150 Ga. 657 | Ga. | 1920
Lead Opinion
Jones was arrested under a bench warrant issued by the judge of the city court of Macon, based upon an •accusation charging him with violating the prohibition law of this State on January 21, 1920. He filed a petition for the writ of habeas corpus, based upon the ground that the eighteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, which was ratified on January 16, 1920, and the "national prohibition act,” known as the Yolstead act, superseded and abrogated all State laws on the subject covered by said eighteenth amendment, and that therefore, at the time this defendant is alleged to have committed the criminal offense charged in the accusation, there was no valid State prohibition law in existence. The court refused to release the petitioner, and that judgment is excepted to.
The first section of the eighteenth amendment to the Federal constitution prohibits “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or flic exportation thereof from the United States and all territory
“Concurrent power” does not mean “concurrent legislation;” and concurrent “ power ” to enforce is quite a different thing from “ concurrent enforcement.” “ The words ‘ concurrent power in that section do not mean “ joint power,” or require that legislation thereunder by Congress, to be effective, shall be approved or sanctioned by the several States or any of them; nor do they mean that the power to enforce is divided between Congress and the several States along the lines which separate or distinguish foreign and interstate commerce from intrastate affairs.” “Appropriate legislation” by the Congress or the States, as employed in section 2, must be “ to enforce,” and not to “ defeat or thwart.” State of Rhode Island v. Palmer, 253 U. S. (40 Sup. Ct. 488, 64 L. ed.). The use of the word “several” before the words “States,” and the nonuse of the word “joint,” would seem to. he significant in determining the intent. Had “joint” enforcement been desired, the simple and effective method would have been to specifically provide that the Congress and the States shall have power to jointly enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The Supreme Court of the United States having adversely disposed of the contention that “concurrent power” means joint power, there remain two other views to be considered. Similar, but not identical, questions have been discussed heretofore by courts of several States and by the Supreme Court of the United States. None of these involve construction of delegated powers to be exorcised concurrently. They are cited here for comparison, and not as controlling. Among the questions involved were, whether the States possessed the power, under the United States
Judgment affirmed.
Concurrence Opinion
concurs in the judgment, but not in all that is said in the opinion. It is alleged in the petition for habeas corpus that the petitioner is held by the respondent, an officer, under an accusation in the city court, charging him with having-in his possession, custody, and control certain intoxicating liquors. For a person to have in his possession, custody, or control any intoxicating liquors in this State is an offense under the State law. It is 'not an offense under the eighteenth amendment to the United States constitution and the act of Congress designed to carry that provision of the constitution into effect. Under no view could it be said that the amendment to the Federal constitution and the act of Congress referred to had the effect of superseding or in any wise changing so much of the State statute as made it an offense for a person to have intoxicating liquors in his possession, custody, or control.