Peter Ambrosini v. United States

• Decision Date: 20 October 1902
• Docket Number: No. 14,14
• Citation: 47 L.Ed. 49,187 U.S. 1,23 S.Ct. 1
• Parties: PETER AMBROSINI, Plff. in Err. , v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

187 U.S. 1

23 S.Ct. 1

47 L.Ed. 49

PETER AMBROSINI, Plff. in Err.,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 14.

Argued and Submitted December 4, 1901.

Decided October 20, 1902.

This was a writ of error brought to reverse a judgment of the district court imposing a fine on a finding of guilty of an offense under § 7 of the act of Congress entitled 'An Act to Provide Ways and Means to Meet War Expenditures, and for Other Purposes' (30 Stat. at L. 448, chap. 448),¹ otherwise known as the war revenue act of 1898. The indictment contained two counts. The first charged that defendant on August 30, 1898, executed a certain bond in the penal sum of $3,000 to the people of the state of Illinois without affixing to the bond a 50-cent revenue stamp, alleged to be required by said act of Congress. The second count charged that defendant on August 30, 1898, executed a certain bond to the city of Chicago in the penal sum of $500 without affixing thereto a 50-cent revenue stamp, alleged to be required by the act. The bonds were set forth in extenso. A motion to quash the indictment was made and overruled, and, a jury being waived, the cause was submitted to the court for trial, defendant found guilty, and sentenced to pay a fine. The opinion is reported, 105 Fed. 239.

Sections 6, 7, and 17 of the act are as follows:

'Sec. 6. That on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, there shall be levied, collected, and paid, for and in respect of the several bonds, debentures, or certificates of stock and of indebtedness, and other documents, instruments, matters, and things mentioned and described in schedule A of this act, or for or in respect of the vellum, parchment, or paper upon which such instruments, matters, or things, or any of them, shall be written or printed by any person or persons, or party who shall make, sign, or issue the same, or for whose use or benefit the same shall be made, signed, or issued, the several taxes or sums of money set down in figures against the same, respectively, or otherwise specified or set forth in the said schedule. . . .

'Sec. 7. That if any person or persons shall make, sign, or issue, or cause to be made, signed, or issued, any instrument, document, or paper of any kind or description whatsoever, without the same being duly stamped for denoting the tax hereby imposed thereon, or without having thereupon an adhesive stamp to denote said tax, such person or persons shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court, and such instrument, document, or paper, as aforesaid, shall not be competent evidence in any court.'

'Sec. 17. That all bonds, debentures, or certificates of indebtedness issued by the officers of the United States government, or by the officers of any state, county, town, municipal corporation, or other corporation exercising the taxing power, shall be, and hereby are, exempt from the stamp taxes required by this act: Provided, That it is the intent hereby to exempt from the stamp taxes imposed by this act such state, county, town, or other municipal corporations in the exercise only of functions strictly belonging to them in their ordinary governmental, taxing, or municipal capacity: Provided further, That stock and bonds issued by co-operative building and loan associations whose capital stock does not exceed ten thousand dollars, and building and loan associations or companies that make loans only to their shareholders, shall be exempt from the tax herein provided.'

Schedule A contained this provision: 'Bond: For indemnifying any person or persons, firm, or corporation who shall have become bound or engaged as surety for the payment of any sum of money, or for the due execution or performance of the duties of any office or position, and to account for money received by virtue thereof, and all other bonds of any description, except such as may be required in legal proceedings, not otherwise provided for in this schedule, 50 cents.'

The bonds, to which it was alleged the stamps should have been affixed, were bonds required by the laws of Illinois to be given as a condition of the issue of licenses to keep dramshops or sell intoxicating liquors in the state of Illinois and in the city of Chicago.

Sections 1, 2, and 5 of an act of the general assembly of the state of Illinois, entitled 'An Act to Provide for the Licensing of and against the Evils Arising from the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors,' read:

'Sec. 1. That a dramshop is a place where spirituous or vinous or malt liquors are retailed by less quantity than 1 gallon, and intoxicating liquors shall be deemed to include all such liquors within the meaning of this act.

'Sec. 2. Whoever, not having a license to keep a dramshop, shall, by himself or another, either as principal, clerk, or servant, directly or indirectly, sell any intoxicating liquor in any less quantity than 1 gallon, or in any quantity to be drank upon the premises, or in or upon any adjacent room, building [,] yard, premises, or place of public resort shall be fined not less than twenty dollars [20] nor more than one hundred dollars [$100], or imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten nor more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court.'

'Sec. 5. No person shall be licensed to keep a dramshop, or to sell intoxicating liquors, by any county board, or the authorities of any city, town, or village, unless he shall first give bond in the penal sum of $3,000, payable to the people of the state of Illinois, with at least two good and sufficient sureties, freeholders of the county in which the license is to be granted, to be approved by the officer who may be authorized to issue the license, conditioned that he will pay to all persons all damages that they may sustain, either in person of property, or means of support, by reason of the person so obtaining a license selling or giving away intoxicating liquors. The officer taking such bond may examine any person offered as security upon any such bond, under oath, and require him to subscribe and swear to his statement in regard to his pecuniary ability to become such security. Any bond taken pursuant to this section may be sued upon for the use of any person, or his legal representatives, who may be injured by reason of the selling or giving away any intoxicating liquor by the person so licensed, or by his agent or servant.' 2 Starr & C. Anno. Stat. (Ill.) 2d ed. 1586, chap. 43.

By article 5, chapter 24, of the statutes of Illinois...