State v. Intoxicating Liquors

• Decision Date: 21 September 1900
• Parties: STATE v. INTOXICATING LIQUORS et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

47 A. 531

94 Me. 335

STATE

v. INTOXICATING LIQUORS et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Sept. 21, 1900.

(Official.)

Appeal from supreme judicial court, Cumberland county.

Seizure and search proceedings by the state against certain intoxicating liquors, and the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada makes a claim thereto. The liquor forfeited, and claimant appeals. Judgment for plaintiff.

This was a search and seizure process, under chapter 37, § 31, Rev. St., begun in the municipal court of Auburn, and followed by the usual proceedings, upon a libel against the liquors seized for their condemnation under the statute.

The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada intervened as claimant, and filed the following claim for the liquors:

"And now comes the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada, a corporation created and existing under the laws of the dominion of Canada, and a citizen of said dominion of Canada, said corporation being a common carrier, and specifically claims the right, title, and possession in the items of property hereinafter named, as having a right to the possession thereof at the time when the same were seized.

"And the foundation of said claim is that they were in possession of said Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada, and were in transit from Portsmouth, in the state of New Hampshire, to Lewiston, in the state of Maine, and were taken from the lawful possession of said the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada on the sixth day of October, A. D. 1899, from a box car standing on said company's track near the depot of said company, situated on the east side of Main street, in Auburn, in the county of Androscoggin, by Fred L. Austin, one of the constables of said Auburn, and this claimant declares that said items of property were not so kept or deposited for unlawful sale, as is alleged in the libel of said Fred L. Austin and in the monition issued thereon. The property claimed as aforesaid is as follows:

"One barrel containing thirty-two (32) gallons of ale, marked Defunct Moncul, Lewiston, Maine.

"Dated at Auburn, in said county, this nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine.

"The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada,

"By James A. Byron, its Agent." The liquor was declared forfeited by a pro forma ruling in that court, and the claimant appealed to this court, Where the parties agreed to the statement of facts as substantially stated in the opinion of the court.

Argued before WISWELL, C. J., and HASKELL, WHITEHOUSE, STROUT, SAVAGE, and POWERS, JJ.

C. A. and L. L. Hight, for claimant.

George E. McCanu, Co. Arty., for the State.

WHITEHOUSE, J. This case comes to the law court on the following agreed statement of facts:

"The liquor concerned in this case had been shipped at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, via Boston & Maine Railroad and Grand Trunk Railway, accompanied by a continuous waybill, and was consigned to a person in Lewiston, Maine. While in transit, and before delivery to consignee, it was seized by the police officers at Auburn.

"On the night of October 6, A. D. 1899, a car containing the intoxicating liquors in question, while in the ordinary course of transportation, was attached to Grand Trunk train No. 43 at Lewiston Junction, and was drawn thence to the city of Auburn. There, to secure the convenience of passengers, and to enable them to alight at the station platform at Lewiston, this car was left standing on the siding. When the passenger coaches bad been taken to the passenger station at Lewiston, the engine and crew returned to the siding at Auburn for the purpose of removing this car to the freight house track in Lewiston, where the liquors were to have been delivered to the consignee.

"The liquor had been shipped by a brewery company doing business at Portsmouth, in the state of New Hampshire, and was being carried, accompanied by a continuous waybill, issued by the Boston & Maine Railroad at Portsmouth, from said Portsmouth, by way of the Boston & Maine Railroad, to Portland, and thence, by way of the Grand Trunk Railway, to Lewiston. While it was standing on the siding at Auburn it was seized by the Auburn police officers, taken from the car, and removed to the depository where seized liquors are kept. At the time of its seizure it was in transit, not having reached its destination nor having been delivered to the consignee."

It was contended by the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada that the seizure of this liquor by the police officers of Auburn, before its delivery to the consignee, was in violation of the third clause of section 8 of the first article of the constitution of the United States, conferring upon congress the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states." But the judge of the municipal court held that the seizure was legal, and declared the liquor forfeited. From this decision the claimant appealed to the supreme judicial court.

It is manifest that the seizure of the liquor in question, under the circumstances disclosed in the agreed statement of facts, must be justified, if at all, by the provisions of section 31 of chapter 27 of the Revised Statutes of Maine, and of chapter 728 of the act of congress of August 8, 1890. Section 31, c. 27, Rev. St., is as follows:

"No person shall knowingly bring into the state, or knowingly transport from place to place in the state, any intoxicating liquors with intent to sell the same in the state in violation of law, or with intent that the same shall be so sold by any person, or to aid any person in such sale, under a penalty of fifty dollars for each offense. All such liquors intended for unlawful sale in the state may be seized while in transit and proceeded against, the same as if they were unlawfully kept and deposited in any place."

The act of congress of August 8, 1890, commonly known as the "Wilson Act," is in these terms:

"All fermented, distilled or other intoxicating liquors or liquids transported into any state or territory, or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale or storage therein, shall, upon arrival in such state or territory, be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such state or territory, enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner...