56 Mich. 541 | Mich. | 1885
A complaint was lodged before a justice of the peace against the respondent, charging that on the 4th day of July, 1882, at the village of Dansville, the respondent was then and there a person whose business, in paid, consisted in selling and keeping for sale distilled liquors, to wit, whisky and gin, at retail, and was then and there engaged in the business of selling and offering and keeping for sale spirituous and intoxicating liquors (not proprietary patent medicine) by retail, to wit, whisky and gin, without having paid in full or in part the tax required by law to be paid upon the business, and keeping for sale spirituous and intoxicating liquors at retail, and without having the receipt and notice for such tax posted up as required by law, contrary to the form of the statute, etc. The justice issued a warrant reciting the complaint, and commanded the sheriff or any constable of the county of Ingham, to arrest the respondent and bring Him before the justice to be dealt with according to law. A trial before a jury resulted in his conviction. He appealed, and the case came on for trial in the circuit court for the county
The court very properly overruled the objection, and the trial proceeded. Evidence was introduced of respondent’s keeping a hotel and selling whisky and gin. Counsel -for respondent claims that the complaint fails to set forth any specific act of selling, and that the allegation that a person was then and there engaged in the business of selling and offering and keeping for sale spirituous and intoxicating liquors, etc., is a conclusion and not a statement of facts which would constitute the respondent a dealer under the terms of the act. We are of opinion that the complaint was sufficiently specific. It described the offense substantially in the language of the statute (How. Stat. §§ 1281, 1285, 1286), but it is fatally defective in not averring that respondent was not a druggist who sells liquor for chemical, scientific, medicinal, or sacramental purposes only. The statute requires a tax to be paid annually upon the business of manufacturing, selling or keeping for sale by all persons whose business in whole or in part consists in selling or keeping for sale or manufacturing distilled or malt liquors', or mixed liquors.
For this reason the conviction must be set aside and the proceedings quashed. >