175 A. 434 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1934
Argued October 8, 1934. This is an appeal by the West Philadelphia Fidelio Mannerchor, an incorporated club, from an order of the court of common pleas revoking a liquor license under Section 410 of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Act of November 29, 1933, P.L. Special Session 15 (47 PS 744-410). That section provides that on petition of the attorney general, the district attorney, or fifteen or more tax payers, residents of the municipality where the hotel, restaurant, or club is located, the court of common pleas may, after hearing, suspend or revoke the license where it shall appear to the court that the licensee has violated any law of this Commonwealth, and that "the action of the court in suspending or revoking a license shall be final."
The last clause does not affect our right to issue a writ of certiorari in order to determine, from an inspection of the record, whether or not the court below exceeded its jurisdiction and for the purpose of correcting errors apparent on the face of the record, and with this object in view it is proper to examine the opinion of the court in order to discover the reasons for its action: 28th Congressional District Nomination,
An inspection of the record discloses the facts that the appellant had received a license under the Liquor Control Act; that it had made sales of liquor on Sunday; and that the lower court revoked the license for the sole reason that such sales so made on Sunday were a violation of Section 411 of that act. It is conceded by both appellant and appellee that the only question for our determination is whether the section in question prohibits the sale of liquor by a club on *244 Sunday. The portion of the section with which we are concerned is as follows: "Liquor may be sold by licensees, other than clubs, only after seven o'clock antemeridian of any weekday and until two antemeridian of the following week day, and shall not be sold on Sunday or on any day on which a general, municipal, special or primary election is being held."
The contentions of the appellant are that the paragraph in question is ambiguous and capable of two meanings; that the clause is not so clear in its meaning that it would support an order which imposes a penalty on the respondent; that in aid of determining the meaning of the clause it is proper to have recourse to the debates among members of the legislature at the time of the passing of the statute; and that such debates indicate an intention upon the part of the legislature to exclude clubs from the provision prohibiting a sale upon Sunday.
It has been held in the construction of penal statutes that where an act contains such an ambiguity as to leave a reasonable doubt of its meaning, it is the duty of the court not to inflict the penalty. It is equally true "that where the words of a statute are plain and clearly define its scope and limit, construction cannot extend it": Grayson v. Aiman,
We have so far considered only a literal interpretation of the paragraph. The literal construction has a prima facie preference. "To arrive at the real meaning, it is always necessary to take a broad general view of the Act, so as to get an exact conception of its aim, scope and object": Endlich on Interpretation of Statutes, p. 35. According to Lord Coke, it is necessary to consider the old law, the mischief and remedy: County of Cumberland v. Boyd,
The argument which is urged most seriously by the appellant is based upon certain remarks made by members of the House when the act was being debated during its consideration. While we are of the opinion that the only safe guide in the instant case is the plain meaning of the act as expressed in the statute considered in the light to which we have heretofore referred, nevertheless those debates do not furnish a basis for a different construction even though we consider them.
"In giving construction to a statute we cannot be controlled by the views expressed by a few members of the Legislature who expressed verbal opinions on its passage. These opinions may or may not have been entertained by the more than a hundred members who gave no such expression. The declarations of some and the assumed acquiescence of others therein, cannot be adopted as a true interpretation of the statute": County of Cumberland v. Boyd, supra, p. 57. There is, however, authority for the consideration of reports of committees having a bill in charge or of a commission appointed to codify the law upon a given subject. In the late case of Tarlo's Estate,
When the bill was presented to the House, the paragraph in question did not contain the phrase "other than clubs," but was passed on third reading with that phrase included (L.J., p. 195) and was presented to the Senate for concurrence. The Senate struck out the phrase and returned it to the House. On its return, Representative Sowers moved to amend the bill by reinstating the phrase. On debate a member of the House interrogated Mr. Sowers, who had offered the *248 amendment, as to its effect and Mr. Sowers replied as follows: "Mr. Speaker, as a lawyer I answer that clubs will not be permitted to sell liquor on Sunday. They will be permitted to distribute liquor among their members. Clubs never sold under the laws of Pennsylvania. When a club has liquor in its treasury, or in its possession, all of that liquor belongs to the entire membership, and a man cannot buy that of which he is a part owner, and there is a Supreme Court case to that effect." Mr. Wilson again interrogated Mr. Sowers, asking him for a more definite answer, and his final answer was that if the amendment prevailed, the same condition would be restored as existed under the Brooks High License Law. Mr. Wilson then interrogated Mr. McClure, who presented the original bill to the House, as to the meaning of the clause as follows: "Mr. Wilson: If this amendment of Mr. Sowers prevails, would clubs then be able to dispense liquor on Sunday. Mr. McClure: In my judgment they would be."
The constitution vests the legislative power of the Commonwealth in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and gives to the Governor the power of veto. When the Governor approved the bill, he said: "Fortunately, efforts in the House to permit sales in clubs on Sunday did not succeed." This presents a situation which demonstrates not only the wisdom of the rule that individual opinions of members are not of assistance in interpreting a statute, but demonstrates an absence of any such positive indication of the intention of the Legislature as would justify us in departing from the interpretation which we have given the paragraph.
Prior to the adoption of the 18th Amendment to the Federal Constitution, a club "organized and conducted in good faith, with a limited and selected membership, really owning its property in common, and *249
formed for social, literary or other purposes, to which the furnishing of liquors to its members would be merely incidental, in the same way to the same extent that the supplying of dinners or daily papers might be, then it cannot be considered as within either the purpose or letter of the law [Brooks Law]": Klein v. Livingston Club,
It follows that such conclusions as were stated by the members of the Legislature were based on an incorrect interpretation of the law. In addition, it is of importance to note that the author of the amendment distinctly said that in his opinion a sale could not be made on Sunday, while the author of the bill only went so far as to say that liquor might be dispensed to members. It is most apparent that these opinions of members of the House furnish no basis for a different conclusion than that at which we have arrived. We are all of the opinion that the order should be affirmed.
The order of the court below is affirmed.