State v. Certain Contraceptive Materials
| Decision Date | 23 August 1939 |
| Court | Connecticut Superior Court |
| Parties | STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. CERTAIN CONTRACEPTIVE MATERIALS |
Coram Hon. Frank P. McEvoy, Judge of the Superior Court, at Waterbury.
Certain contraceptive devices, drugs and literature, seized upon the premises of a birth control clinic for married women are adjudged a nuisance and ordered to be destroyed (Gen Stat. [1930] §§6246, 6439, 6441). The clinic was conducted by a group of volunteers and a certain birth control league. The stipulated facts contain nothing warranting the conclusion that any physician kept or used or prescribed the use of any of the drugs or devices, or that the drugs or devices were used to preserve the life or health of married women.
The words " any of the criminal laws of this state", as used in sections 6 439 and 6441 of the General Statutes Revision of 1930, which provide for the seizure and destruction of instruments, etc., kept for the violation of the criminal laws, are to be given their natural and plain meaning.
In determining whether an act falls within the prohibition of one of the criminal laws, the court is not bound to give to a statute a narrow technical meaning contrary to a legislative intent falling within its spirit and fair import.
The intention of the Legislature that section 6439 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930, should apply to all violations of the criminal law is clear. The doctrine of ejusdem generis is not applicable.
Section 6246 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930, is not invalid on the ground that it fixes a minimum but not a maximum penalty and therefore delegates the legislative power of fixing the penalty for its violation to the judicial branch of the government.
The failure of a statute to fix a maximum fine does not render it unconstitutional under a provision forbidding excessive fines.
Moreover, by reason of the alternative nature of the penalty clauses of the statute, the money penalty is clearly separable from the imprisonment provision, and the invalidity of the money penalty provision does not affect the validity of the remainder of the statute.
Section 6246 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930, is not invalid on the ground of indefiniteness, in that it fails to fix a reasonably precise standard of guilt; nor is that section unconstitutional because it forbids physicians to advise their patients or because it forbids the exercise of a natural right.
A birth control organization was associated for the express purpose of violating the provisions of section 6246 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930, which prohibit the use of contraceptives, where the articles of association thereof declared its purposes to be, to correlate, distribute and disseminate lawful information regarding the political, social and economic effects of uncontrolled procreation; to foster research and investigation into problems of reckless breeding and overpopulation and methods of solving these problems; and to do all things necessary to accomplish these purposes.
The duty of courts in the construction and application of statutes and constitutional provisions, stated.
William B. FitzGerald, of Waterbury, for the State.
J. Warren Upson, of Waterbury, for the Defense.
J. Warren Upson, of Waterbury, for the Defense.
1. On June 12, 1939, upon the written application of William B. FitzGerald, in his capacity as state's attorney for New Haven County at Waterbury, made to the undersigned as a judge of the Superior Court, a search warrant was issued under the provisions of section 6439 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930, authorizing a search for and the seizure of certain books, records, registers, instruments, apparatus and appliances kept .... and used for the purpose of violating the criminal laws of this state and particularly the provisions of section 6246 and 6562 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930.
