State v. Wyand
| Court | Court of Appeals of Maryland |
| Writing for the Court | Messerschmidt; Argued before MURPHY; SMITH |
| Citation | 501 A.2d 43,304 Md. 721 |
| Parties | STATE of Maryland v. Richard W. WYAND, Sr., Roy Miller Snyder, Jr. and Albert L. Bryan. 48 Sept. Term 1985. |
| Decision Date | 13 December 1985 |
Page 721
v.
Richard W. WYAND, Sr., Roy Miller Snyder, Jr. and Albert L. Bryan.
[501 A.2d 44]
Page 722
C.J. Messerschmidt and Dennis M. Sweeney, Asst. Attys. Gen. (Stephen H. Sachs, Atty. Gen., on the brief), Baltimore, for appellant.Kenneth J. Mackley (Mackley, Gilbert & Marks, on the brief), Hagerstown, for appellee.
Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and SMITH, ELDRIDGE, COLE, RODOWSKY, COUCH and McAULIFFE, JJ.
Page 723
SMITH, Judge.
We shall here hold that Maryland Code (1957, 1982 Repl.Vol., 1984 Cum.Supp.) Art. 27, § 255(a), (b), providing exemptions from the gaming laws in certain of the counties of the State, including Washington County, for certain organizations is constitutional. Accordingly, we shall reverse the decision of the Circuit Court for Washington County which held to the contrary and dismissed the charges against appellees Richard W. Wyand, Sr., Roy Miller Snyder, Jr., and Albert L. Bryan.
Snyder was convicted in the District Court in Washington County of violation of Code (1957) Art. 27, § 237 pertaining to keeping a gaming table; Code (1957) Art. 27, § 356 relative to selling lottery tickets; Code (1957) Art. 27, § 360 pertaining to keeping a place for selling, etc., of lottery tickets, and Code (1957, 1982 Repl.Vol.) Art. 27, § 362 as to possession of lottery tickets. His employees, Messrs. Bryan and Wyand, were each convicted of violations of § 356, selling lottery tickets, and § 362, possession of lottery tickets. They all appealed to the Circuit Court for Washington County.
In the circuit court the defendants filed a motion to dismiss. They asserted that "[t]he essence of the four charges" was that at Snyder's place of business they were operating "a lottery in the form of 'tip jars' and a 'poker' machine, and that those patrons who won would receive a monetary prize." They referred to the provisions of Code (1957, 1982 Repl.Vol., 1984 Cum.Supp.) Art. 27, § 255 and said that "this statute would exempt the activities for which [they were being] prosecuted from being proscribed gambling, if they had been carried on by one of the types of organizations enumerated therein." 1 The [501 A.2d 45] motion "concede-
Page 724
[d] that the State, as a matter of constitutional law, does have the right to regulate gambling and also that it would be proper from said standpoint to exempt gambling in the enumerated organizations if (i) all the net proceeds were returned to the players, or (ii) all net proceeds were devoted to religious, charitable, civic, or benevolent purposes without any of the net profits going to the benefit of the members of the clubs themselves." The motion went on to aver "that in fact the clubs in Washington County that operate gambling operations, including the same type as is involved in this case, utilize the net profits therefrom for the general benefit of the members themselves in that the net proceeds are normally deposited among the general revenues of the club." Accordingly, it was contended that the result of the section in question was to deny these appellees equal protection of the law under U.S. Const. amend. XIV and Md. Declaration of Rights art. 24.The matter came on for hearing in the circuit court. Records of a number of organizations in Washington County coming within the purview of § 255(b) were subpoenaed
Page 725
and produced in court along with testimony as to their operations. The trial judge said:"There is no justifiable, legitimate reason to grant such privileges as those bestowed by Section 255(a) to such fraternal and veterans' organizations. Such legislation does, in fact, constitute class legislation in its purest sense. It is discriminatory, arbitrary and has no reasonable relationship to the subject matter of the gaming or lottery subtitles.
"It should be noted that no credible evidence was offered or produced by the State of any substantial reason in support of the classification attempted by Section 255(a).
"This Court believes that the Defendants here have met their heavy burden of proof. The conduct engaged in by the Defendants is a crime and that conduct is not a crime when engaged in by fraternal and/or veterans' organizations. The statutory discrimination established by Section 255(a) is not based on differences which are reasonably related to the purpose of the Acts in which it is found and the distinction as applied to fraternal and veterans' organizations has no relevance to the purpose for which the classification is made. It clearly denies these Defendants equal protection of the laws in violation of the 14th amendment of the Federal Constitution and Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights.
