112 Me. 93 | Me. | 1914
An action of assumpsit upon account annexed to recover $750 alleged to be due the plaintiff as the balance of salary from May 5, 1911, to May 5, 1912, as the liquor agent of the City of Bath, and before this court upon report.
Chap. 253 of the Public Laws of 1909, was an act to regulate the purchase and sale of intoxicating liquors by the State Liquor Commissioner, and by town or city liquor agencies, and all town and city liquor agencies were to be supplied by the State Liquor Commissioner and all other provisions for a town supplying its agency with liquors were repealed by said Act. Sec. 33, Chap. 29, R. S., makes it unlawful for the municipal officers to purchase liquors of any other person than the commissioner. Chap. 10 of the Public Laws of 1911, repealed Secs. 15 to 25 inclusive of Chap. 29, R. S., which related to the duties of the Liquor Commissioner, and also repealed Chap. 252 of the Public Laws of 1909, so that when the laws of 1911 went into effect, the office of State Liquor Commissioner was abolished, and Secs. 15 to 25, inclusive, of Chap. 29, R. S., repealed and as Sec. 33, Chap. 29, prohibited the purchase of liquors for town or city agencies, except from the State Liquor Commissioner, it was unlawful for the city of Bath to purchase liquor for its agency, and as it had no liquors on hand it could not lawfully continue in the liquor business, for the one case of champagne and less than a quart of brandy was not a stock of liquors within the meaning of the statute, authorizing agencies to sell to the inhabitants of the cities or towns pure liquors for medicinal, mechanical
The plaintiff’s contract was lawful when made, although it was known to the mayor and aldermen and tb the plaintiff that the law of 1911, Chap. 10, would render it unlawful to continue the employment when the law went into effect, three months after the adjournment of the legislature; but it is not material whether they knew the law or not, for, although the contract was lawful when made, the law afterward, Act of 1911, made it unlawful to supply the agency with liquor to carry on the employment of the plaintiff, and as the law rendered it unlawful to continue the business the contract between the plaintiff and the defendant was at an end.
American Mercantile Exchange v. Blount, 102 Maine, 128, and cases cited.
Judgment for defendant.