2. By virtue of that warrant, amongst other items, the following were seized and are now held by the State:
| 1 | Letter headed " three Essentials for Organizing Leagues and Clinics" |
| Number of little folders marked " Maternal Health Centers (for birth control information)" |
| 10 | Durex Diaphragms |
| 1 | L.A.J. |
| 5 | Clinic Supply Co. Diaphragms |
| 6 | Clinic Supply Co. Dumas Diaphragms |
| 5 | H. R. Koromex, 85 Diaphragms |
| 2 | H. R. Koromex, 90 Diaphragms |
| 3 | Ramses Diaphragms |
| 1 | Diaphragm (loose) wrapped in pink Kleenex |
| 2 | Boxes Foam Powder |
| 2 | Tubes and sponges Durekol Concentrated |
| 15 | Lactikol Creme (Durex) |
| 33 | Lactikol Formula |
| 1 | Tube P. S. Lactic Soap |
| 15 | Ramses Diaphragm introducers |
| 1 | Aluminum Diaphragm introducer |
| 1 | Adjustable Diaphragm inserter from Clinco Products, Chicago |
| 1 | Envelope containing one book marked " The Journal of Contraception" distributed by the Journal of Contraception. |
| 12 | Tubes of Durekol Formula |
| 1 | Box containing a soft rubber pattern of the womb and also a diaphragm wrapped in Kleenex |
| 1 | Envelope addressed to Maternal Health Clinic, 43 Field Street, marked " A Journal of Contraception" |
| 1 | Magazine, Volume 3, No. 12, " The Journal of Contraception" |
| 1 | Box of Durex Diaphragm fitting rings, consisting of 9. Large amount of printed letters addressed to Waterbury Maternal Health Center, Chase Dispensary, Field Street, Waterbury, Conn. " Directions for Patients" |
| 12 | Durex deep Dumas Diaphragms |
| 4 | Boxes of diaphragms marked " for fitting only" |
| 1 | Magazine Volume 3, No. 11, " Journal of Contraception" |
| 1 | Leaflet on Foam Powder |
| 1 | Leaflet marked " Price List and General Information" |
| 1 | Magazine marked No. 5, Volume 4, " Journal of Contraception" |
| 1 | Magazine marked No. 3, Volume 4, " Journal of Contraception" |
| 63 | Diaphragms of the Clinco Products, 610 West Randolph Street, Chicago. |
3. The 108 rubber diaphragms attached to a metal spring are devices designed solely for contraception, which function by bisecting the vaginal canal and blocking off the cervix of the uterus from exposure to male sperm.
4. A. All of the articles referred to in paragraph 2 hereof except one letter headed " Three Essentials for Organizing Leagues and Clinics", folders marked " Maternal Health Centers (for birth control information)", six issues of " The Journal of Contraception" and one leaflet on Foam Powder are medicinal articles and instruments designed for the sole purpose of preventing conception and were on the 12th day of June, 1939, and prior thereto, kept, stored and used in a building at 43 Field Street, Waterbury, by the Waterbury Maternal Health Center, a voluntary association, for the sole purpose of distribution to married women desiring contraceptive advice and devices to the end that such married women to whom the said medicinal articles and instruments were to be distributed should be prevented from conceiving during or after sexual intercourse."
B. The letter headed " Three Essentials for Organizing Leagues and Clinics", folders marked " Maternal Health Centers (for birth control information)", six issues of " The Journal of Contraception" and one leaflet on Foam Powder, all constitute literature solely concerned with the dissemination of contraceptive advice which were kept stored and used in the building at 43 Field street, Waterbury, by the Waterbury Maternal Health Center, a voluntary association, for the purpose of assisting married women to prevent conception."
5. Under the provisions of section 6441 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1930, the named owners have now entered as defendants and are so referred to in this memorandum.
6. The articles hereinbefore described were seized at the H. S. Chase Memorial Dispensary, 43 Field Street, Waterbury, Connecticut.
7. This dispensary is the Out-Patient department of the Waterbury hospital.
8. On June 12, 1939, an order was directed to and left with the superintendent of the Waterbury Hospital, ordering him to appear and show cause why the seized articles should not be adjudged a nuisance and ordered to be destroyed.
9. Subsequently the Waterbury Hospital, acting by its superintendent, did not appear, but it did disclaim any interest in the seized articles.
10. The Waterbury Maternal Health Center is a group of volunteers not associated or incorporated under any law of this state.
11. Its officers are: president, Mrs. Clara McTernan; secretary, Mrs. Richard W. Goss, and treasurer, Mrs. Henry C. Griggs, all of Waterbury.
12. The other defendant is: The Connecticut Birth Control League, Inc., a corporation without capital stock.
13. Its articles of association are dated May 11, 1939.
14. These articles of association were filed with the secretary of the State of Connecticut on June 2, 1939.
15. The purposes of the Connecticut Birth Control League are set out in article 2 of the articles of association as follows ...
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...other grounds by Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego , 26 Cal. 3d 848, 164 Cal.Rptr. 510, 610 P.2d 407 (1980) ; State v. Certain Contraceptive Materials , 7 Conn. Supp. 264, 277–78 (1939), rev'd on other grounds, 126 Conn. 428, 11 A.2d 863 (1940). Accordingly, we will find the plaintiffs' CUTPA a......