"Having found such a violation, it is the holding of this Court that 255(a) of Article 27 is unconstitutional and void. The motion of the Defendants shall be granted and the charges against each Defendant shall be dismissed."
Pursuant to the provisions of Code (1974, 1984 Repl.Vol.) § 12-302(c)(1), Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, the State entered an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. We granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari prior to the time that the case came on for argument in the intermediate appellate court.
Page 726
We begin with the proposition that courts do not pass upon the wisdom of statutes nor approve or disapprove of them. The function of the courts, if and when the question is raised, is to ascertain whether the statute exceeds constitutional limits. Salisbury Beauty Schools v. St.Bd., 268 Md. 32, 48, 300 A.2d 367, 378 (1973); McBriety v. Baltimore City, 219 Md. 223, 233, 148 A.2d 408, 414 (1959); Givner v. Commissioner of Health, 207 Md. 184, 192, 113 A.2d 899, 903 (1955).
[501 A.2d 46] Although the Maryland Constitution contains no express equal protection clause, we have said that we deem it settled that this concept of equal treatment is embodied in the due process requirement of Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Attorney General v. Waldron, 289 Md. 683, 704, 426 A.2d 929, 940-41 (1981). In fact, in Bureau of Mines v. George's Creek, 272 Md. 143, 156, 321 A.2d 748, 755 (1974), Chief Judge Murphy said for the Court that "the decisions of the Supreme Court on the Fourteenth Amendment are practically direct authorities...." We...
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Murphy v. Edmonds, No. 99
...denied,484 U.S. 1027, 108 S.Ct. 753, 98 L.Ed.2d 766 (1988); Ennis v. State, 306 Md. 579, 591, 510 A.2d 573, 579 (1986); State v. Wyand, 304 Md. 721, 726, 501 A.2d 43, 46 (1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1095, 106 S.Ct. 1492, 89 L.Ed.2d 893 (1986); Hornbeck v. Somerset Co. Bd. of Educ., 295 Md......
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...(1991); Hargrove v. Board of Trustees, [] 310 Md. [406, 423, 529 A.2d 1372, 1380 (1987)]; State v. Wyand, [] 304 Md. [721, 726-27, 501 A.2d 43, 46 (1985)]; Whiting-Turner Contract. Co. v. Coupard, 304 Md. 340, 352, 499 A.2d 178, 185 (1985); Department of Transportation v. Armacost, 299 Md. ......
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City of College Park v. Cotter, No. 148
...Park. This Court deals with the construction and constitutionality of legislative determinations, not their wisdom. State v. Wyand, 304 Md. 721, 726, 501 A.2d 43, 45 (1985), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 1492, 89 L.Ed.2d 893 (1986). See Taylor v. Department of Employment & Training......
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...484 U.S. 1027, 108 S.Ct. 753, 98 L.Ed.2d 766 (1988); Broadwater v. State, 306 Md. 597, 607, 510 A.2d 583, 588 (1986); State v. Wyand, 304 Md. 721, 726-727, 501 A.2d 43, 46 (1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1095, 106 S.Ct. 1492, 89 L.Ed.2d 893 (1986); Department of Transportation v. Armacost, 2......
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City of College Park v. Cotter, 148
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Galloway v. State, 21
...the constitutionality of statutes, "[t]he basic rule is that there is a presumption" that the statute is valid. State v. Wyand, 304 Md. 721, 727, 501 A.2d 43, 46 (1985) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Supermarkets Gen. Corp. v. State, 286 Md. 611, 409 A.2d 781 A.2d 858 250 (1979......
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Murphy v. Edmonds, 99
...denied,484 U.S. 1027, 108 S.Ct. 753, 98 L.Ed.2d 766 (1988); Ennis v. State, 306 Md. 579, 591, 510 A.2d 573, 579 (1986); State v. Wyand, 304 Md. 721, 726, 501 A.2d 43, 46 (1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1095, 106 S.Ct. 1492, 89 L.Ed.2d 893 (1986); Hornbeck v. Somerset Co. Bd. of Educ., 295 Md......
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Maryland Aggregates Ass'n, Inc. v. State, 40
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