152 So. 2d 201 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1963
Appellant Overstreet, a retail dealer in alcoholic beverages operating in Panama City under licenses issued by the State Beverage Department, filed a petition in the Circuit Court of Bay County to enjoin appellee Lee, Director of the State Beverage Department, from restricting Over-street’s right to purchase alcoholic beverages from wholesalers. The petition alleged that the Director invoked the Tied House Evil Law
Overstreet states two points on his appeal :
“1. Section 561.42, Florida Statutes, violates the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Florida in that it constitutes an unlawful delegation of judicial authority, operates to deny the appellant, and • others of a similar classification, equal protection of the law, and deprives the appellant of property without due process of law, allows and fosters unlawful, arbitrary and unreasonable classification, and said statute operates as a denial of the right to trial by jury.
“2. The petition filed in the lower court contained sufficient equity to warrant the granting of equitable relief, and further, stated a cause of action for equitable relief, and the trial court erred in granting the director’s motion to dismiss the complaint, and consequently dissolving the temporary restraining order.”
Appellant devotes the major portion of his brief and argument toward the proposition that Section 561.42 requires the Beverage Department Director to determine the existence of a debt and enforcement thereof in contravention of Section 3 of the Declaration of Rights of the State of Florida, F.S.A.
Appellant, in his brief, candidly states: “The Appellant realizes that this argument
Appellant’s argument that the Beverage Director is authorized to determine and enforce the payment of a debt in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Section 3, Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution, is without merit. The Pickerill case, although not specifically passing upon the argument advanced by appellant, clearly delved into all aspects of the constitutionality of the subject statute and held same to be valid. It is not within our province to attempt to overrule the Supreme Court of Florida.
We cannot conclude without commenting upon some of the statements made by appellant in his brief, such as: “The powerful whiskey wholesaler’s lobby had inserted in our law a much more clever and devious means of enforcing the collection of their debts * * * Yet the wholesalers and distributors of ‘John Barleycorn’ are given the special assistance of the Beverage Director in collecting their accounts. Where is the public interest necessary to support this classification? There is none!” We find that appellant answered his own arguments' when he stated in his brief: “The pros and cons of the temperance battle have long ago been discussed and put to rest. For better or worse, our state has adopted a policy fostering the legal, public retail sale of alcoholic beverages. If the banner of temperance
The chancellor was eminently correct in finding that the bill was without equity and in dismissing same.
Affirmed.
. F.S., § 561.42, F.S.A.
. Section 8, Declaration of Rights. “The right of trial by jury shall bee [be] secured to all, and remain inviolate forever.”
.Pickerill v. Schott, 55 So.2d 716 (Fla. 1951).
. We add: and the laws applicable thereto.