128 Iowa 743 | Iowa | 1905
Tbe plaintiff was one of tbe jurors to whom a civil cause had been submitted at tbe January, 1904, term of tbe district court of Polk county. Pending their deliberations, tbe bailiff in charge arranged with defendants to serve dinner for tbe jurors, and conducted them to their bouse. Hpon arrival tbe defendants, as the evidence tended to
The evil sought to be remedied was unjust or groundless discrimination between individuals where the public generally are invited to be served or entertained., See Bowlin v. Lyon, 67 Iowa, 536. If, then, the object and practice of defendants was to serve meals to whomsoever applied, at prices charged to all, their place was an eating house within the meaning' of this statute. If meals were served only in pursuance of previous arrangements, and therefore to particular individuals, rather than to any who might apply, it was a private boarding house only. The distinction was clearly drawn in the fifth paragraph of the court’s charge: “ If you find from a preponderance of the evidence in this case that the defendants conducted a place where those who came were received as guests and served with meals without any previous agreement as to the duration of their stay or the terms of their entertainment, then you will be authorized to find that the defendants kept a public eating house.”
But defendants insist that this was erroneous, in that
If, then, the distinction between an inn or hotel and a boarding house be accepted as .the test to be applied in determining whether a place is an eating house or boarding 'house as contemplated by this statute, we think it was adopted in this case. Not from advertisements or signs alone was the true character of the establishment to be ascertained, but from the manner of conducting the business as well, and, if meals were served by defendants to whomsoever came, at a uniform prise, as the evidence tended to show, this was a sufficient