5 Pa. Super. 1 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1897
Lead Opinion
Opinion by
There never has been any question, under the statute regulating the sale of liquor at retail through licenses granted by the courts, respecting the rights of the applicant for license and the power of the court. The subject was carefully reviewed in Schlaudecker v. Marshall, 72 Pa. 200, with reference to the laws then in force, and again in Raudenbusch’s Petition, 120 Pa. 328, in which the act of May 13, 1887, was first considered by the Supreme Court. The views set forth in these cases have since been repeatedly affirmed: Sparrow’s Petition, 138 Pa. 116; Gross’s License, 161 Pa. 344; Mead’s License, 161 Pa. 375; American Brewing Co.’s License, 161 Pa. 378; Kelminski’s License, 164 Pa. 231. The applicant has no absolute right to a license, though complying with all the statutory requirements. He has a right to a hearing and a decision on his application. When the court has heard and decided, its whole duty is performed. The license judge is not required to give reasons for his decision: Toole’s Appeal, 90 Pa. 376; Ostertag’s Petition, 144 Pa. 426. He is not bound to set out legal reasons for his action; he is only bound to have them: Gross’s License, supra, Dean, J. Where the record shows a hearing and a decision, adequate reasons will be presumed. “The act of assembly has provided means by which the conscience of the court may be informed of the facts; it may hear petitions, remonstrances; or witnesses, and we have no doubt the court may in some instances act of its own knowledge: ” Raudenbusch’s Petition, supra, Paxson, J.
The course of proceeding is thus concisely stated by McCollum, J., in Kelminski’s License, supra. “ The application fora license must conform to the provisions of the statute under which it is made, and there must be a hearing upon it at a time fixed by a rule or standing order of the court, when the applicant, and all persons objecting to his application, may be heard by evidence, petition, remonstrance or counsel. It is the duty of the court to receive and consider petitions, in addition to that of the applicant, for and against the application, and to refuse the license whenever, in its opinion, having due regard to the number and character of the petitioners, the same is not necessary for the accommodation of the public, or the applicant is not. a fit person to have it. It is obvious therefore that in form
The requirements of the act of May 13, 1887, relate both to the petitioner and his place of business. As to the petitioner, it must appear that he is a citizen of the United States, of temperate habits, and good moral character, and a fit person to receive a license; that he is not in any manner pecuniarily interested in the sale of liquor at any other place in the county ; that he is the only person in any manner pecuniarily interested in the business asked to be licensed, and his petition must aver that no other person shall be so interested during the continuance of the license. It must further appear from the petition whether the applicant has had a license revoked during the preceding year; and, after a revocation for “ permitting the customary visitation of disreputable persons, or keeping a disorderly house,” or on conviction of more than one offense against the statute, he cannot again be licensed. As to the place, it must be “ necessary for the accommodation of the public and entertainment of strangers and travellers,” and must not be “ any room where groceries are sold at wholesale or retail.”
With respect to the powers of the appellate court in the premises, as was said by Chief Justice Paxson, in Pollard’s Petition, 127 Pa. 507: “We are in no doubt as to our power to revise the proceedings below upon this writ [of certiorari]. This court possesses and exercises the powers of the King’s Bench, and it was said of them by the late Judge Sharswood, in Commissioners’ Appeal, 57 Pa. 452: ‘ It is beyond all question that, under these extensive powers, this court is authorized to examine and review the proceedings of the court of quarter sessions, in any matter specially committed to it by statute, so far as to
While the revisory poAver of the appellate court in these cases is undoubted, what may be considered in reviewing them has at times been made a question. The writ of certiorari brings up only the record, consisting of the petition and order. The appellate court, therefore, cannot examine the evidence, and review the case on the merits. “ If the court has in a lawful manner performed the duty imposed upon it, it is not our business to inquire whether it has made a mistake in its conclusions of fact. Whether the same facts induce in our minds the same belief as in that of the court below, as to the character of the applicant, or other material averments,, is wholly immaterial; it is the discretion of the court of quarter sessions, not ours,' that the laAV requires. If the record shows that the decree was had after hearing at a time fixed by rule or standing order, the presumption is, the decree is judicial and not arbitrary, and this presumption is not rebutted by an argument from evidence that the court ought to have reached a different conclusion: ” Gross’s License, supra, Dean, J. If the license judge “ refuses or neglects to hear we may enjoin upon him the .performance of that duty; but when he has heard and decided, we cannot require him, except in extreme cases, to lay his modes of reasoning and his moral standards before us, that we may revise his discretion and substitute our own : ” Knarr’s Petition, 127 Pa. 554, Williams, J. “All Ave can do is to see that the license court has proceeded according to law : ” Collarn’s Petition, 134 Pa. 551, Paxson, C. J.
