Sarlls v. United States

• Decision Date: 09 April 1894
• Docket Number: No. 872,872
• Parties: SARLLS v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

152 U.S. 570

14 S.Ct. 720

38 L.Ed. 556

SARLLS

v UNITED STATES.

No. 872.

April 9, 1894.

A. H. Garland, for plaintiff in error.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Conrad, for the United States.

Mr. Justice SHIRAS delivered the opinion of the court.

At the May term, 1892, in the district court of the United States for the western district of Arkansas, the plaintiff in error was indicted and convicted of introducing, at the Choctaw Nation, in the Indian country, 10 gallons of lager beer, which the indictment averred were 'spirituous liquors,' and the introduction of which into the Indian country was made an offense, punishable by fine and imprisonment, by section 2139, Rev. St. U. S.

That section is in the following terms:

'No ardent spirits shall be introduced, under any pretence, into the Indian country. Every person, (except an Indian, in the Indian country,) who sells, exchanges, gives, barters, or disposes of any spirituous liquors or wine to any Indian under the charge of any Indian superintendent or agent, or introduces or attempts to introduce any spirituous liquor or wine into the Indian country, shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more than two years, and by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars. But it shall be a sufficient defense to any charge of introducing or attempting to introduce liquor into the Indian country, that the acts charged were done by order of or under authority from the war department, or any officer duly authorized thereunto by the war department.'

It appears that such a provision was originally enacted on the 9th of July, 1832, was amended by acts of 15th of March, 1864, and 27th of February, 1877, and was included in the Revised Statutes as said section 2139.

It was contended on behalf of the defendant, in the court below, that lager beer is not 'spirituous liquor or wine,' within the meaning of those terms in the statute, and that, therefore, the defendant was wrongly convicted. The court below refused, on request, to so instruct the jury; and to this refusal, and to the judgment of the court sentencing the defendant to pay a fine of $250, and to be imprisoned for a term of three months, error is assigned.

It thus appears that the sole question presented for our con- sideration by this record is whether 'lager beer' is a 'spirituous liquor or wine.' The only evidence on this subject, disclosed by the record, was to the effect that lager beer is a malt liquor, and is intoxicating. To enable us to solve the question, we must look to the popular signification of the terms used, and also to the phraseology of other statutes of the United States in which like terms appear. We are likewise entitled to any light that may be thrown on the subject by the decisions of respectable courts which have had to construe similar terms in penal statutes.

The Century Dictionary defines 'spirituous liquors;' as 'containing much alcohol; distilled, whether pure or compounded, as distinguished from fermented; ardent: applied to a liquor for drinking.' 'Malt liquor' is defined by the same authority as 'a general term for an alcoholic beverage produced merely by the fermentation of malt, as opposed to those obtained by distillation of malt or mash.'

Webster defines the word 'spirituous' as rum, whisky, brandy, and other distilled liquors, as distinguished from wine and malt liquors. Worcester says that 'ardent spirits' is a term applied to liquors obtained by distillation, such as rum, whisky, brandy, and gin.

So far, therefore, as popular usage goes, according to the leading authorities, 'lager beer,' as a malt liquor made by fermentation, is not included in the term 'spirituous liquor,' the result of distillation.

Looking to other statutes of the United States, we find that the terms 'spirituous liquors' or 'distilled spirits,' and 'malt liquors,' are not used as synonymous. On the contrary, they are treated as different substances; and in the system of revenue restrictions, in providing for their manufacture and sale, they are regarded as distinct. Thus, in section 3244, Rev. St., it is provided: 'Wholesale dealers in malt liquors shall pay fifty dollars. Every persons who sells or offers for sale malt liquors in larger quantities than five gallons at one time, but who does not deal in spirituous liquors, shall be regarded as a wholesale dealer in malt liquors.' And in the same section it is enacted that 'every person who manufactures fermented liquors of any name or description for sale, from malt, wholly or in part, or from any substitute therefor, shall be deemed a brewer,' and 'shall pay one hundred dollars;' and 'rectifiers of distilled spirits shall pay two hundred dollars;' 'wholesale liquor dealers shall pay one hundred dollars,' and 'wholesale dealers in malt liquors shall pay fifty dollars.'

Such provisions seem to plainly distinguish 'malt liquors,' the product of fermentation, from 'spirituous liquors,' the result of distillation.

Most of the decisions to which our attention has been directed are to the same effect.

A New Hampshire statute, in terms, declared that the words 'spirituous liquors' shall be taken to include intoxicating liquors and all mixed liquors, any part of which is spirituous or intoxicating. But the supreme court, in State v. Adams, 51 N. H. 569, held that ale, porter, and cider were not within the statute; that the indictment charged the sale of 'spirituous liquors,' only; that fermented liquors are not, in common parlance, spirituous liquors; and that the fact that ale contains from four to ten per cent. of alcohol, which can be separated from it by distillation, does not bring it within the class of liquors called 'spirituous.'

In Com. v. Grey, 2 Gray, 502, Metcalf, J., said: 'All spirituous liquors are intoxicating, yet all intoxicating liquors are not spirituous. In common parlance, 'spirituous liquors' mean 'distilled liquors.' Fermented liquors, though intoxicating, are not spirituous.'

In Tinker v. State (Ala.) 8 South. 855, it was said: 'Malt liquors have neither vinous nor spirituous liquors as an ingredient. * * * 'Spirituous liquors,' 'vinous liquors,' and 'malt liquors' are not synonymous terms, but each refers to a liquor separate and distinct from each other. Lager beer is a malt liquor, and the court takes judicial notice of this fact. * * * The statute having prohibited the sale of spirituous and vinous liquors, only, malt liquors are not included. It was error, therefore, to charge the jury that a sale of lager beer was in violation of the statute.'

There are other cases in which the terms were similarly construed by state courts, but which it is unnecessary here to cite.

In the district...