Selectmen of Topsfield v. State Racing Com'n

• Decision Date: 02 May 1949
• Citation: 86 N.E.2d 65,324 Mass. 309
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
• Parties: SELECTMEN OF TOPSFIELD & others v. STATE RACING COMMISSION & another.

324 Mass. 309

86 N.E.2d 65

SELECTMEN OF TOPSFIELD & others v. STATE RACING COMMISSION & another.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

May 2, 1949

April 4, 1949.

Present: QUA, C.

J., LUMMUS, RONAN SPALDING, & WILLIAMS, JJ.

Racing. License.

Constitutional Law Due process of law, Equal protection of laws. Words "Next annual election.

" The requirement in St. 1948, c. 437, amending G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c 128A,

Section 13A, of ratification by a majority of the registered voters of towns of approvals by the selectmen of locations for racing meetings was applicable to an approval of a certain location voted by the selectmen of a town in January, 1947, where no racing meetings, except in connection with county fairs, were held at such location previous to May

1, 1948; and in the absence of a ratification of the approval of such location at the annual election in that town in March, 1949, the next annual election therein after the enactment of the statute, action by the State racing commission was precluded upon an application, filed with the commission in January, 1949, for a license to hold racing meetings at such location.

An applicant to the State racing commission for a license to hold racing meetings at a certain location in a town did not have, through approval of that location by the selectmen in January, 1947, any vested rights of which he was deprived without due process of law by applying to such approval the provision of St. 1948, c. 437, requiring ratification of approvals of locations in towns by a majority of their registered voters which precluded action by the commission on his application for want of ratification of such approval.

The circumstance, that approvals of locations where racing meetings were held previous to May 1, 1948, are excepted from the requirement of St.

1948, c. 437, that approvals of locations in towns by the selectmen be ratified by a majority of the registered voters thereof in order to be effective, did not deny equal protection of the law to one whose application to the State racing commission for a license to hold racing meetings at an approved location in a town at which no meetings had been held previous to May 1, 1948, could not be acted on by the commission for want of the required ratification of the approval.

PETITION for a writ of mandamus, filed in the Superior Court on January 25, 1949.

The case was heard by Good, J. C. C. Worth, for the intervener.

J. J. Sullivan, (S.

L. Raymond with him,) for the petitioners.

RONAN, J. This petition for a writ of mandamus is brought by the selectmen of Topsfield and five other inhabitants of the town against the members of the State racing commission to restrain the commission from taking action upon an application of the North Shore Corporation for a license to hold harness horse racing meetings at the Topsfield Fair Grounds in said Topsfield. The North Shore Corporation was allowed to intervene as a party respondent. The demurrer of this respondent was overruled and, there being no dispute as to the facts, the judge ordered the writ to issue, restraining the commission from taking any action on the application. The North Shore Corporation, hereinafter called the respondent appealed from the order overruling the demurrer and the order that the writ should issue.

The owner of a parcel of land known as the Topsfield Fair Grounds, which includes an area known as the track grounds, has leased this area to the respondent. The selectmen on January 25, 1947, approved the location for harness horse racing meetings. At a special town meeting held February 11, 1947, the voters of the town expressed their opposition to horse racing at this location except for the period of the county fair which was annually held on the fair grounds. The board of selectmen on March 7 and

10, 1947, voted to rescind the previous vote of January 25, 1947, approving the location. The vote to rescind was held invalid. North Shore Corp. v. Selectmen of Topsfield, 322 Mass. 413 . An application filed on March 31, 1948, by the respondent for a license to conduct harness horse racing meetings was denied by the commission on May 14, 1948. Statute 1948, c. 437, was approved on May 28, 1948. Annual elections were held in Topsfield on March 4, 1947, March 2, 1948, and March 1, 1949. The respondent on January 14, 1949, filed another application for a license with the commission, which intended to hold a public hearing upon said application on January 28, 1949, but before this date the petition in the present case was filed. The approval of January 25, 1947, has never been ratified or confirmed by the voters of the town at any annual election; such approval could not be ratified at the annual election in March, 1948, in accordance with St. 1948, c. 437, as the statute was passed nearly three months after the said annual election. No license has ever been granted and no race meetings, other than at the county fairs, have ever been held, with the pari-mutuel system of betting, at the said location. The voters of Essex County pursuant to G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 128A, Section 14, as amended, voted at the last biennial election in favor of permitting the pari-mutuel system of betting on licensed horse racing within the county.

General Laws (Ter. Ed.) c. 128A was inserted by St. 1934, c. 374, Section 3, and Section 13A was added by St. 1935, c. 454, Section 8, and amended by St. 1948, c. 437, which added to the said section, in so far as now material, the following words: "Provided, nevertheless, that in the case of towns said approval by the selectmen, excepting only the approval of locations where racing meetings have already been held, other than in connection with state and county fairs, prior to May first, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, shall not become effective unless and until it shall be ratified and confirmed by vote, taken by Australian ballot, of a majority of the registered voters of said town voting at the next annual election."

The only question presented is whether St. 1948, c. 437, is applicable to the respondent's application for a license now pending before the commission; if it is, the commission is without authority to pass upon the application; if it is not, the commission may entertain the application and grant or deny it in accordance with Section 3 of said c. 128A as amended by St. 1946, c. 575, Sections 2, 4.

The principal contentions of the respondent are that St. 1948, c. 437, cannot refer to past approvals of locations by selectmen which were granted in 1947, as in the instant case, or to those granted in the early part of 1948, since the annual election next after such an approval had taken place long before the enactment of the statute, that the statute should be construed prospectively so as to refer only to approvals granted after the annual election of 1948, and that a construction which would include an approval granted in 1947 or in 1948 before the annual elections would violate certain constitutional rights of the respondent.

The respondent argues that the words "the next annual election" can refer grammatically only to its antecedent "it," which in turn can refer only to "said approval," and that consequently the statute can refer only to such approvals as could be ratified at the first annual election following such approval. It relies upon the general rule of statutory as well as grammatical construction that a modifying clause refers to the last antecedent unless there is something in the subject matter or in the expression of the dominant purpose that requires a different interpretation. Hopkins v. Hopkins, 287 Mass. 542 547. West's Case, 313 Mass. 146, 149. But this is only a rule of construction to ascertain the legislative intent, and is not to be adopted to thwart such an intent if it clearly appears from an examination of the entire statute. Lehan v. North Main Street Garage, Inc. 312 Mass. 547 , 550. United States v. Rice, 327 U.S. 742, 753. All the words of a statute are to be given their ordinary and usual meaning, and each clause or phrase is to be construed with reference to every other clause or phrase without giving undue emphasis to any one group of words, so that, if reasonably possible, all parts shall be construed as consistent with each other so as to form a harmonious enactment effectual to accomplish its manifest purpose. Commonwealth v. Welosky, 276 Mass. 398 , 401, 402. Morrison v. Selectmen of Weymouth, 279 Mass. 486, 492. Johnson's Case, 318 Mass. 741 , 746, 747. Bolster v. Commissioner of Corporations & Taxation, 319 Mass. 81 , 84, 85. The Legislature must be assumed to know the preexisting law and the decisions of this court. Gar Wood Industries, Inc. v. Colonial Homes, Inc. 305 Mass. 41, 47. Assessors of Boston v. Old South Society in Boston, 314 Mass. 364 . ...