Though the reasons given for granting or refusing a license are technically no part of the record brought up with the writ of certiorari, it by no means follows that they may not be con
Whatever the judicial view of the reasons in relation to the record, it is only by reviewing them that the appellate court can determine whether the lower court has acted on other grounds than those defined by the statute. If they are not reviewable there is no way of correcting a decision by the license judge based on grounds which the law does not recognize as valid. A convincing reason for reviewing them is suggested by Chief Justice Paxson, upon the refusal of a license in Prospect Br. Co.’s Petition, 127 Pa. 523: “If the record does not disclose the reason for the refusal, it would be impossible to review the action of the court below, either upon a writ of certiorari or other process, no matter how illegal or arbitrary the action of the court might be, or how vast the interests that are thus stricken down. As to such matters a quarter sessions judge would sit as absolute a despot as the emperor of China.”
“ It seems the court thought its discretion in relation to the grant of a wholesale license was not the same as in an application for a retail license. In other words it was of the opinion that the latter might be arbitrarily refused while the former could not be. We think there is no warrant in law for such a distinction as this. If it once existed it was removed by the Act of June 9, 1891, P. L. 257. It follows from these views that the decision of this court in Johnson’s License is applicable to the case at bar, and that upon the admitted facts the license should have been granted: ” McCollum. J.
With the exception contained in section 4 of the act of June 9, 1891, “That the provisions of this section as to whether the place to be licensed is necessary shall not apply to a brewer or distiller,” the subject-matter with respect to -which the discretion of the license court is to be exercised is now uniform as to all licenses.
The principle on which the reasons given by the court below may be reviewed by the appellate court appears obvious. Being assigned as the ground of the decision, they are to be examined in order that it may appear whether the discretion exercised by
The action of this court, in reviewing the proceedings of the license courts, has been governed by,the same principle: Doberneck’s License, 1 Pa. Superior Ct. 99; Brewing Co.’s Appeal, 1 Pa. Superior Ct. 627; Doberneck’s Appeal, 1 Pa. Superior Ct. 637; Gross’s License, 1 Pa. Superior Ct. 640; Babb’s License, 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 38; Lauck’s Appeal, 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 53; Kern’s Appeal, 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 59; Fowler’s License, 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 63.
Further review of the cases on this subject is unnecessary. In more than thirty, the decree of the license court is affirmed, either because, in the absence of reasons, no abuse of discretion appears, or because the reasons given exhibit an exercise of judicial discretion, in conforming to the statutory tests. The instances in which the decree is reversed, for reasons showing an abuse of discretion, are' upon the petitions of Pollard, 127 Pa. 507; Prospect Brewing Co., 127 Pa. 523; Johnson, 156 Pa. 322; Kelminski, 164 Pa. 231; Gemas, 169 Pa. 43; Doberneck, 1 Pa. Superior Ct. 99; Babb, 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 38. Examples of both classes have already been cited at sufficient length to illustrate the application of the principle on which the decisions of the appellate court have rested.
The validity, in law, of the reasons given for refusing a license in the present case — that is to say, the nature of the discretion exercised by the license court — remains to be considered. One of the two judges composing the court was of opinion that the license should be granted, while the assent of the other was withheld, for the reason, as stated by him, that the applicant had “ made a promise last year not to apply for a license this year,” and the present application was in disregard of that promise. Though not expressly stated, it is to be implied that the promise was made to the court, in consideration of the grant of ■ a license last year. For a court thus to bargain with a suitor is a proceeding wholly unwarranted by law, nor is there any ground on which it may be commended. Such a practice introduces matters not contemplated by the statute. It is not a statutory requirement that an applicant for license shall agree not to apply a second time. Had the appellant’s application
The order refusing a license in this case is reversed, and it is ordered that a license be issued by the court below as prayed for upon payment by the applicant of the license fees fixed by law.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting.
I concur fully with my brethren that the act of the petitioner in applying for a license notwithstanding the stipulation filed by him the year before was not an immoral act, and therefore did not of itself show him not to be a man of good moral character. But I am unable to assent to the order about to be made for the following reasons :
First. Where an appeal is a mere substitute for a certiorari the opinion of the court below especially if not referred to in ■the order or decree as containing the reasons for its action, is not brought up for review and is not before us for any purpose; it is not part of the record. Although it must be conceded that this rule has apparently been departed from in rare instances, yet I maintain that it is sustained by tire great weight of authority. A fortiori the oral remarks of the judges made on the hearing in the court below are not part of the record although afterwards reduced to writing and filed by their direction. But, second, even if there is enough on the face of the record to warrant us in reversing the order, it seems to me that looking at the whole proceeding as disclosed in the official report of the hearing the reversal should not be accompanied by an imperative direction to grant the license ; for we have no means of knowing what testimony might have been offered if the hearing had not been practically closed by the ruling of the court upon the only question considered by the judges.