Thomas Broadnax v. State of Missouri

• Decision Date: 09 January 1911
• Docket Number: No. 598,598
• Citation: 31 S.Ct. 238,55 L.Ed. 219,219 U.S. 285
• Parties: THOMAS J. BROADNAX and Frank E. Essex, Plffs. in Err., v. STATE OF MISSOURI
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

219 U.S. 285

31 S.Ct. 238

55 L.Ed. 219

THOMAS J. BROADNAX and Frank E. Essex, Plffs. in Err.,

v STATE OF MISSOURI.

No. 598.

Argued December 14, 1910.

Decided January 9, 1911.

Messrs. Frank Hagerman and Kimbrough Stone for plaintiffs in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 286-289 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Elliott W. Major and John M. Atkinson for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an indictment in the criminal court of Jackson county, Missouri, against the plaintiffs in error, Broadnax and Essex. It is based on a statute of Missouri, approved March 8th, 1907 (Mo. Sess. Acts 1907, pp. 392, 393; No. Rev. Stat. 1909, §§ 10,228-10,230), which declares it to be 'unlawful for any corporation, association, copartnership, or person to keep, or cause to be kept, in this state, any office, store, or other place wherein is permitted the buying or selling the shares of stocks or bonds of any corporation, or petroleum, cotton, grain, provisions, or other commodities, either on margins or otherwise, where the same is not at the time actually paid for and delivered, without at the and bonds, as well as grains, provisions, made a complete record of the thing sold, the purchaser, and the time of delivery, in a book kept for that purpose; and at the time the seller shall deliver to the purchaser a written or printed memorandum of said sale, on which he shall place, or cause to be placed, a stamp of the value of 25 cents, which the seller shall purchase of the state auditor, and have on hand before might result to the injury or inconvenience duty of the state auditor, upon the passage of this act, to have printed or engraved stamps for this purpose, of such design as he may select; and on application and payment for said stamps, to immediately furnish the same to the applicants applying therefor: Provided, further, and it shall be unlawful for the purchaser to receive the memoranda aforesaid until it bears the stamp above provided for. § 1. The fund arising from the sale of the stamps provided for in § 1 of this act shall, in the hands of the state auditor, constitute a road fund; and it shall be the duty of the said auditor to distribute said fund, annually, to the counties in the state and the city of St. Louis, in the same proportion and in like manner as the state school funds are now distributed by him. § 2. Any person, whether acting individually or as a member, or as an officer, agent, or employee of any corporation, association, or copartnership, who shall be guilty of violating any of the provisions of § 1, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than fifty, nor more than one thousand dollars, and in addition thereto may be imprisoned in the county or city jail for a period of not less than thirty days, nor to exceed one year. §3.'

The indictment charges that the defendants, being officers and agents of the board of trade of Kansas City, Missouri, did, at a time specified, wilfully and unlawfully keep and caused to be kept a place, commonly called the trading floor of the board of trade of Kansas City, wherein was permitted the buying and selling of grain, provisions, and other commodities, on margins and otherwise, and where, at the time of such sales, so permitted, the grain, provisions, and other commodities so sold, were not actually paid for and delivered, and at such time and place the sellers, or any of them, of the grain, provisions, and other commodities, so sold on margins and otherwise, did not then and there cause to be made a complete record of the commodities sold and the time of delivery in a book kept for that purpose, and at said time and place neither the sellers, nor any of them, delivered to the purchasers a written or printed memoranda of said sales, on which they, the sellers, or any of them, had placed or caused to be placed a stamp of the value of 25 cents, which they had purchased of the state auditor, and had on hand before making such sales; contrary to the statutes, etc.

The defendants demurred to the indictment on the ground, among others, that the statute was in violation of the 14th Amendment, as well as of the commerce provision of the Constitution of the United States. The demurrer was overruled and the defendants excepted. A jury was waived, and the case was tried by the court.

Before the introduction of evidence, the defendants objected to any proof, resting their objection upon these grounds: 1. That the statute was discriminatory, abridged the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, deprived defendants of their property without due process of law, and denied to them the equal protection of the law, contrary to the provisions of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. 2. That it was an unwarranted attempt to regulate interstate commerce.

The objection was also made that the statute was in violation of certain alleged provisions of the Constitution of Missouri. But with the latter ground we have, for obvious reasons, no cencern on this writ of error from the state court. The above objections to the evidence were overruled, the defendants duly excepting.

For the purpose of the case, and subject to such objections as might be thereafter stated, facts were admitted which brought the case within the provisions of the statute and the averments of the indictment.

The defendants objected to these facts as incompetent and inconsistent with the Constitutions, both of the United States and of Missouri. The objections were overruled and the defendants excepted. To the above statement of admitted facts this was added: 'A substantial part of the sales aforesaid being of grain, provisions, and other commodities which were, at the time of sale, in course of transportation as articles of interstate commerce.' The state objected to the facts just stated as incompetent and irrelevent. The objection was overruled, and the state excepted.

The result of the trial was a judgment that the defendants were guilty, and they were fined each $50. Motions for a new trial and for the arrest of judgment having been severally denied, the case was taken by appeal to the supreme court of Missouri, where the judgment of the trial court was affirmed.

The assignments of error present the same questions of constitutional law that were raised by the defendants' demu...