285 N.Y. 413 | NY | 1941
Plaintiff alleges that he sold and delivered certain alcoholic beverages to the defendants and demands judgment for an unpaid balance of the agreed price and reasonable value thereof. He concedes that no license to traffic in alcoholic beverages was ever issued to him by the State Liquor Authority pursuant to the provisions of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law (Cons. Laws, ch. 3-B). Whether that fact nullifies his asserted cause of action is the question to be determined.
Section
But we are not left to spell out the legislative purpose from the context and structure of the statute. (Cf. Fosdick v.Investors Syndicate,
In the face of this declaration, we cannot escape the conclusion that the present case is not to be excepted from the general rule of law that no right of action can spring out of an illegal contract. (See Griffith v. Wells, 3 Den. 226; Hunt
v. Knickerbacker, 5 Johns. 327; Pratt v. Short,
The orders should be reversed and the motion to dismiss the complaint granted, with costs in all courts. The question certified should be answered in the negative.
FINCH, RIPPEY, LEWIS, CONWAY and DESMOND, JJ., concur; LEHMAN, Ch. J., taking no part.
Orders reversed, etc.