United States v. Joe Freeman
| Decision Date | 15 November 1915 |
| Docket Number | No. 481,481 |
| Citation | 239 U.S. 117,60 L.Ed. 172,36 S.Ct. 32 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES, Plff. in Err., v. JOE FREEMAN |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Assistant Attorney General Warren for plaintiff in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 117-119 intentionally omitted] No appearance for defendant in error.
This is an indictment under § 240 of the Criminal Code making it a punishable offense knowingly to 'ship or cause to be shipped from one state, . . . into any other state, . . . or from any foreign country into any state, . . .' any package of or containing intoxicating liquor of any kind, 'unless such package be so labeled on the outside cover as to plainly show the name of the consignee, the nature of its contents, and the quantity contained therein.' [35 Stat. at L. 1137, chap. 321, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 10,410.] The indictment was returned in the district of Kansas and charges the defendant with violating the statute by knowingly shipping and causing to be shipped from Joplin, Missouri, into Cherokee county, Kansas, six unlabeled trunks severally containing from 12 to 15 gallons of intoxicating liquor. By a motion to quash and a demurrer it was objected that the offense denounced by the statute is complete when the package is delivered to the carrier for shipment, and therefore that the offense charged was not cognizable in the district of Kansas, but only in the western district of Missouri. Acceding to this construction of the statute, the district court sustained the motion to quash and the demurrer, and entered a judgment discharging the defendant. The government brings the case here under the criminal appeals act, chap. 2564, 34 Stat. at L. 1246, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 1704.
As usually understood, to ship a package from one state into another, or from a foreign country into a state, is to accomplish its transportation from the one into the other by a common carrier, and is essentially a continuing act whose performance is begun when the package is delivered to the carrier, and is completed when it reaches its destination. We think it is to such an act that the statute refers. To reach a different conclusion the word 'ship' must be read as if it were 'deliver for shipment.' No doubt it sometimes has that meaning, but it plainly is not so used in this instance. The statute deals with shipping liquor from a foreign country into a state, as well as with shipping it from one state into...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
United States v. Classic
...523, 43 L.R.A.,N.S., 906, Ann.Cas.1913E, 905; Nash v. United States, 229 U.S. 373, 33 S.Ct. 780, 57 L.Ed. 1232; United States v. Freeman, 239 U.S. 117, 36 S.Ct. 32, 60 L.Ed. 172; United States v. F. W. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 61 S.Ct. 451, 85 L.Ed. —-, 132 A.L.R. 1430, decided February 3, The ......
-
Blumenthal v. United States, 10596-10600
...of the Knox Act should be limited to interstate shipments by common carrier, defendants cite and rely upon United States v. Freeman, 239 U.S. 117, 36 S.Ct. 32, 60 L.Ed. 172, and One Truck Load of Whisky v. United States (C.C.A. 6) 274 F. 99. The government, on the other hand, contends that ......
-
Chavez-Salido v. Cabell, CV 76-0541-IH.
....... No. CV 76-0541-IH. . United States District Court, C. D. California. . February 3, 1977. . Addendum to Opinion March 14, ......
-
Kentucky Whip Collar Co v. Illinois Cent Co, 138
...reasonable and appropriate for the carrying out of the prohibition. Seven Cases v. United States, supra; United States v. Freeman, 239 U.S. 117, 36 S.Ct. 32, 60 L.Ed. 172; Weeks v. United States, 245 U.S. 618, 622, 38 S.Ct. 219, 62 L.Ed. 513. The fact that the labeling was required in all s......