Stewart v. Verein

• Decision Date: 10 March 1887
• Citation: 32 N.W. 275,71 Iowa 226
• Parties: STEWART, FOR USE OF THE SCHOOL FUND, v. WATERLOO TURN VEREIN.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

71 Iowa 226

32 N.W. 275

STEWART, FOR USE OF THE SCHOOL FUND,

v.WATERLOO TURN VEREIN.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 10, 1887.

Appeal from circuit court, Black Hawk county.

The plaintiff, a citizen of Black Hawk county, seeks by this action to recover of the defendant, for the use of the school fund, the sum of $100 for unlawfully selling beer to one Heizer, who is a person in the habit of becoming intoxicated. The defendant alleges that it is a corporation, and not liable to prosecution for the act complained of. There was a trial by jury. The plaintiff offered and introduced his evidence, whereupon the court, on motion of the defendant, instructed the jury to return a verdict for the defendant, which was accordingly done. From a judgment upon the verdict, plaintiff appeals.C. W. Mullen, for appellant.

M. T. Owens and J. L. Husted, for appellee.

ROTHROCK, J.

The cause involves less than $100, and the appeal comes to us upon a certificate of the trial judge from which it appears that the defendant is a corporation organized under the provisions of chapter 2, tit. 9, of the Code, which provides for the organization of “corporations other than those for pecuniary profit.” The objects of the corporation are declared in the articles of incorporation to be “the intellectual and physical improvement of the members, by forming and keeping up a library, by establishing a school for instruction in gymnastic exercises, under such laws, rules, and regulations as are now and shall be hereafter prescribed by said Waterloo Turn Verein, not in conflict with the constitution and laws of the state of Iowa.” Another provision of said articles of incorporation is as follows: “The said corporation may sue and be sued by and under its corporate name, and may purchase and hold both real and personal property, and sell and dispose of the same in and by its corporate name, and have and exercise all the power and privileges which an individual person possesses and exercises, in the transaction of business, etc., under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Iowa.” The business of the corporation is conducted by a speaker, a vice-speaker, treasurer, secretary, financial secretary, two teachers of gymnastics, librarian, and three trustees.

At a regular meeting of said corporation held February 14, 1884, it was resolved “to have a masquerade ball,” and five members of the corporation were appointed a committee to provide for and take charge of said entertainment. The speaker of the corporation was one of this committee. The masquerade ball was held at Waterloo on the twenty-sixth day of February, 1884, at which ball two of said committee sold beer to a number of persons, and the sales were made with the knowledge of the speaker. The money received from the sale of the beer, with the other proceeds of the entertainment, was reported by the committee to the corporation at a subsequent meeting, and turned over to the treasurer of the corporation. No mention was made in the report of said committee, or otherwise, that any part of the proceeds so reported was derived from the sale of beer.

The questions certified as arising upon the foregoing facts are as follows: “(1) Whether the sale of beer by the members of said committee, at the entertainment aforesaid, to a person in the habit of becoming intoxicated, subjects the defendant to the penalty provided in section 1539 of the Code. (2) Is the defendant corporation a person within the meaning of said section 1539?”

Section 4326 of the Code contemplates that there are some offenses for which a corporation may be indicted and punished. It provides for process upon an indictment against a corporation, and it appears to be well settled that a corporation may be indicted and punished for a public nuisance, such as the obstruction of a public highway, a navigable stream, and the like. Wood, Nuis. 783. The case at bar is not a criminal action prosecuted by indictment. It is in form a civil action for a penalty, and jurisdiction of the defendant is obtained by the service of an original notice as in a civil action. The...