine favor upon the undertakings of the coming year and generally carried a somber theme of prospective hope for the ensuing year especially in regard to the planting of the fields.

"It happened that the annual spring fast day in colonial Connecticut came to be appointed generally on a Wednesday or Thursday in the spring and, immediately prior to 1795, was frequently appointed for a day in Easter week which, among members of the Anglican church in Connecticut, was regarded as a period of rejoicing; an annual thanksgiving day feast day came to be celebrated in the fall.

"Connecticut Governor Huntington in 1795, in order to avoid conflict with Easter week and court and legislative recesses, appointed the annual fast day on Good Friday as an experiment, the day which the Anglican church in New England, as in England, was accustomed to observe as a fast day, and since 1797, the annual fast day has always been appointed on Good Friday without objection.... On the day proclaimed as a day of prayer and fasting by the Governor, state and municipal offices, including public libraries, schools, banks and some industries, are closed and neither the General Assembly nor state or federal courts conduct business on that day, but many industrial and commercial enterprises, including restaurants and other retail stores, conduct business.

"The consumption of alcohol in immoderate quantities (impairs physical and mental skills in many people, and) persons who are intoxicated have a much higher chance of being involved in or causing highway and recreational accidents resulting in death or serious injury.

"The plaintiffs desire to sell and serve alcoholic liquor on Good Friday. (They) are prohibited from selling and serving alcoholic liquor on Good Friday by reason of the risk of prosecution, conviction and punishment pursuant to said laws of the state of Connecticut, and the consequent loss of their privilege to sell and serve alcoholic liquor under the provisions of Chapter 545 of the General Statutes.

"As a result of the intimidating effect upon them of said statutes of the state of Connecticut and their inability to offer for sale and to sell and serve alcoholic liquor lawfully on Good Friday, the plaintiffs have suffered and will continue to suffer the loss of revenues, income and profits from the sale (of food and alcoholic liquor and) the letting of rooms in their businesses on each such day ...." and the weekend following such day.

The pertinent questions reserved for this court are: (a) "Are § 30-91 of the General Statutes, insofar as it declares unlawful, and §§ 30-74 and 30-77 of the General Statutes, insofar as they prohibit, the sale of alcoholic liquor on Good Friday, laws made in violation of article seven of the constitution of the state of Connecticut 1965 in that said laws compel the plaintiffs to join or support, or be classed or associated with, a congregation, church or religious association? (b) Are § 30-91 of the General Statutes, insofar as it declares unlawful, and §§ 30-74 and 30-77 of the General Statutes, insofar as they prohibit, the sale of alcoholic liquor on Good Friday, laws made in violation of the first and fourteenth amendments of the constitution of the United States in that they are laws made by the state of Connecticut respecting an establishment of religion?"

Because we conclude that §§ 30-91, 30-74 and 30-77 are unconstitutional in that they prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on Good Friday, in violation of article seventh of the constitution of the state of Connecticut, and the first and fourteenth amendments to the United States constitution, we need not resolve the other questions presented. ¹

This court, in Snyder v. Newtown, 147 Conn. 374, 385, 161 A.2d 770 (1960), appeal dismissed, 365 U.S. 299, 81 S.Ct. 692, 5 L.Ed.2d 688 (1961), construed article seventh, § 1, of the Connecticut constitution of 1955 ² and held that its purpose was to erect "a wall of separation between Church and State," and thus had a purpose similar to that of the Establishment Clause of the first amendment of the United States constitution. ³

The United States Supreme Court sets forth a three-part test to determine whether a law violates the Establishment Clause. "(T)o pass muster under the Establishment Clause the law in question, first, must reflect a clearly secular legislative purpose, second, must have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion, and, third, must avoid excessive governmental entanglement with religion." (Citations omitted.) Committee for Public Education v. Nyquist, 413 U.S. 756, 772-73, 93 S.Ct. 2955, 2965-66, 37 L.Ed.2d 948 (1973). If a legislative enactment fails any one part of the test, it must fall. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39, 101 S.Ct. 192, 66...