11 Ga. App. 114 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1912
(After stating the foregoing facts.)
The controlling question in the case is: Was a sale of the whisky made in the State of Georgia? If it was, the sale was illegal, and the plaintiff would have no right to recover its value. One can not recover the price of intoxicating liquor sold in violation of law. An act done in disobedience of law creates no right of action which a court of justice will' enforce. Miller v. Ammon, 145 U. S. 421 (12 Sup. Ct. 884, 36 L. ed. 759). The general rule of law is, that a contract made in violation of a statute is void; and that when a plaintiff can not establish his cause of action without relying upon an illegal contract, he can not recover; or, as otherwise tersely expressed: “There can be no civil right where there can be no legal remedy; and there can be no legal remedy for that which is in itself illegal.” This rule is so well established that any further citation of authority is deemed unnecessary. There may be some exceptions to this general rule, but the facts of the instant case do not bring it within any exception. We come directly to the question whether, under the admitted evidence, the sale was made in Georgia.
The Civil Code, § 4125, declares that “Generally, the delivery of goods is essential to the perfection of a sale. . . Until delivery is made or dispensed with, the goods are at the risk of the seller.” Another general rule pertinent to the question now under consideration is that delivery to a common carrier is delivery to the consignee. Newsome v. State, 1 Ga. App. 793; Falvey v. Richmond, 87 Ga. 99; Mann v. Glauber, 96 Ga. 795. This proposition of law, however, is based upon the fact that the consignee gives to the consignor or shipper an order for the shipment of the goods. If Davis had ordered the whisky from the distilling compány to be shipped to him by way of the express company, or by any common carrier, the delivery to the common carrier would have been in law a delivery to Davis, and the title to the whisky would have been in Davis, and the sale would have been consummated in the