State v. Stoffels

• Citation: 89 Minn. 205
• Decision Date: 08 May 1903
• Docket Number: Nos. 13,271-(7).,s. 13,271-(7).
• Parties: STATE v. JOSEPH STOFFELS.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)

89 Minn. 205

STATE v. JOSEPH STOFFELS.¹

Nos. 13,271-(7).

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

May 8, 1903.

Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the municipal court of St. Paul, Finehout, J. Reversed, and new trial granted.

Reese & Zollman, for appellant.

T. R. Kane, County Attorney, and O. H. O'Neill, Assistant County Attorney, for the State.

START, C. J.

The defendant was convicted in the municipal court of the city of St. Paul of the crime of keeping a blind pig, or place for the sale of intoxicating liquors, in a prohibition district of the city, contrary to the provisions of Laws 1901, c. 252. He appealed from the judgment.

The complaint upon which the warrant was based was duly sworn to by the complaining witness, and charged, in substance, that the defendant kept and maintained a blind pig in certain rooms within the prohibition district of the city of St. Paul, particularly describing their location, in which intoxicating liquors were kept for sale in violation of law, and in which they were so sold, and prayed that a warrant issue for the arrest of the defendant, and also a search warrant for the search of the premises and the seizure of any intoxicating liquors, bar fixtures, and other implements used in the sale of such liquors, found therein. Thereupon a warrant for the arrest of the defendant, and a warrant for a search of the premises, were issued by the court, combined in one instrument. The warrant was executed by the arrest of the defendant, and by a search of the premises and a seizure of certain intoxicating liquors, bar fixtures, and other like implements found therein.

On the trial the property seized was received in evidence, over the objection and exception of the defendant. The important points urged by the defendant are that the act under which he was convicted is unconstitutional; that it was error to receive in evidence against him the intoxicating liquors found on his premises; and that he was prejudiced by the remarks of the prosecuting attorney to the jury.

Section 1 of the law provides that:

"Every person who shall directly or indirectly keep or maintain, by himself or by associating or combining with others, or who shall in any manner aid, assist or abet in keeping or maintaining any blind pig or other room or rooms, place or places in which intoxicating liquors are received or kept for unlawful use, barter or sale as a beverage, or for unlawful distribution or division among the members of any club or association by any means whatever, within the limits of any township, village, city or county which has voted against granting license to sell intoxicating liquors, or where by municipal charter or ordinance, or by state law the sale of intoxicating liquor is forbidden, and every person who shall receive, barter, sell, assist or abet another in receiving, bartering or selling any intoxicating liquors so received or kept, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as hereinafter set forth."

Section 2 thereof declares all rooms or places of the character designated in section 1 to be common nuisances, and provides for a warrant of arrest of the keeper thereof upon the complaint of any person to a proper magistrate, who is also required to issue a search warrant, particularly describing the premises, and directing the officer to whom it is directed and delivered to search the premises and seize all intoxicating liquors and bar fixtures and other implements, describing them, apparently used in retailing liquors, in violation of law, there found, and make an inventory of the property seized, and deliver a copy of it to the defendant or person in charge thereof.

Section 3 provides that the property seized by virtue of the search warrant shall remain in the custody of the officers of the law until the case is decided by the court, and, if the defendant is found guilty, the liquors shall be destroyed, and the rest of the property sold by the sheriff to the highest bidder for costs, after giving notice of the time and place of such sale. The proceeds of the sale are to be turned over to the county.

Section 4 makes it unlawful for common carriers knowingly to ship, receive, or transport intoxicating liquors within the state under false or fictitious names.

Section 5 provides for the punishment of violations of the statute.

1. The defendant insists that the statute is unconstitutional, because it is not general and uniform in its operation throughout the state, but is special and class legislation. True it is that the statute places the prohibition districts of the state in a class by themselves, but the classification includes all localities and districts wherein the issuance of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors is or may be prohibited by law, and the statute applies equally to all persons and places within such districts. If, therefore, the classification is a proper one, the statute is not open to the objection that it is special and class legislation. It is not an open question in this state that the legislature may constitutionally provide for the establishment of prohibition districts by local option or by direct legislation, although the license of the sale of intoxicating liquors is the general rule of the state, and prohibition in certain districts the exception. In re Wilson, 32 Minn. 145, 19 N. W. 723; State v. Johnson, 86 Minn. 121, 90 N. W. 161. It follows, from this right to establish prohibition districts, that the legislature may, in the exercise of the police power, enact all reasonable and necessary laws to make prohibition effectual within such districts, and limit their operation thereto. It is a matter of common knowledge that blind pigs, or places for the secret and unlawful sale of intoxicating liquors, are relatively more numerous and far more pernicious in prohibition districts than they are in licensed districts, wherein the temptation to maintain blind pigs is much less, and wherein all licensed...